Journal of Child Language

Table of Contents - 1992 - Volume 19, Issue 03  

Articles

The development of children's knowledge structures: events, slots, and taxonomies*

Marie A. Sella1 c1

a1 Memphis State University

ABSTRACT

Seventeen preschool (age range 2;10–3;6), 26 kindergarten (age range 5;5–6;7), and 26 fourth-grade (age range 9;5–10;5) children's knowledge structures were examined with a word association task and a match-to-sample picture task to determine whether or not children used slot-filler categories as a mediating structure between event-based and taxonomic knowledge structures, as proposed by Nelson (1985, 1986). In general, preschool children were able to provide event-based, but not slot-filler or taxonomic, relations; kindergarten children were able to provide event-based or slot-filler relations, but very few taxonomic relations; and fourth-grade children were able to provide all three relations. These findings support Nelson's hypothesis that taxonomic knowledge structures are derived from event-based knowledge structures with the aid of slot-filler categories.

(Received December 11 1989)

(Revised September 03 1991)

Correspondence:

c1 Department of Psychology, Memphis State University, Memphis, TN 38152, USA.

Footnotes

* This research was partly supported by an NICHHD Training Grant (No. HD07255) awarded to the University of Kansas, Bureau of Child Research. Preparation of this manuscript was supported by a Center of Excellence Grant awarded to the Department of Psychology at Memphis State University by the State of Tennessee. I wish to thank Susan Kemper and Robert Cohen for their comments and suggestions on earlier versions of this manuscript.