Emergent science in preschool: The case of floating and sinking.

The purpose of this study is to examine children's understanding of the two physical phenomena "floating" and "sinking".

The results show that children can enhance their current understanding of "floating" and "sinking" provided they communicate about the phenomena. The study concludes that the children can support each other in understanding what is going on during explorative activities, but they can also support each other in improving the activities, so that they are enacted according to the children's experiences and current understandings. The findings highlight the importance of teachers being sensitive and taking active part in physical experiments and the children's observations and discussions in order to support children’s cognitive and cooperative skills.

The study is a case study in which data was collected from two preschools. Data was primarily collected through video recordings, including qualitative shadowing; a method by which the researcher follows informants in their activities. Field notes and reflections by the researcher were only included to a limited extent. The study analysed one activity, in which a teacher and four children collaborated and explored a range of aspects related to the physical phenomena "floating" and "sinking".

Larsson, J. (2016). Emergent science in preschool: The case of floating and sinking. International Research in Early Childhood Education 7(3), 16-32.