Measuring categorisation in pre-school children: new toolkit, new insights

Introduction: whilst recent years have witnessed considerable research into infant categorisation, its development during the pre-school period has garnered far less interest and innovation. Objective: this paper documents the development of a valid and reliable new toolkit for measuring categorisation in children, designed to allow fine-grained differentiation through four short tasks. Methods: the paper outlines how a pilot study with 55 children reduced confounding variables, ruled out several explanations for performance variations and enabled procedural refinements. It then documents a study conducted with 190 children aged 30-60 months. Results: this more sophisticated testing mechanism challenges previously accepted developmental norms and suggests both sex and socio-economic status (and their interaction) influence categorisational abilities in pre-schoolers. Conclusion: the results indicate that preschool children's ability to categorise varies markedly, with implications for their capacity to access formal education.

Introdução: embora nos últimos anos tenha havido pesquisas consideráveis sobre a categorização infantil, seu desenvolvimento durante o período pré-escolar atraiu muito menos interesse e inovação. Objetivo: este artigo documenta o desenvolvimento de um novo kit de ferramentas válido e confiável para medir a categorização em crianças, projetado para permitir diferenciação refinada por meio de quatro tarefas curtas. Método: o artigo descreve como um estudo piloto com 55 crianças reduziu variáveis de confusão, descartou várias explicações para variações de desempenho e permitiu refinamentos de procedimentos. Em seguida, documenta um estudo realizado com 190 crianças de 30 a 60 meses. Resultados: este mecanismo de teste mais sofisticado desafia as normas de desenvolvimento previamente aceitas e sugere que o sexo e o status socioeconômico (e sua interação) influenciam as habilidades de categorização em pré-escolares. Conclusão: os resultados indicam que a capacidade de categorização dos pré-escolares varia acentuadamente, com implicações na sua capacidade de acesso à educação forma

The development of categorisation and conceptual thinking in early childhood: methods and limitations

Abstract We present a systematic and qualitative review of academic literature on early conceptual development (0-24 months of age), with an emphasis on methodological aspects. The final sample of our review included 281 studies reported in 115 articles. The main aims of the article were four: first, to organise studies into sets according to methodological similarities and differences; second, to elaborate on the methodological procedures that characterise each set; third, to circumscribe the empirical indicators that different sets of studies consider as proof of the existence of concepts in early childhood; last, to identify methodological limitations and to propose possible ways to overcome them. We grouped the studies into five sets: preference and habituation experiments , category extension tasks , object sorting tasks , sequential touching tasks and object examination tasks . In the "Results" section, we review the core features of each set of studies. In the "Discussion" and "Conclusions" sections, we describe, for one thing, the most relevant methodological shortcomings. We end by arguing that a situated, semiotic and pragmatic perspective that emphasises the importance of ecological validity could open up new avenues of research to better understand the development of concepts in early childhood.