Background: Although science and technology are viewed as closely related subjects, they are rarely combined in preschools. Purpose: This article investigates preschool teachers' perspectives on integrating digital tools when teaching science, asking how and why they use digital tools, and examining the affordances they experience and obstacles…

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…

Earlier studies have discussed the usefulness of storytelling and hands-on activities when teaching young children science. However, few studies have investigated the use of the two methods in combination. This study reports on five pre-school teachers' experience of combining storytelling and hands-on activities in teaching science and their…

Connectedness to nature (C2N) shows a positive relationship with many factors supporting children's health, wellbeing, and development. In addition, C2N has been shown to have a positive relationship with learning about and caring for nature. Despite a long history of outdoor education in early childhood settings in Sweden, C2N is not a concept…

Numerous initiatives are carried out across the world to support science teaching in early childhood education. However, professional development research shows that in order for teaching interventions to bring about successful changes in practice, it is key that teacher's beliefs, confidence and knowledge change. As a complement to studies…

This article seeks to provide a framework for recognizing and realizing the pedagogical potential of arts-science integration in early childhood. Herein, I present five ways of positioning arts vis-à-vis science and associate them with different learning opportunities. I have analyzed if and how these positionings come into play in teachers'…

This paper describes analysis of teaching instances that are part of an in-service preschool teachers programme about chemistry and physics in preschool. The aim is to develop knowledge about the communication established between teacher and children in relation to an object of learning, specifically the role of intersubjective communication in…

This study aims to determine what pre-service teachers know about the path of water through the body, and how they intend to explain this knowledge to five-year-old preschool children. This study aims to see the opportunities young children in preschool can obtain from an explanation of the nature of science related to an everyday life activity. A…

Current research points out the need to develop early childhood education science content didactics. This qualitative study contributes to the field, illuminating teacher's and children's communication about physics. Teaching activities in five preschools, children age 1-5, are inspired by a science teaching model including digital support. The…

This paper studies the scaffolding of conceptual development for children aged 4-5 years old during a science project at a Swedish preschool. It specifically examines how bodily knowledge and language are used in interaction, and how conceptual knowledge can be scaffolded with the use of external tools and artefacts. The science project was…

This research is concerned with how children's processes of imagination, situated in cultural and social practices, come into play when they invent, anticipate, and explore a problem that is important to them. To enhance our understanding of young children's learning and meaning-making related to science and sustainability, research that…

This study focuses on the design of play-based learning activities for chemistry in preschool. Viewing chemistry as a part of our past and present culture instead of as a subject, provides the backdrop for a more holistic approach to chemistry within this specific environment. A cultural-historical perspective, together with scaffolding, emergent…

This article grasps the essence of how a science content can be foregrounded by elaborating around concepts as floating and sinking, in relation to boats. The data consist of a videotaped authentic session with one preschool teacher and four children. The model of pedagogical reason and action [Shulman, L. S. 1987. "Knowing and Teaching:…

With the aim of exploring how science is done in collaborative interactions when children discuss reasons for animal diversity, this paper provides insight into the relationships between acts of doing science and collaborative interactions. Video data from four small-group discussions (N = 14) were analysed using Lemke's (1990) talking science…

This article seeks to contribute to an early childhood specific conceptualisation of physics education. The article is a collaboration between a researcher in science education and two preschool teachers and revolves around the teachers' work with 2-4 year old children. Grounded in a posthumanist understanding of the world, we focus on physics…