Teaching science in early childhood

In the present study, the effect of a didactic method for preschool science was tested and implemented into the normal teaching courses during 7 consecutive weeks. Children were 3–6 years old and were encouraged to explore different materials and situations in rich and multivariate contexts with the aid of 15 activities. The activities consisted of three phases: an introduction phase, an exploration phase and a trigger phase (where a teacher asked a series of probe questions). Four preschool classrooms of two different schools participated in the experiment (N=75). The effectiveness of the method was assessed with the aid of a pre- and a posttest design and a control group. Compared to controls, results showed that after the intervention was finished, children executed more informative and less uninformative explorations during their spontaneous play. In other words, experimentals were more able to generate particular interventions that isolate variables and maximize the potential for information gain. It was argued that these children were more inclined to pay attention to the underlying structure in which a complex of variables was embedded. Furthermore, the importance of such programs was discussed in the field of STEM education.status: publishe