本研究旨在探討學前兒童對食物來源之認知型態。研究樣本為45位4歲、54位5歲，共99位學前兒童。以開放式、一對一訪談方式，探詢兒童對8種常見食物來源的看法。研究結果發現：(1)根據兒童對食物來源答案內容，可歸納出包括：家中、商店、人種／養、土／水中、動／植物、卵／種子、其他等7種答案類型。(2)因食物不同，各答案類型百分比分布不同，顯示兒童對不同食物來源，認知層面上的差異。(3)其中「家中」和「商店」，是兒童最常用以推論食物來源的二類答案，此一現象反映出，學前兒童根據時空接近性(temporal and spatial contiguity)，推論事物關係之思考模式；及偏愛從「人為介入」觀點，看待食物生產機制之解釋型態。(4)從分析兒童推論食物來自動／植物、卵／種子等答案內容發現，在學前階段，部分兒童已認知食物生物性本質；體認卵／種子之於生物生命初始階段之意義；以及動／植物會「成長」、需要「水／食物」等生物學屬性。 The purpose of the present study was to investigate preschool children's recognition of food origins. Subjects consisted of 99 preschool children including 45 4-year-olds and 54 5-year-olds. Children were interviewed one-on-one using open-ended questions about where eight familiar food items came from. Results of the study were as follows. (1) Children's responses were categorized in terms of seven answer types (home, store, raising/planting, land/water, animal/plant, egg/seed, and others). (2) Percentages of the distributions among the seven answer types varied with the food items. Results indicated that children recognized the origins of food items from different aspects. (3) "Home" and "store" were the most often answer types given by both 4- and 5-year-old children. This result reflects that children might draw inferences of food origins based on temporal or spatial contiguity. The children were likely to use a "human intervention" explanation mode when reasoning about the processes of food production. (4) Some of the children recognized that food originated from plants/animals or seeds/eggs. The contents of the answers revealed that these preschool children recognized the relation of a food to its plant/animal entity, and understood the links of seeds/eggs to the beginning of living things. Children recognized the biological properties such as growth, and the need for food/water by living things.
