Browsing by Subject "havainnointitaidot"

Tiivistelmä - Referat – Abstract Aims. The aim of this study was to film, analyse and describe what kind of observations children make during voluntary outdoor play. Previous research suggests that playing in a natural environment is associated with environmentally friendly attitudes. Observation has been recognized as the most important skill in early childhood science. The research questions were: (1) What kind of observations do children make in voluntary outdoor play, (2) How is the observation in voluntary outdoor play related to science education? The results of this study can be used in the planning of educational activities, where the aim is to strengthen the child's observation skills as part of activities that support the goals of science education. Methods. The study was a qualitative case study. The material consisted of 119 minutes and 56 seconds of video footage of the outdoor play of a southern Finnish pre-school group. A total of 24 episodes were located from the material in which children made observations. Episodes were analysed using multimodal interaction analysis. Results and conclusions. Especially testing as part of making observations was rich and varied. Therefore, it could be concluded that the frameworks and elements provided by nature support children’s ability to make observations from the perspective of science education. With the help of this study, it could be demonstrated that the children showed emotions in connection with the making of observations, which was evident in e.g. as a commitment to action. Commitment to the action could be concluded to be related to focusing. In this study, children gave new meanings to the play equipment they used. In conclusion, it could be argued that imaginative situations give rise to situations in which observations were made and thus are favourable moments for using other science process skills as well. Regarding questioning in children’s communication, the result of this study was that questions always gave rise to other aspects of making observations such as experimentation, descriptioning or interpretation. However, the findings did not lead children to use other science process skills. From this it can be concluded that adult support as a supporter of science education and science play is essential.