Abstract
The general aim of the current study was to investigate the role of definitional skills in promoting primary school achievement (third- to fifth graders) and how school learning may shape definitional skills. Marks from four school subjects, linguistic (Italian and English) and scientific (Math and Science) were collected as well as scores in a Definitional Task. These two domains were chosen as they clearly entail the two different definition types, that is, lexicographic and scientific. Results indicated that scientific school subject marks are more predictive of definitional skills than linguistic school marks are. The opposite direction (i.e., how definitional skills are predictive of school achievement) appears less clear. In sum, the results, although preliminary, suggest that definitional skills represent a bridge towards school achievement as they promote good marks in all disciplines. Moreover, definitional skills are predicted from levels of competence acquired especially in scientific school subjects that request a higher degree of formal/organized learning. It is then of primary importance to promote interaction–integration between these two kinds of concepts via formal schooling.
Highlights
The general aim of the current study was to investigate the role of definitional skills in determining primary school achievement from third to fifth grade
Independent sample t-tests were run on the three age groups
The general aim of the current study was to investigate the role of definitional skills in determining primary school achievement, from third graders to fifth graders
Summary
Sustainability 2022, 14, The current study is aimed at investigating the role of definitional skills in school achievement. The role of language in school success is well established (e.g., lexical, morphosyntactic, semantic knowledge); less is known about definitional skills, a topic relatively understudied. We will give an overview on what definitions are and on the two main types of definitions (i.e., lexicographic and scientific). We will briefly describe how definitional skills develop and in particular, how it relates to school achievement analyzing the most relevant and recent contributes. We will anticipate aims and design of the current study
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