Playing With Science: Manifestation of Scientific Play in Early Science Inquiry

• In Event: New Directions in Portraying Science Content for Learning

Abstract

Drawing on socio-cultural theorizing, this case study investigates scientific play during inquiry-based science activities framed by imagination and play (i.e. Poetry Science). The data were gathered in Finnish pre-school groups with children aged 5 to 6 years old (N: 31) over a 5-week period. The data consist of video recordings, observational field notes, and artefacts, subjected to multimodal analysis. The results show that scientific play has four characteristics: i) creating and maintaining an imaginary science situation, ii) assigning new meanings to science objects and processes, iii) combining imaginary situation and problem solving, and iv) engaging in science talk in an imaginary situation. The study shows how play is entangled with children’s science inquiry, with implications for early science education.

Authors

• Jenni Vartiainen, University of Helsinki

• Kristiina P. Kumpulainen, University of Helsinki