We present a multi-method design for elucidating young, mostly illiterate children's (grades 1 and 2 of Swiss elementary school, ages 6-8) ideas about energy. The design uses semi-structured interviews and video recordings as the main methods of data generation and collection, respectively. A plurality of tasks, including drawing, sorting and a…

Reasoning about mechanisms is one of the hallmarks of disciplined inquiry in science and engineering, but comparatively little is known about its precursors and development. Children at grades 2 and 5 predicted and explained the motion of simple mechanical systems composed entirely of visible linkages (levers). Students' explanations of device…