A cultural‐historical study of how educators create conditions for infant and toddler learning in science

Author:

Fleer Marilyn1ORCID,March Sue1,Suryani Anne1ORCID

Affiliation:

1. School of Educational Psychology and Counseling, Faculty of Education Monash University Melbourne Victoria Australia

Abstract

AbstractCalls to bring more equity into science education research (McWayne and Melzi, 2023) are most notable for early childhood. We know very little about the teaching of science to infants and toddlers, yet this is where science education begins. To address the dearth in research, we undertook an in‐depth intervention study in an Australian early childhood center with six educators working with 11 infants and toddlers learning science (1.1–2.0 years; mean 1.6) to identify how educators support science education for infants and toddlers in a play‐based setting over 10 sessions. Specifically, our research question was how do educators create the conditions and interact with infants and toddlers in play‐based setting to support the learning of science. We found a form of co‐operation between educators and infants that centered on educator sensitivity to infants and toddlers noticing the science, educators generating rather than following infant interest, focused thinking spaces, use of scientific language by the educators, planned conceptual progression, and the use of props as placeholders for scientific meaning that acted as pivots and prompts for infants in imaginary situations. We argue that under the conditions of an intervention study where educators planned and taught science to infants, that greater insights into how to teach science to such young children was possible, thereby making available evidence‐informed practice in an under researched area to guide educators working with infants and toddlers.

Publisher

Wiley

Reference26 articles.

1. Conceptual Play Worlds as a pedagogical intervention: Supporting the learning and development of the preschool child in play‐based setting;Fleer M.;Obutchénie,2019

2. Conceptual PlayWorld for Infant-Toddlers: The Unique Nature of Becoming a Science Learner in the Early Years of Life

3. Fleer M. March S. &Suryani A.(In Press). Contradictions and roadblocks: A cultural‐historical study of educator beliefs and practices in the teaching of science concepts to infants and toddlers International Journal of Science Education.

4. The dialectical relation of real and digital Conceptual PlayWorlds in Family Day Care

同舟云学术

1.学者识别学者识别

2.学术分析学术分析

3.人才评估人才评估

"同舟云学术"是以全球学者为主线,采集、加工和组织学术论文而形成的新型学术文献查询和分析系统,可以对全球学者进行文献检索和人才价值评估。用户可以通过关注某些学科领域的顶尖人物而持续追踪该领域的学科进展和研究前沿。经过近期的数据扩容,当前同舟云学术共收录了国内外主流学术期刊6万余种,收集的期刊论文及会议论文总量共计约1.5亿篇,并以每天添加12000余篇中外论文的速度递增。我们也可以为用户提供个性化、定制化的学者数据。欢迎来电咨询!咨询电话:010-8811{复制后删除}0370

www.globalauthorid.com

TOP

Copyright © 2019-2024 北京同舟云网络信息技术有限公司
京公网安备11010802033243号  京ICP备18003416号-3