Children's Development of Concepts Related to Country and Nationality: A Canadian Perspective
Keywords:
National identity, Nationality concepts, Child development, Spatial cognitionAbstract
The acquisition by children of information related to their native country or nationality has been the object of previous studies by Piaget in Switzerland and Jahoda in Scotland. The present study was motivated by the fact that there are very few investigations of this type in other countries, and especially in Canada. Our sample consisted of 40 boys and 40 girls, all between ages 6 and 12, attending two schools in a middle-class neighborhood in London, Ontario. Our research, like that of Piaget, was conducted using interviews, general questionnaires, and group work sessions involving an entire class. Our goal was successive measurement of the children's verbal comprehension of geographical relations, their ability to indicate these relations spatially, and their overall comprehension of their nationality.
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