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General Science |
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The universe has room for change, by Dan Vergano: Pluto's push from the planetary pantheon last week shows that change is the only constant in science, just as in the rest of life. Chinese science activist duels with philosopher claiming proof of maths conundrum: A Chinese philosopher claims to have proved a century-old maths conundrum. However, a science activist calls the proof a fraud. This is the latest scene in a Chinese science soap opera on the well-known four color theorem. Quantum Quackery, by Victor J. Stenger: Quantum physics is claimed to support the mystical notion that the mind creates reality. However, an objective reality, with no special role for consciousness, human or cosmic, is consistent with all observations. Anatomy of a Scientific Revolution: Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science publish the most comprehensive study yet on the structure of a scientific revolution. Pope says science no threat to faith, by Philip Pullella: Science made such rapid progress in the 20th century that people may sometimes be confused about how the Christian faith can still be compatible with it, Pope Benedict said on Friday. But science and religion are not opposed to each other and Christians should not be afraid to try to understand how they compliment each other in explaining the mystery of life on Earth, he told the Vatican's doctrinal department. Using Methods of Cognitive Science, Noted Psychology Professor Seeks Understanding of ESP: Rex G. Stanford, Ph.D., was a high school student in Texas when he came to a conclusion that would shape his professional life: some of the world's greatest mysteries, however puzzling, can be understood and explained through the principles of science. Government vs. Science, by Yaron Brook: "The political fighting over embryonic stem cell research is the inevitable result of government funding of science," said Dr. Yaron Brook, executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute. 'Science is on its deathbed', by Seethalakshmi S & Mathang Seshagiri: Science in India is on its deathbed. Sounding this red alert is none less than Prime Minister's scientific advisor C N R Rao. Balance science, ethics, by Mike Leavitt: Science can answer many questions about how nature works, but science alone cannot answer profound moral and ethical questions that policymakers and society must consider. Jon Stewart `Hurts the Country,' Science Finds, by Andrew Ferguson: As if in answer to the unavoidable question, ``Do college professors have way, way, way too much time on their hands?,'' a pair of political scientists from East Carolina University released the results last week of their 18- month study of the influence that Jon Stewart, the TV comedian, has on U.S. democracy. New science coalition to challenge global warming - Wants to provide alternative to UN body: A group of New Zealand climate scientists have announced the formation of the New Zealand Climate Science Coalition to refute what it believes are unfounded claims about man-made (anthropogenic) global warming. For Science's Gatekeepers, a Credibility Gap, by Lawrence K. Altman, M.D.: Recent disclosures of fraudulent or flawed studies in medical and scientific journals have called into question as never before the merits of their peer-review system. Science over ethics?, by Julian Rush: Iran is encouraging stem cell, fertility and even cloning research. But have ethical consequences been damned? Over in Washington a bill to allow state funding of stem cell research goes before the Senate today, in the teeth of strong opposition from the religious right. Science involves more than just facts: Science is not just a collection of facts, according to the U.S. Department of Education. Of course, facts are an important part of science: Water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit (or 0 degrees Celsius), and the Earth moves around the sun. But science is much, much more, the department said. Birth of modern science revealed, by Ian Sample: London - A LONG-LOST 17th century manuscript charting the birth of modern science has been found gathering dust in a cupboard in a house in southern England. Filled with crabby italics and acerbic asides, the 520 or so yellowing and stained pages are the handwritten minutes of the UK Royal Society (of eminent scientists) as recorded by the brilliant scientist Robert Hooke, one of the society's original fellows and curator of experiments. Stanford Ethicists Explain Why Science Needs Strong Ethical Culture: A prim reminder not to lie, cheat or steal -- that is the extent of the ethics lessons for many young scientists. The idea that such an education could have prevented scandals like the one that occurred recently in South Korea "strains credibility," said two ethicists from the Stanford University School of Medicine. Let's teach science in the science classroom, by Alan I. Leshner: Science is, in simplest terms, a method of explaining the natural world. It's a problem-solving process requiring not only an open mind but also hard evidence. Politics versus science: Mixing politics with science produces bad science and casts a shadow over government's efforts to fund medical and scientific research, protect