Abstract:
The purposes of this thesis were to compare the understanding of the concepts of life and death in five- to- seven- year- old healthy children. Participants were 180 kindergarten and primary school student; 60 students in each age group. The instrument was modified from the study of Slaughter & Lyons (2003). One-way ANOVA was used for statistical analysis. The results are as follows: 1. The six- and the seven- year- old children have significantly higher scores in the concept of life than the five- year- olds (p < .05). However, the six- and the seven- year- old do not differ in their scores in the life concept. 2. The six- and the seven- year- old children have significantly higher scores in the concept of death than the five- year- olds (p < .05). However, the six- and the seven- year- olds do not differ in their scores in the death concept. 3. The childrens understandings of the subcomponents of death are as follows: The- five- six and the seven- year-olds are able to understand cessation, the six- and the seven- year- olds are able to understand inevitability, and the seven- year- old are able to understand irreversibility.