Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

Children have difficulty reconciling their observations of the sky (an Earth-based perspective) with scientific modelsof the solar system (space-based perspectives) (e.g., Vosniadou & Brewer, 1994). Analogical comparison could be an effectiveway to address this cognitive challenge. By comparing and aligning different perspectives on events, such as sunrise, childrenmay develop a more coherent understanding of the solar system. The present experiment tested this theory by varying the pres-ence of explicit comparisons between Earth-based and space-based perspectives during a multi-day lesson about the day-nightcycle. Children (N=63, Mean age=8.57) were randomly assigned to one of four learning conditions: one that involved guidedcomparison of perspectives, two that involved similar tasks but without comparison, or a control (no instruction) condition. Wefound that children in the guided comparison condition had the greatest learning gains on a task that involved demonstratingthe day-night cycle using a model Earth and Sun.