Teaching animal categorization in preschool-ers using typical -non typical educational en-viroments

The aim of this research study is to present the goals, the content and some evaluation
elements of a teaching intervention for preschool children concerning animal categorization.
The intervention combines typical and non typical educational characteristics and takes
place both in the school class and in a zoological museum. More specifically, we will present
the cognitive objectives of the intervention which are the following: (a) the familiarization of
children with various samples of animals, (b) the movement of children’s ideas from using
anthropomorphic or functional criteria to the use of morphological criteria for classification of
animal samples, (c) the identification of new samples of animals with one of the constructed
categories of animals and (d) the creation of a new class of animals in case of the animal sample
does not fit in any of the constructed categories. In this study we will focus on the characteristics
of teaching activities which take place during the visit to the zoological museum at
the University of Patras. Some preliminary results which support the hypothesis that the museum
educational activities have a positive impact on the fulfillment of the mentioned didactical
objectives will be presented.

Gkouskou, E. & Koliopoulos, D., (2012). Teaching animal categorization in preschoolers using typical – non typical educational environments, In C. Bruguière, A. Tiberghien & P. Clément (Eds.), E-Book Proceedings of the ESERA 2011 Conference: Science learning and Citizenship. Part 14 (co-ed. Constantinou, C. & Johnston, J.), (pp. 20-26) Lyon, France: European Science Education Research Association. ISBN: 978-9963-700-44-8