Enquiry-based science in the infant classroom: ‘letting go’

Abstract

Enquiry-based science in primary classrooms is key to encouraging children's interest and curiosity about the world around them and as a result helps to stimulate their understanding and enjoyment of science. Yet many primary teachers lack the confidence to implement enquiry-based approaches effectively. The reasons are myriad and often result in the teacher controlling and orchestrating the lesson leaving little room for children's exploration and autonomy. This paper explores how one infant school teacher was willing to relinquish control and 'let go' expanding her pedagogical repertoire to manage the many obstacles to including enquiry-based science in her classroom. The autonomy the children were given resulted in genuine enquiry-based science with the consequential benefit to their learning. Furthermore the teacher's confidence and self-efficacy seem to have been raised ensuring that that she would continue to include enquiry-based science as part of her practice in the future. Whist this is a small scale study and therefore lacks generalisability used as a model for other primary teachers this approach could help them overcome their reticence to engage with enquiry-based science.

Development of an Instrument to Measure Preschool Teachers´ Beliefs in Inquiry-Based Activities

“…Collaborative group work of children should be introduced and fostered from an early age to ensure that the benefits of this way of learning are maximised. The research confirmed that this level of inquiry-based science was difficult, but with a teacher´s support it is possible for even very young children to work in groups (Byrne et al, 2016).…”

“…A major factor that influences implementing inquiry-based activities in class is teachers´ beliefs in their professional potentials. If they have strong beliefs, they are comfortable with planning science activities and implementing valuable exploration tasks that support children´s curiosity, creativity and enjoyment in exploration of the world (Byrne et al 2016;Pendergast, Lieberman-Betz, & Vail, 2017;Wang, Kinzie, McGuire, & Pan, 2019).…”

“…Science activities are an integral component of preschool education worldwide. They are based on children´s interest and curiosity about the world around them, and -if organized efficiently -they bring valuable learning benefits (Byrne, Rietdijk, & Cheek, 2016;Eshach, 2003;Hollingsworth & Vandermaas-Peeler, 2017). Inquiry-based activities require that the teacher possesses professional knowledge and experience but also holds beliefs that such activities are developmentally adequate, stimulate children´s understanding of science and generate children´s enjoyment in inquiry.…”

La imaginación y la Enseñanza de las Ciencias Naturales en la Educación Básica Primaria

“…En cuanto a las estrategias y actividades para la enseñanza, se hace referencia al trabajo cooperativo (Thurston et al, 2010), las situaciones problema (Macedo, citado en Campos et al, 2012), la mediación dialéctica (Almeida et al, citados en Belchior y Brefere, 2013), la investigación (Byrne et al, 2016;Navarro, 2011), la experimentación (Corrêa y Kojy, 2013), la explicación de fenómenos (Gómez, 2013), los mapas evolutivos (Navarro, 2015), concept cartoons (Galera y Reyes, 2015), los recursos semióticos (Frejd, 2018), el juego de roles (Vilchez y Ramos, 2015), la aplicación de entrevistas (Navarro, 2015), y a las simulaciones visuales y experiencias kinestésicas (Kocareli y Slagle, 2014; Plummer et al, 2014). Estas actividades y estrategias buscan el desarrollo de competencias científicas como analizar, predecir, clasificar (Furman, 2012; Galán y Martín, 2013; Martín y Galán, 2012), resolver problemas (Campos et al, 2012;Corrêa y Kojy, 2013;Torrecilla, 2018), capacidad de trabajo individual y en grupo (De Pro y Rodríguez, 2014a, 2014b, Silva, 2013; West y Wallin, 2013), observar (Frejd, 2018;Gallegos et al, 2013;Gómez, 2013); lo cual está en consonancia con los planteamientos establecidos por la UNES-CO (2016).…”

Trainee teachers’ experience of primary science teaching, and the perceived impact on their developing professional identity

“…They aspired to see context-specific modelling of science teaching in order to effectively reflect upon their own levels of efficacy. It is established that trainees require a breadth and depth of training opportunities both in and out of the classroom (De Juanas Olivaa et al, 2009;Marusic, Jugovic and Loncaric, 2017) so as to develop their confidence and enhance their level of pedagogy (Caires, 2012;Byrne, Rietdijk and Cheek 2016).…”