Role of Play in Teaching Science in the Early Childhood Years

Akman, Berrin; Özgül, Sinem Güçhan

doi:10.1007/978-94-017-9505-0_11

Cited by 24 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…An inquiry approach to early science education is not uncomplicated as more attention has been directed to implementing it among older children (Fleer 2009). Further, many researchers have argued for the importance of incorporating play in young children's science inquiry (Bulunuz 2013;Andrée and Lager-Nyqvist 2013;Fleer 2013 Akman andÖzgül 2015;Caiman and Lundegård 2018;Fleer 2019). For instance, Bulunuz (2013) states that children gain a better understanding about science concepts if they are introduced in playful ways.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Playing with science: manifestation of scientific play in early science inquiry

Vartiainen

Kumpulainen

2020

European Early Childhood Education Research Journal

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Drawing on sociocultural theorizing, this case study investigates and unpacks the qualities of scientific play during children's inquirybased science activities framed by imagination and play (i.e. Poetry Science). The data were gathered in Finnish preschool groups with children aged five to six years old (N: 31) over a fiveweek period. The data consist of video recordings, observational field notes, and artifacts, subjected to multimodal analysis. The results show that scientific play that manifested throughout young children's inquiry process has the following four characteristics: (i) creating and maintaining an imaginary science situation, (ii) assigning new meanings to science objects and processes, (iii) combining imaginary situations and problem solving, and (iv) engaging in science talk in an imaginary situation. The study shows how imagination and play are important elements of children's science inquiry, with implications for early science education.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Playing with science: manifestation of scientific play in early science inquiry

Vartiainen

Kumpulainen

2020

European Early Childhood Education Research Journal

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“…Scientific reasoning refers to the set of thinking skills involved in conceiving and conducting an investigation, which includes making hypotheses or predictions, doing experiments, interpreting results, evaluating data characteristics and drawing conclusions (Pedaste et al, 2015). These skills start developing around age 4, mostly through play or by observing others (Akman & Güchan Özgül, 2015;Buchsbaum, Gopnik, Griffiths, & Shafto, 2011;Cook, Goodman, & Schulz, 2011) and are cultivated further in elementary education and beyond, where both direct instruction and inquiry-based teaching methods provide rich opportunities for children to advance in scientific reasoning (Sandoval, Sodian, Koerber, & Wong, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Patterns of Development in Children’s Scientific Reasoning: Results from a Three-Year Longitudinal Study

Lazonder

Janssen

Gijlers

et al. 2020

Journal of Cognition and Development

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Scientific reasoning refers to the thinking skills involved in conceiving and conducting an investigation. This study examined how proficiency in performing these skills develops during the upper-elementary school years. A sample of 157 children (age 7-10) took a performancebased scientific reasoning test in three consecutive years. Four distinct developmental patterns emerged from their annual test scores, which were independent of prior domain knowledge and sociodemographic characteristics except gender. Developmental patterns in scientific reasoning and reading comprehension, but not math, were related such that many children with a high entry level or accelerated growth in scientific reasoning also performed better and progressed more in reading comprehension. These results indicate that scientific reasoning develops differently in same-age children, largely independent of personal characteristics but generally comparable with reading comprehension.

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“…Play is considered as an effective and developmentally appropriate pedagogical tool for young children in the Turkish Preschool Education Program (MEB, 2012). Inquiry-based science instruction in the early years can be easily integrated with play, and such science learning activities are likely to facilitate young children's engagement, promote scientific thinking skills, and develop conceptual understanding of scientific phenomena (Akman & Güçhan Özgül, 2015;Baldwin, Adams, & Kelly, 2009;Bulunuz, 2013;Fleer, 2011;Miller, Trundle, Smith, Saçkes, & Mollohan, 2013;TrawickSmith, 2012). Therefore, early science learning activities targeting space science concepts, including the day and night cycle, should be inquiry-based and presented within the context of play.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Kindergartners’ Mental Models of the Day and Night Cycle: Implications for Instructional Practices in Early Childhood Classrooms

2015

EDUC SCI-THEOR PRACT

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This study aims to examine kindergarten children's mental models of the day and night cycle and provide implications for pedagogical practices targeting space science concepts in early childhood classrooms. A total of 46 kindergartners participated in the study, their age ranging from 60 to 75 months, including 22 boys and 24 girls. Semi-structured interviews involving three tasks (verbal explanations, model manipulation, and model labeling) were conducted to collect the study data and children were individually interviewed. The data were analyzed using the model identification methodology. The results demonstrated that more than half of the children had naïve mental models of the day and night cycle with the distance model being the most common naïve model held by the children. A total of eight children held synthetic models of the day and night cycle while only six children held a scientific model of the day and night cycle. The findings of this study suggest that children possess limitations in verbally providing causal explanations. The use of models during the interviews helped children in expressing their ideas in a more competent manner, thereby overcoming their limitations in producing verbal explanations. Implications for pedagogical practices to support learning of the day and night cycle in early childhood classrooms are provided.

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Role of Play in Teaching Science in the Early Childhood Years

Cited by 24 publications

References 58 publications

Playing with science: manifestation of scientific play in early science inquiry

Playing with science: manifestation of scientific play in early science inquiry

Patterns of Development in Children’s Scientific Reasoning: Results from a Three-Year Longitudinal Study

Kindergartners’ Mental Models of the Day and Night Cycle: Implications for Instructional Practices in Early Childhood Classrooms

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