Umeå University's logo

umu.sePublications
Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
The role of children’s drawings in science teaching: A comparison across preschool, preschool class and early primary school
Umeå University, Faculty of Science and Technology, Department of Science and Mathematics Education. Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Umeå Centre for Gender Studies (UCGS). Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of applied educational science. UmSER.ORCID iD: 0000-0001-7273-5442
Umeå University, Faculty of Science and Technology, Department of Science and Mathematics Education.
Umeå University, Faculty of Science and Technology, Department of Science and Mathematics Education.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-5269-1451
Örebro universitet.
Show others and affiliations
2018 (English)Conference paper, Oral presentation only (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

Particularly since many children in early childhood education (ECE) (education for children from birth to 8 years) do not yet write, teachers and researchers tend to use children’s drawings to assess their developing science learning. Previous studies show that children’s choices on what to include in their drawings are affected by local cultures of what constitutes a good representation. However, there is a lack of studies that focus on the teacher perspective, in terms of why and how they include drawing activities in their science teaching. Further, there are currently no studies that compare the role of drawings in science teaching across ECE sectors. The study is part of a larger study which aims to to advance our understanding of how to bridge science teaching across ECE sectors (preschool, preschool class, early primary school). Here, our specific aim is to examine how educational cultures of different ECE sectors interact with teacher’s objectives for using children’s drawings in science activities. We use Activity Theory to analyse field data (notes, photos, videos) from science activities that include children’s drawings, as well as recordings from group discussions with teachers. First, we focus on the relation between the purpose of the activity, the tools used, the local educational culture, and the outcome of each activity. Second, we compare our results across ECE sectors. Our preliminary results indicate that the purpose of drawing activities vary across sectors. In preschool, children’s drawings may serve to tell stories, while in early primary school, drawings may serve as a part of observation practice or to display children’s understandings of science concepts. The results are discussed in relation to children’s transitions between educational cultures, and whether teachers should explicitly scaffold scientific drawing in ECE.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2018.
National Category
Educational Sciences
Research subject
didactics of natural science; educational work
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-152049OAI: oai:DiVA.org:umu-152049DiVA, id: diva2:1250765
Conference
XVIII Symposium of the International Organization for Science and Technology Education, Malmö, Sweden, August 13-17, 2018
Projects
Broar för naturvetenskap
Funder
Swedish Research Council, 2016-03868Available from: 2018-09-25 Created: 2018-09-25 Last updated: 2020-03-06Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

No full text in DiVA

Authority records

Areljung, SofieDue, KarinOttander, Christina

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Areljung, SofieDue, KarinOttander, Christina
By organisation
Department of Science and Mathematics EducationUmeå Centre for Gender Studies (UCGS)Department of applied educational science
Educational Sciences

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar

urn-nbn

Altmetric score

urn-nbn
Total: 769 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf