How does matter matter in preschool science?

• This chapter explores the implications, for science education, of acknowledging matter as an agentic factor in preschool (Swedish educational setting for children aged 1 to 5 years). Reading empirical data from preschool settings together with Karen Barad’s agential realism, five examples are brought forward to address different aspects of how matter matters to science learning and teaching. These examples include how the ground and time of year matter to the scope of science learning possibilities, how friction and balance emerges in intra-action of a wooden bridge and children, and how modes of expression other than verbal language can be used to extend children’s experiences of rolling. The implications for science teaching are discussed based on the assumption that teacher power matters to what parts of the material world that children have real access to, and what type of intra-actions that are meaningful in preschool settings.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

science teaching

material

physical environment

time

early childhood education

pedagogiskt arbete

educational work

Publikations- och innehållstyp

vet (ämneskategori)

ovr (ämneskategori)