public health, and oversee the approval of new prescription drugs. This work requires high standards in the publication of scientific information, and in the appointment of researchers and advisers on the basis of merit, not politics. We can't change definition of science, by Sherri Byrand: When I worked for the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), I was privileged to speak privately with Charles H. Townes, a Nobel laureate. He told how the idea for the maser, the laser's predecessor, came to him as he sat on a park bench, with him frantically writing about the revelation on an envelope. Basics missing in 'sandpit science', by Karen Brown and Jill Rowbotham: Science curriculums in Australian schools are becoming dangerously unscientific as education departments bow to the politically correct dogma of cultural relativism. Teachers and academics claim students are being taught "sandpit science" dictated by a dumbed-down syllabus that ignores basic scientific teaching. Sciences in subjective mode, by Kevin Donnelly: Last year, a group representing Australia's leading scientific bodies signed an open letter arguing intelligent design is unscientific and should not be taught alongside the theory of evolution. The scientists argued that whereas evolution can be tested, teaching science students that a supernatural being was responsible for creation "would be a mockery of Australian science teaching... Panelists weigh limits on science - Ethical questions ask how far research should be allowed to go, by Annalyn Censky: With the constant threat of bioterrorism and the danger of science falling into the wrong hands, scientists, lawyers and ethicists are asking whether some scientific research should be forbidden. Laboratory Ethics - What Makes Some Scientists Cheat?: Is it a matter of shoddy work in the lab? A problem of excessive deference by junior researchers to senior scientists? Or does the case of the suspect stem-cell experiments in South Korea - an episode that is shaking the biomedical field worldwide - point to a severe lapse of research ethics? Is Psychology Losing Its Way?, by Warren Throckmorton: A recent book edited by eminent psychologists Rogers Wright and Nicholas Cummings delivers a stunning indictment of the mental health professions. Destructive Trends in Mental Health: The Well-Intentioned Path to Harm documents and critiques the ascent of social activism over open-minded scientific inquiry and quality mental health care in the current mental health establishment. This book is a must-read for anyone who cares about mental health care in this country. Global Trend - More Science, More Fraud: The South Korean scandal that shook the world of science last week is just one sign of a global explosion in research that is outstripping the mechanisms meant to guard against error and fraud. Experts say the problem is only getting worse, as research projects, and the journals that publish the findings, soar. What is science? Part I (The demise of positivism), by Lloyd Eby: Today's evolution vs. intelligent design controversy has provoked popular discussion of some central questions of philosophy of science: What is science? Does or can science lead to certainty? How is genuine or true science to be distinguished -- demarcated, to use a philosopher's term -- from non-science or pseudo-science? Is there really a bright line and an inevitable conflict between science and religion? Putting ideas in words: Today, the 2006 Science Writer Awards are launched by The Daily Telegraph, Bayer and the Royal Society. Here, the nation's top scientist, Martin Rees, reflects on how hard it can be to put brilliant research into words. U.S. disregard for science is shameful, by Nocholas Kristof: The best argument against "intelligent design" has always been humanity itself. At a time when only 40 percent of Americans believe in evolution, and only 13 percent know what a molecule is, we're an argument at best for "mediocre design." But put aside the evolution debate for a moment. It's only a symptom of something much deeper and more serious: a profound illiteracy about science and math as a whole. Report Says States Aim Low in Science Classes: Nearly half the states are doing a poor job of setting high academic standards for science in public schools, according to a new report that examined science in anticipation of 2007, when states will be required to administer tests in the subject under President Bush's signature education law. The Life Cycle of Science, by Sam Vaknin, Ph.D.: This, indeed, is the main presenting symptom, the distinguishing hallmark, of paralytic old disciplines. They deny reality. They are rendered mere belief-systems, myths. They require the suspension of judgment and disbelief, the voluntary limitation of one's quest for truth and beauty, the agreement to leave swathes of the map in a state of "terra incognita". This reductionism, this schizoid avoidance, the resort to hermeticism and transcendental authority mark the beginning of the end. Looking for God in a busted particle - A visit to the world's biggest atom smasher, by Peter Calamai: A quantum of distinguished Canadian physicists jabbers away in awe, craning over slender railings for a better look at a giant's Meccano set. Below them, in an activity akin to building a ship in a bottle, five