E. Margaret Evans
Assistant Research ScientistCenter for Human Growth and Development
University of Michigan
300 N. Ingalls Bldg, 10th Floor
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-5406
e-mail: evansem@umich.edu
.
e-mail: evansem@umich.edu
.
Children's acquisition of knowledge of the world around them is one of the
most impressive achievements of conceptual development. Examples include
psychological knowledge of self and others, biological knowledge of plants
and animals, and mathematical knowledge. In recent years, I have examined
this sort of knowledge acquisition in terms of a) the emergence of
intuitive
causal explanations or theories, and b) the influence of diverse contexts,
such as: belief system (e.g., religious belief), culture (Asian, Western),
and formal and informal learning experiences, in schools, undergraduate
courses, museums, and science centers. Children's causal intuitions
provide
the foundation for their understanding of the major domains of inquiry
they
encounter in and out of school. How such skeletal intuitions are
elaborated
and transformed over the elementary school years and into adulthood has
been
and continues to be the focus of my research.