Research in Early Childhood Science Education

✍ Scribed by Kathy Cabe Trundle, Mesut Saçkes (eds.)

• Publisher: Springer Netherlands
• Year: 2015
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 390
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This book emphasizes the significance of teaching science in early childhood classrooms, reviews the research on what young children are likely to know about science and provides key points on effectively teaching science to young children. Science education, an integral part of national and state standards for early childhood classrooms, encompasses not only content-based instruction but also process skills, creativity, experimentation and problem-solving. By introducing science in developmentally appropriate ways, we can support young children’s sensory explorations of their world and provide them with foundational knowledge and skills for lifelong science learning, as well as an appreciation of nature. This book emphasizes the significance of teaching science in early childhood classrooms, reviews the research on what young children are likely to know about science, and provides key points on effectively teaching young children science. Common research methods used in the reviewed studies are identified, methodological concerns are discussed and methodological and theoretical advances are suggested.

✦ Table of Contents

Front Matter....Pages i-viii
The Inclusion of Science in Early Childhood Classrooms....Pages 1-6
Young Children’s Motivation for Learning Science....Pages 7-34
Young Children’s Ideas About Earth and Space Science Concepts....Pages 35-65
Young Children’s Ideas About Physical Science Concepts....Pages 67-97
Children’s Ideas About Life Science Concepts....Pages 99-123
Too Little, Too Late: Addressing Nature of Science in Early Childhood Education....Pages 125-141
Development of Science Process Skills in the Early Childhood Years....Pages 143-165
The Use of Technology in Teaching Science to Young Children....Pages 167-184
Physical-Knowledge Activities for the Development of Logico-mathematical Knowledge....Pages 185-209
Science and Literacy: Considering the Role of Texts in Early Childhood Science Education....Pages 211-236
Role of Play in Teaching Science in the Early Childhood Years....Pages 237-258
A Modeling-Based Inquiry Framework for Early Childhood Science Learning....Pages 259-277
Connecting Young Children with the Natural World: Past, Present and Future Landscapes....Pages 279-297
Teaching Science to Young Children with Special Needs....Pages 299-324
Science Education for Young Emergent Bilinguals....Pages 325-351
Assessment in Early Childhood Science Education....Pages 353-380
Back Matter....Pages 381-390

✦ Subjects

Science Education; Teaching and Teacher Education; Childhood Education; Learning & Instruction