DOI: 10.36347/sjahss.2014.v02i05.008

Pages: 648-654

The study investigated how children of different ages constructed and applied their theories about floating and sinking objects and evaluated their responses to cognitive and social challenges. This was an experimental study in which the role of age in constructing, applying and responding to cognitive challenges was tested. Focus was on children’s scientific thinking about the concepts of floating and sinking objects. The study was informed by Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s constructivism and social constructivism conceptual frameworks respectively. Basically it was hypothesized that children’s cognitive development followed a sequence and that they constructed their understanding of the environment independent of the teacher or an adult. On the other hand, Vygotsky postulated that adults were important for scaffolding and enabling children to reach higher levels of understanding.