María Belén Gariboldi & Analía Salsa

Instituto Rosario de Investigaciones en Ciencias

RESEARCH QUESTIONS CODING AND ANALYSIS (2) Reading task: In both age
Events: fragments of interactions in which dyads alluded to specific information groups, dyads elaborated mostly
Mothers and children performed together one of this
about the formal properties or the referential function of drawing, writing or numerals. upon the RF of drawings. They
tasks: book reading and graphic production.
Levels of analysis. talked about their FP of writing
(1) Does dyad’s attention to drawings, writing and (1) Focus of attention. Drawings, Writing or Numerals.
and numerals, especially in the
numerals vary between tasks? (2) Representational knowledge. Formal Properties or Referential Function.
oldest group.
(2) Which aspects of representational knowledge
Focus of Representational Production task: Dyads of the
(the formal properties or the referential function) do Code Example of event
Attention Knowledge 30-m-o group elaborated upon
dyads elaborate upon during each task? Mother: - What is that? (Pointing at a drawing). the RF of the three
Referential Function DRF
Child: - A cow.
representational systems. In the 48-
BACKGROUND Drawings
Formal Properties DFP
Mother: - You have to make a drawing. m-o group, dyads talked about
•Formal Properties. Name of each system, graphic Child: - (produces a scribble).
both aspects of drawings, writing
units, types of marks, spatial disposition and Referential Function WRF Mother: - And I am going to write your name here. Francesca. and numerals.
composition rules. Mother: - Do you know any of them? (Pointing at the letters). Comparison: In both age
Writing
•Referential Function. What each system represents. Formal Properties WFP Child: - My letter! groups, reading dyads focused
Mother: - Yes, your letter.
• Children learn representational knowledge when more in the RF of drawings than
Mother: - How old are you? production dyads. Dyads of both
they take part in sociocultural practices with adults Referential Function NRF Child: - (shows four fingers) age groups elaborated upon the
(Rogoff et al, 2003; Vygotsky, 1978). Numerals Mother: - Four.
RF of writing in the production task
• Task constrains (conditions of representational use, more than in the book reading.
Formal Properties NFP Child: - And that is number two (pointing at the numeral 2).
stimuli presentation, context of task demands) have an Events related to the RF of numerals
impact on the knowledge that children display (Klein et RESULTS AND DISCUSSION were higher in the production task
al, 2009; Martí & Garcia-Mila, 2010). Dyads elaborated more events in the book reading than in the production task, in than in the book reading only in the
• Several home activities may foster children’s learning both groups: 30- (U = 47.5, p = .007) and 48-month-old (U = 59.5, p = .028). youngest group.
about drawing, writing and numerals. We compared There were more events pertaining the FP of drawings in the production task than in the
(1) Attention to drawings was higher during the reading than in the production
the representational knowledge elaborated when task, in both age groups. reading one. There were no significant differences on events pertaining the FP of writing and
mothers and children performed together two tasks Dyads of both groups paid more attention to writing in the production task than in numerals between tasks.
with different constrains. the reading one, although differences were significant only for the youngest group.
There were no significant differences in attention to numerals between both tasks, Task constrains affect the joint construction of representational knowledge. In
Task Reading Production in any age group. both age groups, attention given to drawings varied across tasks. The reading
task promoted more events pertaining the identity and the quantity of the
30 mothers with their animals depicted. In the production task, dyads talked about the referents they
30 mothers with their 30-
Participants (n = 15) or 48-month-old
30- (n = 15) or 48- wanted to represent and the mothers named the scribbles that children were
month-old children doing as ‘drawings’.
children (n = 15).
(n = 15).
The instructions given could be responsible for the differences between tasks in
A book with pictures of an attention to writing, especially in the youngest group: Only a few dyads talked
animal, its written name and the A sheet of paper and about writing in the reading task, while the aim to represent the child’s name led
Materials
numeral for the number of some pencils. production dyads to elaborate mainly upon the referential function of this system.
animals (1 to 9) on each page. There were no significant differences in knowledge about numerals between
“Make a drawing of the reading and production. In both tasks, dyads talked mostly about the formal
Goal of
“Look at the book together” child and write her properties of numerals, naming the system or its units.
the task
name and age”
Acknowledgment: Funding for this project was provided by ANPCyT (PICT 2012 Nº 1319).

References Rogoff, B., Paradise, R., Mejía Arauz, R., Correa-Chávez, M. & Angelillo, C. (2003). Firsthand learning through intent participation,
Klein, E., Teubal, E. & Ninio, A. (2009). Young Children’s Developing Ability to produce notations in Different Domains — Martí, E. & Garcia-Mila, M. (2010). Progresos en la diferenciación funcional entre
dibujo, escritura y numerales en niños de 4 a 7 años. Estudios de Psicología, 31, Annu. Rev. Psychol., 54, 175–203.
Drawing, Writing, and Numerical. In C. Andersen, N. Scheuer, M. del P. Pérez Echeverría & E. Teubal (Coords.), Representational
339-352. Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University
systems and practices as learning tools, 39-58.