The article examines how migrant children in Sweden are fostered to become 'Swedish' in a preschool setting aiming to integrate them and their families into the Swedish society. The analysis, where Bernstein's (1971Bernstein's ( , 2000 concepts of classification, framing, and reconceptualization are used, shows how the children are fostered against a background of everyday nationalism, produced in preschool curriculum, recontextualized in the talk of the educators and reproduced in everyday routines in the preschool setting. The analysis also shows how the image of the rich and competent child, emphasized in Swedish policy documents and the national child centred pedagogy, does not apply to children constructed as the 'other'. Instead, a controlled pedagogy aiming to compensate for something perceived as lacking in the children is legitimized.

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This paper explores language practice in early childhood education for children new to the majority language, discussing how language practice can be transformed through actions such as reflexive dialogues with educators. In a Swedish action-research project, educators and researchers collaborated in reflexive dialogues to develop language practice in a preschool with large linguistic diversity. Various activities forming the basis of the dialogues were implemented, including photography by children enabling them to share their experiences. The results indicate that the educators positioned themselves between two common approaches to language practice for migrant children, i.e. multilingualism and monolingualism, a positioning evident in their language practice. Although striving for a multilingual approach, the educators' daily activity structure and talk about the children recalled monolingual norms, assuming that people with access to several languages must master one before learning another. Through implementing actions including children's perspectives and introducing 'translanguaging', language practice developed towards multilingualism, focusing increasingly on language as a process for expression and meaning-making rather than a tool for mastering the majority language. This approach turned educators away from deficit assumptions, instead emphasising children's skills and agency.

The present study reports an empirical investigation into concept formation of young children. Based on interviews conducted before and after participating in a playfully enacted chemistry lesson at a culture center, it is analyzed how 6-year-old children conceptualize water, molecule, and chemistry. Theoretically, the study is informed by Vygotsky's cultural-historical perspective on concept formation. The empirical data consist of pre-and post-interviews with children and documentation of their participation in the intermediate activity. This documentation is used in the post-interviews as a mutual ground for talking with the children about what they remember and how they understand the activity they participated in and what the activity intended to illustrate. The results are presented in terms of three inductively generated categories: 'everyday', 'experientially-based', and 'generalized experiences' concepts, respectively. The implications of these findings for early childhood chemistry (science) education are discussed.

This article explores how verbal relations between child and researcher may support the child's reasoning and making sense of physical motion. In an earlier study, 64 children aged 6-14 participated in one-toone reflective dialogues. Some of them developed their reasoning during the dialogue, and used an exploring approach to make sense of physical motion. For the present study, 6 transcripts were re-analyzed concerning the interplay between the researcher and the 6-year-olds who used this approach, aiming to explore the pedagogic relation, namely how the children used language to understand physical motion and how they were supported by the researcher. The analysis revealed some conditions for a pedagogic relation: the adult uses an inviting approach, directing the child's awareness by framing the phenomenon, directing and reflecting the child's awareness towards their use of language, and asking for the child's perspective. Children who used an exploring approach spoke of the phenomenon 'as', expressed awareness of their own use of language, and tested and developed meanings. The results are discussed in relation to science education in early childhood settings, and ways of helping children expand their reasoning using an exploring approach to scientific phenomena.