Science verbs as a tool for investigating scientific phenomena – a pedagogical idea emerging from practitioner-researcher collaboration

Abstract

This paper communicates the pedagogical idea of approaching scientific phenomena through verbs. The idea has sprung from a collaboration between preschool practitioners and a researcher, addressing science education in preschool (children aged 1-5 years). Drawing on a joint problem inventory, the project group aimed to create a teaching model that supports inquiry-oriented approaches to science, and teachers' ability of distinguishing chemical processes and physics phenomena in everyday practice. The core idea of the teaching model turned out to be a list of everyday verbs, connected to scientific phenomena. Starting from verbs appear to help teachers to recognise the scientific phenomena in everyday practice. Further, the verbs guide the formulating of questions that can be answered by scientific inquiry, such as: ''what matters to how something melts/rolls/mixes?''.The goal of this article is twofold, one being to present experiences from a design-based practitionerresearcher collaboration, particularly the issues of power and ownership in a process where participants join in at different stages. A second goal is to present the pedagogical idea that has emerged from this collaboration, namely the idea of using science verbs as a tool for investigating chemical processes and physical phenomena in everyday practices.

Why do teachers adopt or resist a pedagogical idea for teaching science in preschool?

“…This particular project was initiated by me, and five educators working in a pedagogical development centre, from here on referred to as 'The Centre'. The problem inventory and goal formulation of this project have been presented elsewhere (Areljung 2016), but in short our main objective was to support teachers' work with chemistry, physics and inquiry in preschool (Figure 1).…”

“…In order to test our hypothesis, we engaged teachers to implement and develop the verb idea in practice. At this point, the verb idea basically consisted of a list of verbs, including short descriptions of how the verbs relate to physics and chemistry (see Table 1, and for an extended version [Areljung 2016]).…”

“…Across the globe, numerous initiatives have been carried out to support teachers to provide science learning in ECE. The initiatives span from the transnational science programme La main à la pâte (Académie des Sciences, France), with 40 partners in 5 continents, to national programmes such as PrimaryConnections (Australian Academy for Science), and local projects such as the teacher-researcher collaboration, which this article builds on (Areljung 2016). Further, many schools and preschools use materials for hands-on activities that are constructed by external actors and packaged in 'science boxes', such as the commercial Empiribox (United Kingdom).…”

Capturing the world with verbs: Preschool science education beyond nouns and objects

“…Capturing the world with verbs: Preschool science education beyond nouns and objects. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood 21(1), 70-82. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1463949118805438 educational goal was to develop pedagogical models or materials for educators to support children to develop knowledge of chemical processes and physical phenomena (Areljung, 2016). As is common in design-based research the research aim was two-folded, aiming to contribute knowledge on both the model or materials developed and the design process itself (Plomp, 2013).…”

“…The project was inspired by design-based research, where both practitioners and researchers are involved in formulating the problem and setting out goals, and where a model addressing these goals is developed through implementation in practice (Plomp, 2013). Our educational goal was to develop pedagogical models or materials for educators to support children to develop knowledge of chemical processes and physical phenomena (Areljung, 2016). As is common in design-based research, the research aims were twofold, aiming to contribute knowledge on both the model or materials developed and the design process itself (Plomp, 2013).…”