storeys of complex electronics and metal parts are being assembled piece by piece with a clockmaker's precision in a cavern 100 metres beneath the surface of the Swiss countryside. The perils of layman science: Science has always been dotted with mistakes. The possibility of error is even greater in case of a new theory within the field of high technology. However, the history of science has also been that of overcoming such tendencies and patiently discovering new truths. Albert Einstein as a Philosopher of Science: Einstein's philosophical habit of mind, cultivated by undergraduate training and lifelong dialogue, had a profound effect on the way he did physics. Nowadays, explicit engagement with the philosophy of science plays almost no role in the training of physicists or in physics research. What little the student learns about philosophical issues is typically learned casually, by a kind of intellectual osmosis. Ground-Breaking Work on New Laws of Motion Shakes the Foundations of Modern Physics: A paper published in the July issue of Progress in Physics is under scrutiny by some of the world's top physicists. The work in the paper presents an alternative to Newton's laws of motion along with a theory of gravitation and a new account about the nature of time. Is Psychology a Science?, by Sam Vaknin, Ph.D.: All theories - scientific or not - start with a problem. They aim to solve it by proving that what appears to be "problematic" is not. They re-state the conundrum, or introduce new data, new variables, a new classification, or new organizing principles. They incorporate the problem in a larger body of knowledge, or in a conjecture ("solution"). They explain why we thought we had an issue on our hands - and how it can be avoided, vitiated, or resolved. Bush isn't the only one who's anti-science, by Stuart Derbyshire: The Republican War on Science is on the money about the Bush administration. But it neglects to mention the sins of Democrats and even scientists themselves. Newton trumps Einstein in poll of influence: Einstein proved Newton wrong and is yet to be proved wrong himself, but has nevertheless been knocked into second place in a Royal Society vote. Science by Vote?: In science, progress is always made through the process of building on the achievements of others. Even theories that completely change the contours of scientific understanding -- paradigm shifts as the historian of science, Thomas Kuhn, called them -- proceed from the conclusions of previous theories. Einstein's respectful heretic - João Magueijo says the speed of light isn't constant, but he's not trying - to be rude, by Peter Calamai: Even when raising his voice above the din of Sunday brunch at a Queen West café, João Magueijo does not evoke the image of an angry man determined to challenge one of Albert Einstein's chief legacies, and perhaps pull down the edifice of modern physics. Sofia University Rector - Science is Growing Apart from Real Life: "I am seriously concerned how the science is growing apart and cannot be applied to real life", Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski's rector Prof. Boyan Biolchev stated at the opening of the 6th International Rectors' Meeting on the topic of "Three stages: horizontal and vertical of education." What science can't prove, by Jonah Goldberg: God, unlike, say, North Dakota, has an uncanny gift for staying in the headlines. A man named Michael Newdow continues to prove that bad head cases make for bad law, by suing again to cleanse the public square of all references to God. This time around he's decided that "In God We Trust" on our money has been a symbol of theocratic oppression all of these years and we didn't even know it. Showing some faith in science, by Charles Krauthammer: Because every few years this country, in its infinite tolerance, insists on hearing yet another appeal of the Scopes monkey trial, I feel obliged to point out what would otherwise be superfluous -- that the two greatest scientists in the history of our species were Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein, and they were both religious. Newton's religiosity was traditional. He was a staunch believer in Christianity and member of the Church of England. Einstein's was a more diffuse belief in a deity who set the rules for everything that occurs in the universe. Philosophy promotes scientific temper: Philosophy allows people to question the world and develop a critical and independent spirit to understand each other by providing conceptual tools and encouraging, listening, thought and exchange of views, said S Jayarama Reddy, Vice-Chancellor of SV University. In his inaugural address at a meeting organised by the department of Philosophy in SV University here on Friday, to observe 'International Philosophy Day', Reddy said that the social problems had become endemic in our society and it would be relevant to give some consideration to the problems, philosophy can help and be an anchor in society. Modern Science - Shades of the Scholastics: Debra Saunders writes that the global warming orthodoxy in science is getting increasingly intolerant. This actually comes at an interesting time, because I've just received a review copy of The Politically Incorrect Guide To Science from Regnery - which I will review for The New Libertarian in due course - and have