Investigating the teacher’s roles for the integration of science learning and play in the kindergarten

Abstract

This article builds on data from an action research project concerning a play-based intervention on magnetic phenomena that took place in a kindergarten classroom in Patras-Greece. By analysing the teacher’s diary and following step by step the way she addressed a science intervention with the main intention to build on children’s ideas, interests, and questions, we aimed to develop knowledge of the teacher’s role to science learning in early childhood education, when free and guided play activities are implemented and mutually interchanged. The results indicated four main roles, which are enacted in various contexts by the teacher, and four resources she drew upon for addressing the integration of science learning with play.