A teaching proposal for the construction of a precursor model of air in early childhood education

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Published: Dec 4, 2018

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María Lorenzo Flores
Spain
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5725-5579
Vanessa Sesto Varela
Universidade de Santiago de Compostela
Spain
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9818-261X
Biography
Isabel García-Rodeja
Universidade de Santiago de Compostela
Spain
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5893-5229
Biography
Vol. 2 No. 2 (2018), Research in science education, pages 55-68
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17979/arec.2018.2.2.4628
Submitted: Oct 27, 2018 Accepted: Nov 20, 2018 Published: Dec 4, 2018
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Abstract

This paper describes how the explanations of fourteen pre-school children (aged 3 to 5 years) evolve during a teaching proposal concerning air. Although there is extensive research on this conceptual domain, most studies have been developed at higher educational levels. In order to collect data, each session was recorded in audio and video files. As a method for data analysis, the categories described in previous studies that also address children’s explanations about natural phenomena have been adopted. The results show that, at first, young children had not conceptualized the idea of air. However, during the development of the teaching proposal, their explanations were acquiring a higher level of sophistication. They recognized that air exists and occupies space, with mass being the most difficult property to assimilate. These findings suggest that young children can construct mental representations of air

Keywords:

air, teaching proposal, early childhood education, explanation, precursor model aire, propuesta didáctica, educación infantil, explicación, modelo precursor

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