Approaching change of state in early childhood education: the design of a teaching intervention based on storytelling

Abstract

Eliciting preschool children’s ideas in research, generally, and in science, particularly, necessitates the utilization of suitable methods that contribute to empowering children to share their ideas and experiences. In this paper we propose and discuss the potential of a research-based teaching intervention designed to foster preschool children’s understanding of change of state and build a precursor model of melting and freezing. The proposed teaching intervention is based on the idea that storytelling provides a meaningful context for children, using a language within their experience. It also suggests to engage the children into drawing activities at various steps of the intervention, considering that drawing is a powerful tool to support children’s expression of ideas in science and follow the development of such ideas. The paper discusses the possibilities that emerge from the proposed teaching intervention for the learning of scientific concepts, and in particular, the choices made to link storytelling, drawing activities and discussions with the children.