just finished re-reading James Hogan's book on the increasing rigidity in science in general, Kicking the Sacred Cow. Science at the Crossroads, by Dalai Lama: The last few decades have witnessed tremendous advances in the scientific understanding of the human brain and the human body as a whole. Furthermore, with the advent of the new genetics, neuroscience's knowledge of the workings of biological organisms is now brought to the subtlest level of individual genes. This has resulted in unforeseen technological possibilities of even manipulating the very codes of life, thereby giving rise to the likelihood of creating entirely new realities for humanity as a whole. Philosophers Notwithstanding, Kansas School Board Redefines Science, by Dennis Overbye: Once it was the left who wanted to redefine science. In the early 1990's, writers like the Czech playwright and former president Vaclav Havel and the French philosopher Bruno Latour proclaimed "the end of objectivity." The laws of science were constructed rather than discovered, some academics said; science was just another way of looking at the world, a servant of corporate and military interests. Everybody had a claim on truth. US robot builds copies of itself, by Roland Pease: US researchers have devised a simple robot that can make copies of itself from spare parts. Writing in Nature, the robot's creators say their experiment shows the ability to reproduce is not unique to biology. Are Jews Smarter?, by Jennifer Senior: Did Jewish intelligence evolve in tandem with Jewish diseases as a result of discrimination in the ghettos of medieval Europe? That's the premise of a controversial new study that has some preening and others plotzing. What genetic science can tell us -- and what it can't. In the Classification Kingdom, Only the Fittest Survive, by Carol Kaesuk Yoon: Carolus Linnaeus, the 18th-century botanist and father of scientific naming, enjoyed the unusual status of international scientific hero. Celebrated as the creator of a classification system that brought order to the flood of new species being discovered, Linnaeus was revered in his native Sweden and was so widely admired across Europe that he became one of the most frequently painted figures of the 1700's. Having Inaccurate Self-Insights Has Serious Consequences: Dozens of studies agree: Most people overrate their own abilities. This tendency can have severe consequences: young adults making poor decisions about college and careers, pilots flying into storms and overconfident doctors making erroneous diagnoses. According to a Cornell University expert on self-insight who has published two studies on the topic as well as a new book, "Over a lifetime, people base thousands of decisions on impressions of their skill, knowledge, expertise, talent, personality and moral character." However, says David Dunning, professor of social psychology at Cornell, "People's capacity to evaluate themselves and predict their behavior is usually quite modest and often much more meager than common intuition would lead one to believe." Earth-shaking tenets, the very essence of Vaasthu, by S BS Surendran: The surface of the earth, according to traditional cosmology, was divided into two parts, the East and the West on the basis of sunrise and sunset and into North and South on the basis of the magnetic poles. If you can visualise a grid encompassing these four points you will get a square, known as the mandala. The Earth's tilt on its axis, the flow of magnetic lines that envelope the surface of the Earth, the effect of sunlight and moonlight collectively, all have an effect on our existence. Unweaving the Heart - Science only adds to our appreciation for poetic beauty and experiences of emotional depth, by Michael Shermer: Nineteenth-century English poet John Keats once bemoaned that Isaac Newton had "Destroyed the poetry of the rainbow by reducing it to a prism." Natural philosophy, he lamented, "Will clip an Angel's wings/Conquer all mysteries by rule and line/Empty the haunted air, and gnomed mine/Unweave a rainbow." Does a scientific explanation for any given phenomenon diminish its beauty or its ability to inspire poetry and emotional experiences? Scientific temper and the argumentative Indian: Scientific temper is one of the attributes that Pandit Nehru wanted all of us Indians to cultivate. This involves the application of logic and reasoning, and the avoidance of bias and preconceived notions in arriving at decisions, and becomes particularly valuable while deciding what is best for the community or the nation. Discussion, argument and analysis are vital parts of scientific temper. It is thus necessarily open -- admitting every point of view, however heterodox it might be, or where it comes from. Elements of fairness, equality and democracy are built-in. Two eloquent phrases characterise a group that practices scientific temper -- internal pluralism and external receptivity. Genetic Map of Chimps May Show What Makes Us Human: Recently, an international team of scientists said it has prepared a partial genetic map of a chimp. They found that ninety-six percent of the chimp genes are exactly the same as human genes. Scientists say the remaining four percent may help to explain what makes humans different from chimps. They also say knowing the genetic differences may prove useful