Browsing by Author "Uusivaara, Terhi"

The goal of this research is to find out what kind of questions and comments children make during a science play lesson that is based on inquiry-based learning. It is important to listen to the children so that we can better understand their thinking and their learning process. Previous research has proven that especially the childrens’ questions have an important role in the improvement of education: they tell us what children are interested in and on what they still lack knowledge. This research includes an intervention. It consists of two science play lessons that were organized in one pre-school group in Helsinki. These lessons were based on a science rhyme card called “Rocket” that was produced in The Joy of learning Multiliteracies (MOI) research and development programme. These lessons were filmed and the questions and comments of the children were analyzed by using a classifying system with several different approaches. This research shows that children didn’t make a lot of questions during these lessons. The fields of the questions and comments were mostly chemistry and physics, and the motivation in most cases was commenting on the observations. Most of the questions and comments were classified as “factual” or “ methodological” and there was not a lot of general pondering. Children also made references to their prior knowledge.