A Method for Investigating Children's Understanding of Certain Logical Connectives Used in Binary Propositional Thinking

A theoretical frame of reference and an experimental method are described for investigating children's understanding of such logical connectives as If … then in certain binary propositions. A game is played with coloured beads and counters between experimenter and child which both obviates the need to use ‘naturally’ connected binary propositions and at the same time prevents the rejection of the propositions on account of their arbitrariness. The games consist essentially of a bead draw by the experimenter followed by a responding draw of a counter by the child, according to the instructions for each game. The frequencies of different conjunctions of bead and counter draws ( pq , where p and q are different kinds of beads and counters respectively) are obtained and converted to proportions. These proportions are compared with those expected theoretically according to the definitions of the main binary propositions.