Chemistry and physics in preschool: teaching and learning through socio-scientific issues

This paper reports on model-based teaching and collaborative inquiry learning of chemical processes and physical phenomena related to socio-scientific issues (SSI) in Swedish preschools (ages 1-5 years). A special focus is children's learning related to intended and enacted objects of learning, and the research discusses teaching and learning processes with and without scaffolding by contemporary information technologies. A developed theoretical framework for analysis of different referential meanings experienced during work with chemistry and physics in preschool will be presented at the conference. Results describe in detail how reasoning and questioning during modelbased teaching and collaborative inquiry learning engage children and preschool teachers. The role of tablet computers, in supporting collaborative learning of chemical processes and physical phenomena related to children's everyday life will be discussed.