Interesting findings came out today from Frontiers in Psychology. Apparently "anthropomorphized animals in books may not only lead to less learning but also influence children's conceptual knowledge of animals." So, students potentially learn less and form fewer connections when animals are anthropomorphized. Well that stinks! Students LOVE anthropomorphized animals! There are so many great books and series that just wouldn't be the same with humans: I'm thinking of some of my favorite Elephant and Piggie books here.
And while it is important to take into account what this study found, it is also important to remember how these anthropomorphized animals hook our children and students into stories.
Perhaps this is a great example of why paired texts can play a large role in classrooms. Hook students with a walking, talking, singing Siamese cat, bring in some non-fiction on house cats or jungle cats, and finish with a well-rounded discussion on fiction vs. non-fiction and on fantasy vs. reality.
What are your thoughts on anthropomorphism or paired texts? Any suggestions? I'd love to hear them in the comments section.
animals
in books may not only lead to less learning but also influence
children’s conceptual knowledge of animals - See more at:
http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00283/abstract#sthash.t6OeB5pQ.y8wPw5qY.dpuf
Keywords:
picture books, preschoolers, Learning, Animals, Anthropomorphism
Citation: Ganea PA, Canfield CF, Simons K and Chou T (2014). Do cavies talk?: The effect of anthropomorphic books on children's knowledge about animals. Front. Psychol. 5:283. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00283
Received: 14 Nov 2013; Paper pending published: 10 Dec 2013;
Accepted: 17 Mar 2014.
* Correspondence: Dr. Patricia A. Ganea, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, patricia.ganea@utoronto.ca
Citation: Ganea PA, Canfield CF, Simons K and Chou T (2014). Do cavies talk?: The effect of anthropomorphic books on children's knowledge about animals. Front. Psychol. 5:283. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00283
Received: 14 Nov 2013; Paper pending published: 10 Dec 2013;
Accepted: 17 Mar 2014.
Edited by:
Jessica S. Horst, University of Sussex, United Kingdom
Jessica S. Horst, University of Sussex, United Kingdom
Reviewed by:
Sandra R. Waxman, Northwestern University, USA
Megan Geerdts, Rutgers University, USA
Copyright: © 2014 Ganea, Canfield, Simons and Chou. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY).
The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted,
provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the
original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with
accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is
permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Sandra R. Waxman, Northwestern University, USA
Megan Geerdts, Rutgers University, USA
* Correspondence: Dr. Patricia A. Ganea, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, patricia.ganea@utoronto.ca
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Keywords:
picture books, preschoolers, Learning, Animals, Anthropomorphism
Citation: Ganea PA, Canfield CF, Simons K and Chou T (2014). Do cavies talk?: The effect of anthropomorphic books on children's knowledge about animals. Front. Psychol. 5:283. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00283
Received: 14 Nov 2013; Paper pending published: 10 Dec 2013;
Accepted: 17 Mar 2014.
* Correspondence: Dr. Patricia A. Ganea, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, patricia.ganea@utoronto.ca
Citation: Ganea PA, Canfield CF, Simons K and Chou T (2014). Do cavies talk?: The effect of anthropomorphic books on children's knowledge about animals. Front. Psychol. 5:283. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00283
Received: 14 Nov 2013; Paper pending published: 10 Dec 2013;
Accepted: 17 Mar 2014.
Edited by:
Jessica S. Horst, University of Sussex, United Kingdom
Jessica S. Horst, University of Sussex, United Kingdom
Reviewed by:
Sandra R. Waxman, Northwestern University, USA
Megan Geerdts, Rutgers University, USA
Copyright: © 2014 Ganea, Canfield, Simons and Chou. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY).
The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted,
provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the
original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with
accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is
permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Sandra R. Waxman, Northwestern University, USA
Megan Geerdts, Rutgers University, USA
* Correspondence: Dr. Patricia A. Ganea, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, patricia.ganea@utoronto.ca
204
total views
I'd have to see several more studies concurring with the above findings before I'd consider believing that. Then I'd still have my doubts.
ReplyDeleteJill
a-little-red-wagon
I completely agree. One study is just one study. Plus, with the prevalence of anthropomorphized characters in children’s literature, you’d think there would be more symptoms of this potential conceptual misunderstanding. Still, I like the idea of using paired texts as a means to initiate discussions about fantasy verses reality and fiction verses non-fiction.
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