Children’s Astronomy. Shape of the earth, location of people on earth and the day/night cycle according to polish children between 5 and 8 years of age

Abstract

This article presents findings with regard to mental models of the shape of the earth, location of people on earth and the day/night cycle, established on the basis of statements of 49 polish children aged from 5 to 8 years. During the interviews, the children made moving representations of the day and night sky and explained the position of and mutual relations between the earth, sun and moon using self-made plasticine models. The article establishes a high degree of similarity with the Vosniadou and Brewer models and states that children's astronomical knowledge mainly comes from extracurricular sources of information.