TITLE:
The Construction of Scientific Knowledge at an Early Age: Two Crucial Factors
AUTHORS:
Leonidas Anastasiou, Nick Kostaras, Elisabeth Kyritsis, Athanasia Kostaras
KEYWORDS:
Scientific Knowledge, Young Children, Early Childhood Education, Logico-Mathematical Thinking, Narrative Thinking, Movement of Objects, Imagination, Storytelling, Science Stories
JOURNAL NAME:
Creative Education,
Vol.6 No.2,
February
28,
2015
ABSTRACT: This article presents and justifies a proposal for the priority of two activities in the early childhood curriculum, namely, those of “storytelling” and the “movement of objects”. Given, on the one hand, the growing interest in science activities for very young children, and the notion of “developmental appropriateness” on the other, the concern about early experiences in physical science is both pressing and legitimate. In the light of such concern, the idea that children should simply participate in interesting activities or in activities that in general enrich their experiential background, needs to be reconsidered. Given that the construction of scientific knowledge involves the construction of relationships among concepts and ideas, and presupposes curiosity and affective imagination, science stories with a science content that captures the imagination of the child, and activities involving the movement of objects appear to be more pedagogically appropriate than other activities. Therefore they should be given priority in the curriculum.