The digestive system (DS) is a fundamental topic in biological science teaching. However, the literature indicates that students have difficulties in learning about it. In the present work, we focus on how early childhood Pre-Service Teachers (PSTs) develop their understanding of the DS regarding the CMP (Components-Mechanisms-Phenomena) framework…

This study aims to examine the impact on environmental attitudes and awareness of kindergarten pupils of an intensive education programme based on basic science process skills including the 'reduce, reuse and recycle (3Rs)' paradigm for preschool children. A quasi-experimental pattern with non-equivalent pretest-posttest and with a control group…

Using a verbal protocol, this study investigated how 38 second-grade students identify, describe, and interpret five types of commonly used visual graphics in science texts (i.e., cut-away diagrams, maps, captioned photographs, flow diagrams, and hybrids). Additionally, we explored the challenges students encountered when interpreting these…

Swedish preschool science practice is confined to a unique educational setting where upbringing, care, and education are intertwined. This allows teachers to develop innovative cross-curricular and multidimensional science teaching. At the same time, society demands the digitalization of preschool practice, which has caused concern not only about…

The link between science education and early childhood education is still blurred. This is so because many science education researchers apparently, but mistakenly, believe that the way young children interrogate and investigate the world around them is not appropriate for their understanding of scientific concepts. Although there is an effort…

In this essay from a teacher in Argentina, Valeria Vincent describes how she employed Multiple Literacies in Project-based Learning (MLPBL) (Krajcik, Palincsar, and Miller 2015). ML-PBL, an open education free resource, has three design principles that support teacher and student learning and satisfaction. ML-PBL builds on teacher ingenuity and…

Experimentation is widely accepted as being central to science education. However, anxiety about experimentation often prevents its use. While a considerable number of studies on anxiety related to laboratory experimentation have been conducted, studies on in-class experimentation is limited. In the research study reported on here we explored the…

Even though children are natural scientists, many preschools isolate and limit science, which can cause children to miss out on valuable learning experiences and school readiness skills. Additionally, minimizing science at the preschool level fails to set a solid foundation for K-12 science education. In this single case study, we focused on the…

In many countries, play is the vehicle for teaching and learning, requiring early childhood teachers to recognize and assess children's demonstrations of knowledge and capabilities as they are displayed during play. In the context of science learning, assessing what children know already, referred to as "assessment for learning," equips…

As an introduction to sound and vibration, the authors wanted their first-grade students to plan and conduct their own investigations. In this article, the authors share a series of investigations to help students explore the relationship between sound and vibration. By planning, creating, testing, adapting, and reflecting on the outcomes of the…

Background: Preschool teachers play a key role in early scientific education, and their understanding and ability to communicate scientific concepts are crucial. Researchers have extensively studied their grasp of basic scientific concepts, but their understanding of important concepts related to buoyancy, such as floating and sinking, remains…

Worldwide, there is growing recognition of the importance of science in early childhood education. Doing science or, more formally, "science and engineering practices," is acknowledged as a critical component of early science education that requires support from the adults in children's lives. Moreover, engaging in science practices…

This study explores a third-grade teacher's (Deb) developing knowledge and practice for incorporating representations into her teaching of science over the course of 2 years. Data was gathered from the same science unit (Rock Formation) over 2 years, and consisted of video of seven lessons, one of which was the same lesson taught over both years.…

Hypothesis-based reasoning with conditionals is a skill that is required for engaging in integral activities of modern elementary school science-curricula. The teaching of this skill at this early stage of education, however, is demanding, particularly in whole school classes in which it is difficult to adapt teaching to children's individual…

In science education, the improvement in students' ability to construct arguments at the primary school level has been reported. Although these studies have identified difficulties in arguments written by primary school students, they do not indicate areas that require improvement in teaching methods. This study aims to explore the possibility of…