Playful learning about light and shadow: A learning study project in early childhood education

The purpose of this study is to explore how a learning study can support the development of children's understanding of physics learning in early childhood education; more specifically children's learning about the relationship between light and shadow.

The results of the qualitative analysis shows that during the intervention cycles the children changed their understanding of light and shadow. The children talk about the relationship between light and shadow in a different way than before the interventions, and they relate light and shadow to the elements in which they were taught. The statistical analysis of the children's test score from each cycle indicates that the children improved their learning outcomes during the three intervention cycles. The results show that the learning outcomes were greatest in the third cycle, which focussed more on teaching the children to discern different forms of light and shadow compared with the other two cycles.

At total of five ECEC settings with 46 children aged 4-5 years took part in the learning study. The learning study was conducted by three student teachers and one researcher, and consisted of two parts: a screening process and an intervention part.

The aim of the screening process was to identify which aspects of light and shadow the children had difficulties understanding. Two ECEC settings took part in the screening process with a total of seven children.

The intervention part consisted of three different intervention cycles, and three ECEC settings each participated in one cycle. Seventeen children participated in the first cycle, whereas 11 children took part in the second and third cycles. All three cycles involved an intervention, a pre-test and a post-test as well as an analysis and planning session. The cycles had the same structure, but the interventions differed from cycle to cycle. The aim of the pre-test was to examine the children's knowledge about light and shadow. The children had to answer questions about a photograph illustrating the relationship between light and shadow. The children's answers were awarded points on the basis of their knowledge about specific aspects of the relationship between light and shadow. During the intervention cycles, one of the student teachers taught the children about light and shadow. In order to better identify aspects significant to the children's learning outcomes, the intervention/teaching was different in each of the three cycles. After the intervention cycles, the children were given a post-test which was identical to the pre-test. The aim of the post-test was to test any changes in the children's understanding of the relationship between light and shadow. Finally, the student teacher and the researcher together conducted an analysis and planning session.

All elements in the learning study were recorded on video, and the empirical material was analysed qualitatively and quantitatively to examine the children's learning outcomes in connection with the three different intervention cycles.

Lindstrand, A. E., Hansson, L., Olsson, R. & Ljung-Djärf, A. (2016). Playful learning about light and shadow: A learning study project in early childhood education. Creative Education 7(2), 333-348.