Understanding Changes In Time

This text provides an analysis of how children come to be able to understand the dynamic nature of causality - how processes take place through time. The author studies the capabilities and limitations of 7-12 year old children in order to assess their conception of evolutionary processes. His study follows on from Piaget's work on causality, and is intended to contribute to the literature on "theory of mind" and children's scientific development. The book draws on experimental studies of diachronic thinking in children and adults, and discusses the importance of a well-developed diachronic perspective for cognition.

Jacques Montangero University of Geneva, Switzerland.,

Time as a perspective of knowledge - the diachronic approach and scientific discovery; the development of the diachronic approach in children aged 7- 8 to 11-12 - method and population; the evolution of conceptions of biological transformations the growth and decay of trees; the diachronic approach and physical transformations; children as budding developmental psychologists; the representation of changes associated with human activity which are not necessarily predictable; general conclusions: the diachronic approach and diachronic thinking - their nature, development and importance for knowledge.