三～六歲幼兒對運動起因與軌跡的認知：自由落體、單擺與斜面運動

本研究目的，主要在探測三~六歲幼兒的天真動力學，為瞭解幼兒較原發性的抽象思維，探析其間的互動脈絡，研究者以型式關聯的三類「純重力」運動（自由落體、單擺與斜面運動）為主題，同步探測幼兒對運動起因與軌跡的相關推理，以探知其中的思維。研究結果發現：1.在運動起因上（為何會運動），「力」與「支撐」為二大判斷法則，並以不同的型式轉化出現，呈現出思維的條理性。2.在運動軌跡上，幼兒雖存有「重量主導」、「直落」、「坡度－速度」的直覺信念，然而，其思維與年長者有別，易隨情境的不同，如運動物體的性質（是動物或物體？）或運動的方向（是橫向或縱向？）而變異。然此類思維並非隨機，其中仍隱含「若－則」的條件邏輯與判斷結構，呈現幼兒的思維潛力。

關鍵字

自由落體；直覺信念；斜面運動；單擺

並列摘要

Aiming at the exploration of the naive dynamics of young children, this study examines their initial thinking of motion and their interpretation of the related mechanisms. Based on the relevant forms of gravity (free fall, pendulum and slope of motion), the researcher tried to investigate young children's reasoning about the cause and the trajectory of motion, and to map out the ways in which they explain the physical causality. Results show that young children (1) attribute the motion to the rules of force and support and can use the two rules to account for the inverted form of motion; and (2) employ the intuitive approach to the trajectory of motion, such as beliefs of weight-orientation, straight-down and slope-speed. Different from the older children’s notions, they employ causal reasoning depending on the contexts, such as the actor of the motion or the direction of movement. Although their reasoning is constrained by the context-dependence, they have their own plausibility and not at random. Besides, such inference implies an internal coherence and structure, which provides insights into the thinking of young children.