Preschool Teachers Talk about Science – Positioning Themselves and Positioning Science.
Author(s):
Britt Tellgren (presenting / submitting)
Conference:
ECER 2015
Network:
27. Didactics - Learning and Teaching
Format:
Paper

Session Information

27 SES 03 B, Teacher Professional Developement in Didactics of Science

Paper Session

Time:
2015-09-08
17:15-18:45
Room:
202.Oktatóterem [C]
Chair:
Ingrid Maria Carlgren

Contribution

In 2011 the Swedish preschool curriculum was revised, strengthening the learning goals for science as well as for Swedish language, mathematics and technology (National Agency for Education, 2011). This revision implied an expansion from the former emphasis in preschool science education on biological and environmental issues to also include the development of children’s understanding of chemical processes and physical phenomena. Further children´s concrete experience of scientific investigations was pointed out as significant in preschool science education (National Agency for Education, 2011). This curriculum revision puts the spotlight on the responsibility of the preschool teacher, and a question is whether changed learning goals require a changed teacher role.

Earlier research has reported problems concerning how science is taught in preschool, for example in connection to preschool teachers’ attitudes towards science, their lack of skills and their lack of confidence in teaching the subject (e.g. Garbett, 2003; Spector-Levy, Baruch and Mevarech, 2011). In this discussion, new perspectives on the teacher’s role in science activities have been brought forward (Sundberg and Ottander, 2013, Andersson and Gullberg, 2012, Thulin, 2011, Fleer, 2009). On the one hand, providing an environment for children’s own investigations is often seen as the teacher’s role (Fleer, 2009, Thulin, 2011). In ‘teaching free zones’ children are expected to ‘discover’ science knowledge and skills (Sundberg and Ottander, 2014). On the other hand, there are also a number of studies advocating that adult guidance is a cornerstone in children’s science learning experiences (Inan, Trundle & Kantor, 2010; Nayfeld, Brenneman & Gelman, 2011; Peterson & French, 2008). Further, Andersson and Gullberg (2012) raise the need for new epistemological perspectives of teaching science in preschool, which in turn may generate new perspectives on the teachers’ role during science activities. Siraj-Blatchford (2001) initiated this discussion by suggesting that early learning of science and technology requires a new curriculum, which both is responsive to children's individual needs and accepts the diversity of children's experiences, interests and development. Inspired by Hall's (1987) term 'emergent literacy' Siraj-Blatchford suggested the term Emergent science. This term later has been used to emphasize a shift from viewing preschool science activities as mere concept learning or/and a way to reach pre-determined answers to scientific questions, towards promoting children’s scientific skills, attitudes, understandings and language through their shared investigations (Johnston, 2008, Larsson, 2013).

Drawing on the previous research discussed above, the study reported in this paper investigates how preschool teachers deal with the changing assignment in preschool science education. The study aims to examine how preschool teachers who present a practice with a more comprehensive science content, including a broader range of subjects and activities, describe their practice and their view of science in preschool. The research questions are:

(i) how do the teachers position themselves as pedagogues working with science in preschool, and

(ii) how do the teachers position science in preschool.

The approach is theoretically framed with a sociocultural perspective on learning, in which practices are viewed as situated within historical and cultural contexts that give them structure and meaning (Lave and Wenger 1991).

Method

The study is based on 24 semi-structured individual interviews with preschool teachers from 11 Swedish preschools. The preschools represent different suburban areas of two middle-sized towns in Sweden. They are all within walking distance of recreational areas with footpaths, forests or small shrubs, rocks and grass areas. All have their own fenced outdoor playgrounds and are situated in buildings designed for specific activities, such as construction, painting and eating. The surrounding residential areas are in all cases except one suburban, the remaining one is situated in the countryside. All but one preschools are units for children aged between 3-6 years. One preschool is a unit for children aged 1-2. The data was collected between October 2011 and June 2014 in the different preschool units.The selection of these preschools was based on an inquiry directed towards preschools in these two towns. The preschools selected presented themselves as having a broad repertoire of science activities. The interviews, lasted from 30-60 minutes, focused on n views on the preschool’s assignment, science, teaching science in preschool context and teachers’ role in such activities. The questions were partly based on observations made during earlier visits to the preschool. In the analysis we use positioning theory (Harré & van Langehov, 1999), which have been used to study interactions between individuals and between individuals and their contexts, and also to examine how people position themselves in relation to available discourses framing their life and activities. Positioning is a discursive process, conscious or unconscious, in which people through conversations placing themselves and others as part of a jointly produced narrative or storyline (Davies & Harré, 1999). In our analysis, we investigate how preschool teachers’ position themselves as educators who manage science in preschool and how they position science in this context. Their narratives and standpoints form different storylines concerning mutually coherent ways of handling science in preschool. Ethical principles relating to basic individual protection requirements were followed (Swedish Research Council 2011) with regard to information, informed consent, confidentiality and the use of data.

