Typical Didactical Activities in the Greek Early‐Years Science Classroom: Do they promote science learning?

Assessing the Science Learning Assessment (SLA) Instrument in Greek Early Childhood Education Using the Item Response Theory Framework

“…In line with the previous arguments, several studies showed that science learning in ECE is associated with primary and secondary school readiness, improved causal reasoning, increased interest in science in later life, and long-term effects on academic achievement (Clements, 2001;Watters et al, 2001;Arnold et al, 2002;Connor et al, 2004;Ginsburg and Golbeck, 2004;Kallery, 2004;Hamre and Pianta, 2005;Duncan et al, 2007). Brain and neuroscience research revealed that, for certain domains, learning occurs most efficiently in a time period early in children's life, and science learning is one of these domains (Kallery et al, 2009). Children at this age are motivated to learn science content, and the lack of encouraging them toward this direction is likely to result in a decline of their curiosity and interest (French, 2004;Eshach and Fried, 2005).…”

“…In contrast with the Piagetian perspective that children in early childhood have limited skills of learning science due to developmental limitations, it is now widely acknowledged that science learning holds a critical position in early childhood education (ECE) as children are very competent in capturing complex ideas from early years (Metz, 2004;Akerson et al, 2015;Clements and Sarama, 2016). Results from recent studies in Greece (Kallery et al, 2009;Ergazaki et al, 2015;Kalogiannakis et al, 2018;Kalogiannakis and Papadakis, 2019), and other countries examining science knowledge in early childhood, revealed that children's eagerness and curiosity in learning constitute an ideal field where science knowledge can be cultivated (Gelman and Brenneman, 2004;Brenneman and Louro, 2008;Samarapungavan et al, , 2009Samarapungavan et al, , 2011Mantzicopoulos et al, 2009;Bagiati et al, 2010;French and Woodring, 2012;Ergazaki et al, 2015;Greenfield, 2015;Guo et al, 2015;Vitiello et al, 2019). Thus, concerns about the developmental readiness of preschool children for science knowledge can be overridden, since children's ability to internalize knowledge about science concepts has been proven.…”

“…(MoE/PI, 2002). The Greek national curriculum acknowledges the crucial role of children's engagement with science activities and supports their physical and mental involvement with science activities (Kallery et al, 2009).…”

Science and Theatre Education: A Cross-disciplinary Approach of Scientific Ideas Addressed to Student Teachers of Early Childhood Education

“…Activities related to science are usually strictly dissociated (they take place in the ''science corner'') and are composed of procedures relating to the everyday management of natural phenomena, procedures that do not disseminate any scientific idea except, possibly, that of a general and abstract representation of scientific knowledge as static and singular (Kallery et al 2007).…”

Science in early years education: introducing floating and sinking as a property of matter

“…They suggest that this can make it difficult for the tutor to lead the children to achieve difficult tasks, as he/she has not built up a trustworthy relationship with them. Another study (Kallery, Psillos, and Tselfes 2009), which performed an epistemological analysis of the didactical activities adopted by early years teachers in introducing the phenomenon of floating and sinking using activities developed by the teachers themselves, showed that the fragmentary character of the lessons failed to promote either scientific reasoning or understanding of the phenomenon. The authors suggest enhancing early years teachers' ability to use scientific ideas for planning interventions into the material world by improving their conceptual understanding of simple but fundamental concepts and natural phenomena, appropriately adapted to their needs and level.…”