Insects form a highly diverse taxonomic group, which has fundamental ecological functions, but is currently in a process of mass extinction. Here, we present the first cycle of design, implementation, and assessment of a didactic sequence oriented towards improving pre-service teachers' knowledge and appreciation of insect diversity. A…

This study aims to determine what pre-service teachers know about the path of water through the body, and how they intend to explain this knowledge to five-year-old preschool children. This study aims to see the opportunities young children in preschool can obtain from an explanation of the nature of science related to an everyday life activity. A…

This qualitative study focuses on preschool practitioners' teaching about death. The theoretical framework draws on ideas about dialogic teaching and the concepts that are of importance for understanding what biological death entails. The study was conducted within a qualitative, participant centered paradigm. The data consist of video recordings…

Swedish preschool science practice is confined to a unique educational setting where upbringing, care, and education are intertwined. This allows teachers to develop innovative cross-curricular and multidimensional science teaching. At the same time, society demands the digitalization of preschool practice, which has caused concern not only about…

Despite improvements in female science enrolment, the gender gap remains in some disciplines. This study examines whether elementary school students (N = 1012, third to sixth graders) display gender-stereotypical interest in learning biology and physics content and how this affects their attitudes towards school science. K-means cluster analysis…

Several researchers and scientific institutions argue that evolution should be explored from the first school years. However, few studies have analysed primary school students' understanding of evolutionary processes or evaluated the impact of educational activities on such knowledge. The available data: (1) suggest that primary school students…

Previous studies have shown that children as young as 5 years of age are able to form a basic understanding of evolution after listening to a storybook about natural selection. This study offers a semiotic exploration of children's meaning making during an interactive read aloud of the same storybook by investigating what children focus on and…

This article presents research designed along one scholar course with first-year pre-schoolers in Spain. A coherent sequence of learning activities, that combined classroom work with working outside the classroom (in the school garden), was designed in order to analyse if the first-year-preschool children were able to apply scientific tools,…

Forest learning has been encouraged globally in recent years as it regularly provides opportunities to interact with nature and one's own abilities. The contributions of forest and traditional kindergarten and home environment to children's ecological cognition and how ecological cognition relates to executive function (EF) is understudied.…

In recent years, there has been an effort to develop reform-oriented and inquiry-based early science instruction. Preliminary studies suggest that participation in inquiry-based learning activities promotes preschoolers' learning and interest in science. In addition, science education in early childhood is of great importance to many aspects of a…

Motor skills during early childhood play a significant role in child development. We used the bioecological model to determine the bioecological factors associated with preschool children's gross motor skills (GMS). The GMS of randomly sampled 280 children were tested using a standardized checklist. The background variables theoretically framed in…

The human nutrition model is relevant in Biology education. Researchers and policymakers propose the introduction of modelling practices in science education, including the representation of the model. Despite being scarce, previous studies have shown that the guideline given to students conditions their performance when representing their models.…

Executive function (EF) is essential for academic achievement, successful work, and physical and mental health. Although evidence shows that several factors have been linked to EF, these results are mixed. This study aims to identify both biological and environmental variables associated with impaired EF in preschoolers. This study was a…

This research presents a qualitative case study that investigates the biology and preschool student teachers' and teachers' experiences of online teaching during the Covid-19 pandemic. The study utilizes the diffusion of innovations theory to understand the adoption and application of online teaching as an innovation. The participants in the study…

Improving scientific literacy is crucial for early childhood development, yet limited studies necessitate a thorough analysis to identify effective solutions. This study aims to analyze the implementation of project-based learning in early childhood education to improve scientific literacy. The study followed the identification, screening,…