Expected Outcomes

The preschool teachers position science in preschool as permissive. They acknowledge imagination, creativity and intuition as a part of science, they place science as easy to access and as present in their surroundings and in their daily duties. They put forward children’s hypothesis and interests in an antiauthoritarian way. The teachers further position themselves as pedagogues, competent to manage science in preschool. Science in preschool is not seen as a problem but as a joy and a possibility. The preschool teachers’ talk about science in preschool can be interpreted as crossing borders between different discourses about science and science education. A very prominent storyline is that Science in preschool is something different from science in school. This storyline includes a positioning of science in preschool as something different from school-science. An antiauthoritarian line of thinking is visible through the teachers’ views on who possesses knowledge. This can be seen against the teachers’ focus on ”the competent child” and that activities must be based and guided by the children’s interest. Other storylines are Science as a part of everyday life, Science as joint investigations and Science as active and pleasurable learning. The goals for science in the revised Swedish curriculum for preeschool has very open formulations and differs a lot from the goals in science in the school curriculum. This gives the teachers in preschool more freedom when it comes to handle science and our results indicate that they do take advantage of that opportunity.

References

Andersson, K., and A. Gullberg. 2012. What is science in preschool and what do teachers have to know to empower the children? Cultural Studies of Science Education, Online first doi10.1007/s11422-012-9439-6 Berge, M. & Danielsson, A.(2013). Characterising Learning Interactions: A Study of University Students Solving Physics Problems in Groups. Reseach in Science Education 43: 1177-1196. Garbett, D. 2003. Science education in early childhood teacher education: Putting forward a case to enhance student teachers’ confidence and competence. Research in Science Education 33, no. 4: 467-481. Hall, N. 1987. The emergence of literacy. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Harré, R & van Langehov, L. (1999). Positioning theory: Moral contexts of intentional action. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. Fleer, M. 2009. Supporting Scientific Conceptual Consciousness or Learning in ‘a Roundabout Way’ in Play-based Contexts, International Journal of Science Education 31(8): 1069–89. Inan, H. Z., and K.C. Trundle, and R. Kantor. 2010. Understanding natural sciences education in a Reggio Emilia-inspired preschool in America. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 47 no. 10: 1186-1208. Johnston, J. 2008. Emergent Science. Education in Science, 227: 26-28. Larsson, J. 2013. Children’s Encounters with Friction. Friction understood as a phenomenon of emerging science and as ‘opportunities for learning’. Journal of Research in Childhood Education 27, no. 3: 377-392. Lave, J., and E. Wenger. 1991. Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. National Agency for Education. 2011. Curriculum for the preschool Lpfö 98, revised 2010. Stockholm: Fritzes. http://www.skolverket.se/publikationer?id=2704 Peterson, S. M., and L. French. 2008. Supporting young children´s explanations through inquiry science in preschool. Early Childhood Research Quarterly 23: 395-408. Spector-Levy, O., Y. Kesner Baruch, and Z. Mevarech. 2011. Science and Scientific Curiosity in Pre-school - The teacher's point of view. International Journal of Science Education, iFirst Article, 1-28. Sundberg, B. and C. Ottander. 2013. The Conflict Within The Role: A Longitudinal Study of Preschool Student Teachers' Developing Competence In and Attitudes Towards Science Teaching in Relation To Developing A Professional Role, Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, 34(1): 80-94. Thulin, S. 2011. Teacher Talk and Children’s Queries: Communication about Natural Science in Early Childhood Education (Doctoral thesis in Swedish). University of Gothenburg, Faculty of Education, Gothenburg, Sweden. Swedish Research Council. 2011. Good Research Practice. Stockholm: Swedish Research Council

Author Information

Britt Tellgren (presenting / submitting)
Örebro university
School of Humanities, Education adn Social Sciences
Örebro

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