Children's conceptions of ‘living’ and ‘dead’

Abstract

The current exploration of children's understanding of science concepts is followed up in this paper. A study of children's ideas on ‘living’ and ‘dead’, conducted in Tanzania during 1987, is described. The study was conducted with elementary school children, and a number of alternative conceptions were revealed. The role of sociocultural beliefs in forming these conceptions is described, and the implications of these findings for science teaching and teacher education are discussed.