10. Linking behavioral training and scientific thinking

This study demonstrates the continuity between Japanese picturebooks about toilet training for very young children (0-3) and the use of subjects related to toilet training and bodily functions to introduce scientific concepts and ways of thinking about the body and the world to readers of elementary-school age. The authors suggest that knowledge about bodily functions may be used to increase control over those functions in an effort to encourage uniform behavior in young children.

• Affiliations: 1: Nagoya University of Foreign Studies