Play with Science in Inquiry Based Science Education

In science education students sometimes engage in imaginary science-oriented play where ideas about science and scientists are put to use. Through play, children interpret their experiences, dramatize, give life to and transform what they know into a lived narrative. In this paper we build on the work of Vygotsky on imagination and creativity. Previous research on play in primary and secondary school has focused on play as a method for formal instruction rather than students’ spontaneous informal play. Our aim is to explore students’ informal play as part of activity in lower secondary school science. The empirical study was conducted as part of a larger study on learning, narrative knowing and remembering in inquiry based science education in two Swedish compulsory schools. Data were collected during 10 weeks using video- and audiotape recordings. Our analyses of play show that the students step in and out of play when engaging in task completion. Play offers opportunities for sense-making, opposition and exploration of ways of enacting science identities. Implications for teaching science are that teachers, in order to promote students’ learning about science as a cultural endeavor and students’ learning about themselves in relation to science and scientist communities, may encourage students’ informal play.LIN