Reforming Teaching and Teacher Education

Preschool Teachers’ Beliefs and Pedagogical Practices in the Integration of Technology: A Case for Engaging Young Children in Scientific Inquiry

“…However, the findings also flagged the need for supporting preschool teachers' progression in TK and TPK, especially to make them confident in "how" to implement age-appropriate technologically devised activities in their scientific pedagogical practices (Chuang & Ho, 2011;Marsh et al, 2018). There is a need to develop a robust integrated pedagogical approach for preschool teachers' implementation of technology-constructed practices in enhancing children's science inquiry and procedural knowledge (Havu-Nuutinen et al, 2017). In order for children to gain deeper and more lasting understandings in science, teachers need to rationalise when and why to introduce technology in their day-to-day teaching.…”

“…In relation to the affordances offered by technology for science instruction, studies have shown how integrating the use of digital devices (iPad applications) can have potential benefits in increasing children's motivation to explore scientific concepts, expanding the pedagogical resources available to science teachers (DeCoito & Richardson, 2018;Havu-Nuutinen, D. Sporea, & Sporea, 2017), promoting cognitive development, and highlighting the relevance of abstract scientific concepts to children's real-life experiences (Kärkkäinen & Vincent-Lancrin, 2013). Research in both science and play-based exploration indicates that digital technology can afford opportunities to develop children's curiosity and scientific inquiry skills.…”

“…For example, robotic toys such as Bee-bots, Pro-bots and Micro:Bit, when programmed and viewed on the computer screen together with the teacher, provide a visual process for children as they observe the robot moving and performing problem-solving tasks. The dynamic nature of such toys assists children to reflect on their program, thus creating shared and engaged moments for trial and error and simultaneously reflecting on the scientific concepts under exploration (Havu-Nuutinen et al, 2017;Highfield, 2010).…”

“…In relation to science instruction, Parette, Quesenberry and Blum (2010) argue that the discussion of technology integration should move beyond whether technology use is appropriate, and rather focus on how to integrate this medium in early childhood science education in a developmentally appropriate manner. While research has also suggested that technology can present several positive teaching moments, there is still literature that highlights teachers' lack of confidence as well as a slow and cautious pace of integrating technology during play-based practices (Havu-Nuutinen et al, 2017).…”

Understanding Early Childhood Science Education: Comparative Analysis of Australian and Finnish Curricula

“…The other challenge is that there are tensions in the early years teachers' understanding of science concepts (Hammer and He 2016;Harlen and Qualter 2014) or the nature of science (Duruk et al 2019) and phenomena, and sometimes teachers can use anthropomorphism unconsciously that could limit children's conceptual learning (Kallery and Psillos 2004). Nonetheless, there are comparative studies that have found Romanian early years' teachers' perspectives of inquiry-based instruction (Havu-Nuutinen et al 2017), indicating that the Romanian teachers' conceptualizations and confidence were pertinent for science teaching. The teachers relied more on children's learning outcomes to foster scientific inquiry dispositions in children.…”