Dramatisering i spänningsfältet mellan som om och som är och sexåringars meningsskapande av kemiska begrepp och processer

Abstract

In this study, we discuss dramatizing as a form of play-responsive teaching in early childhood education. Based on empirical observation, the purpose of the study is to contribute to knowledge-building through offering possibilities for children to make sense of scientific knowledge by engaging in mutual fantasizing about certain fundamental processes and concepts in chemistry. The empirical foundation consists of interviews conducted with eleven 6-year-old children after they had participated in a workshop at a culture center for children where they dramatized certain chemistry concepts and processes. Theoretically, dramatizing is understood as role play in an imaginary dimension (as if) and learning is conceptualized in terms of the appropriation of cultural tools and practices. Based on our analysis, we argue that central to dramatizing (and in general, play-responsive teaching) is how participants distinguish, relate and shift between engaging with the phenomena and the processes of as if and as is.

Preschool Class Children and Grade One Pupils’ Questions about Molecules from a Digital Interactive Session at a Culture Center in Sweden

“…Åkerblom and Pramling [11] analyzed how six-year-olds reasoned about their experiences and how they understood the content after participating in a drama activity focusing on molecules at a culture center. The starting point for the project was to see how the children manage the relationship between imagination (as if) and scientific content (as it is).…”

“…Between these poles (the world "as if" and "as it is"), a tension field was described, which the children dealt with by reasoning in different ways: pretending to be molecules, using familiar phenomena such as similes to reason about things that are challenging, coordinating "as if", but also taking part in what the drama teacher imagines. In summary, Åkerblom and Pramling [11] found that the children used linguistic resources that they could master at the time, such as similes, to approach the scientific content, which would otherwise have required other linguistic resources to reason about. The researchers discuss the children's navigation between "as if" (the fantasy used in the pretend world they use in their play and stories) and "which it is" (the real world they perceive through their senses in reality) in the same way scientific phenomena that children experience through their senses need to be described in a manner so that children can actually understand them.…”