in medical research. Cosmological iconoclasts offer new ideas - From the Big Bang to carbon atoms, mysteries abound, by Keay Davidson: In recent years, our knowledge of the cosmos, its origins and evolution has improved by leaps and bounds. But is our new knowledge as reliable as it appears? Maybe not, if one believes a few doubters. If one judged solely by the newspaper headlines, or by what schoolchildren are taught in science classes, one might think that scientists unanimously agree on the details of the Big Bang theory of cosmic origins; on the reality of a mysterious force called dark energy, which is allegedly driving the universe to expand faster over time; and on the existence of many other things that might, in fact, be mirages -- or, at least, more poorly understood than orthodox researchers acknowledge. Psychology qualifies: In response to Michael Pech's Sept. 6 Forum letter, I only wish that I could have experienced the wonderful "pre-liberalized" education that he refers to. I'm not sure how the author defines science, but if a field that uses the scientific method is a science then psychology qualifies. Mr. Pech argues that psychology has lost its way, as it should be the study of the soul. Aristotle thought the psyche was the thinking part of the soul or the steps of thinking itself. The author criticizes psychology by writing that other sciences have facts and laws whereas psychology has just opinions. How comets may have 'seeded' life on Earth, by Peter N. Spotts: Some scientists have long held the notion that comets delivered many of the chemical building blocks of organic life. NASA's Deep Impact mission to comet Tempel 1 has substantially strengthened their case. This week, at a meeting in London and in results published in Thursday's edition of Science Express, Deep Impact scientists say they have found high levels of organic chemicals beneath the surface of Tempel 1's core. Ford project to bring NASA scientists, Vedic scholars together: Scientists from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration will join hands with Vedic scholars to explore mysteries of ancient Indian cosmology at a Vedic Planetarium about 100 km from Kolkata, once the initiative of Alfred Brush Ford, scion of the United States automobile giant Ford, bears fruit. Planned at Mayapur, an ancient seat of Vaishnavism and global headquarters of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, the plantarium forms part of a Rs 283-crore economic initiative by Ford, an ISKCON devotee. U of T Research Uncovers Genetic Instructions to Build Life: Life at its most basic level - millions of chemical building blocks holding hereditary information - is controlled by genetic instructions, or genes, responsible for healthy development and protection against disease. By feeding biological data into an artificial intelligence program, University of Toronto researchers have uncovered these instructions to build mammalian life. Researchers Find Clue to Start of Universe: If you want to hear a little bit of the Big Bang, you're going to have to turn down your stereo. That's what neighbors of MIT's Haystack Observatory found out. They were asked to make a little accommodation for science, and now the results are in: Scientists at Haystack have made the first radio detection of deuterium, an atom that is key to understanding the beginning of the universe. The findings are being reported in an article in the Sept. 1 issue of Astrophysical Journal Letters. It's not the IQ, stupid, by Melanie McDonagh: So now we know. Women's IQ is, on average, five points less than men's. That is the conclusion of two researchers' summaries of 57 academic studies on gender and intelligence in the British Journal of Psychology in November. Book your copies now for debating this exciting topic at those dinner parties where people get worked up about that sort of thing. Investigating the controversy about whether bisexual men exist: A study published in the current issue of Psychological Science investigates the controversy about whether bisexual men exist. In terms of behavior and identity, they clearly exist as there are men who have sex with both men and women. Upon measuring genital, as well as, self-reported sexual arousal to male and female stimuli, researchers found that, in general, bisexual men did not have a strong genital arousal to both male and female sexual stimuli. Korean scientist describes cloning progress, by Jin Yoon: Hwang Woo Suck, a professor at Seoul National University and pioneer in stem cell research, addressed the Korean community at Stanford on Aug. 12 with a lecture entitled "Life, Science, Technology and Our Future." His presentation outlined his South Korean team's recent breakthroughs in the field. Chimpanzee culture 'confirmed', by Helen Briggs: Primate experts say they have proven that chimpanzees, like humans, show social conformity. By training captive chimps to use tools in different ways, they have shown experimentally that primates develop cultural traditions through imitation. This has long been suspected from observations in the wild, but has not been shown directly. Four Keys to Cosmology - The big bang theory works better than ever - If only cosmologists could figure out that mysterious acceleration, by George Musser: In what is widely regarded as the most important