Children’s naive theories about the mechanism of rainfall and related phenomena naive theories about mechanism of rainfall

Abstract

This manuscript presents a synthesis of research literature on the development of children’s conceptions of the mechanism of rainfall and related phenomena. Young children’s understanding of condensation and evaporation, origin of clouds, and formation of rainfall are described. Collective findings of the reviewed research literature suggest that children’s emerging ideas and explanations regarding mechanism of rainfall and related phenomena frequently conflict with scientific explanations. Nonetheless, children might have a potential to understand the water cycle and the mechanism of the rainfall concepts prior to the first grade. Young children might benefit from teaching the fundamental concepts of water cycle and develop scientifically acceptable understandings of the mechanism of rainfall if developmentally appropriate, play and guided-inquiry based instructional strategies are used. Five directions for further research are identified: longitudinal studies to examine children’s learning progressions, children’s science learning experience in and out of the home contexts, gender socialization in early science learning, cultural and geographical factors influencing children’s conceptual understandings, and effective instructional strategies that promote children’s understandings of the mechanism of rainfall.