scientific discovery of 1998, researchers turned their telescopes to measure the rate at which cosmic expansion was decelerating and instead saw that it was accelerating. They have been gripping the steering wheel very tightly ever since. New Conclusions About Origins, by Adrian Ng: The other night, my friend and I were eating buffalo wings and drinking beer at Murphy's when he mentioned a trend that was intriguing to me. Apparently, in the field of astrophysics, there is a resurgence of religious interest. Astrophysicists are discovering that the fabric of the universe contains an astonishing level of fine-tuning. The current structure of the universe actually requires an extraordinarily delicate balance among numerous physical constants and conditions. This finding, together with the Big Bang theory that suggests a definite origin for the universe... Survival of Big Bang Theory at stake?: The most darling theory of Big Bang is at stake, in fact it is sinking. Since the book titled "Two Big Bangs Created the Universe" (Formed in Eternal Space) by Dr. Raj Baldev, Cosmo Theorist from India, was published in 2003 questioning its soundness, great many scientists followed the lead and started raising many similar questions on the Big Bang theory, how far it is accurate? Last week, some scientists attended a conference in Mongao, Portugal to review the Big Bang Theory that proved the first ever crisis in Cosmology. Cosmological iconoclasts offer new ideas - From the Big Bang to carbon atoms, mysteries abound, by Keay Davidson: In recent years, our knowledge of the cosmos, its origins and evolution has improved by leaps and bounds. But is our new knowledge as reliable as it appears? Maybe not, if one believes a few doubters. Are happier people less wise?, by Humair Hashmi: People who feel miserable because of flawed thinking are more realistic than the so-called "normal" ones. Research shows that non-miserable, normal, people usually exaggerate their competence and believe that they are well-liked by others. Miserable people do not indulge in such wishful thinking. Misconceptions about the Big Bang - Baffled by the expansion of the universe? You're not alone. Even astronomers frequently get it wrong, by Charles H. Lineweaver and Tamara M. Davis: The expansion of the universe may be the most important fact we have ever discovered about our origins. You would not be reading this article if the universe had not expanded. Human beings would not exist. Cold molecular things such as life-forms and terrestrial planets could not have come into existence unless the universe, starting from a hot big bang, had expanded and cooled. Neuroscientist mesmerizes science city, by Roger Snodgrass: He may not know yet what consciousness is, but Christof Koch is on a daring mission to find it. As the honored speaker at Monday night's J. Robert Oppenheimer Memorial Lecture, Koch conjured the wonder and passionately defined the substance of his quest to find a scientific explanation for the brain's ability to pull awareness out of a mass of specialized organic molecules. They Sing the Comet Electric, by David McCandless: Dissident scientists advocating a controversial theory of the universe are having a field day in the wake of NASA's Deep Impact comet collision earlier this month. Scientists promoting the Electric Universe model say their predictions for the comet mission appear to have been more accurate than NASA's. The Electric Universe theorists, collected at Thunderbolts.info, believe that electricity, when factored properly into astrophysics, plays a greater role in the cosmos than the standard gravitational model, which says electrical forces are insignificant on a cosmic scale. The "Infallibility" of Psychopathology, by DONALD MENDER, M.D.: The editorial by George S. Alexopoulos, M.D. (1), rightly pointed out the limitations of a strictly scientific approach to the understanding of mental illness. His reliance on the philosophy of science to illuminate the social context in which scientific theories of psychopathology rise and fall is admirable and, in its own restricted way, helpful. However, he failed to push his exploration as far as it can go. Our genes make us like similar others, study reveals: A new study of twins shows that people's spouses and best friends are about as similar to them as brothers and sisters -- more than was previously known. The study, which was conducted by J. Philippe Rushton and Trudy Ann Bons of the University of Western Ontario, also suggested that this preference for similar others is at least partly determined by genes. The Shape of Things To Come: The human genome project may be near completion, but the "real" human-genome project is just getting underway. Scientists now know the sequences of most of our genes. But they don't necessarily know how those genes work or, considering that most of the genome is "junk" DNA that doesn't contribute to the body's normal functioning, whether they work at all. In other words, we've got all the pieces, but we still need to put the puzzle together. Mindful of Symbols, by Judy S. DeLoache: On the way to learning that one thing can represent another, young children often conflate the real item and its symbol. These errors show how difficult it is to start thinking symbolically. |
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