Student preschool teachers' and work teams' planning sessions of thematic teaching including science during degree projects: curriculum emphases in science teaching

This paper reports on student preschool teachers’ and in-service preschool teachers’ planning discussions about thematic teaching including science, during the students’ degree projects. The planning discussions are part of an ongoing research project on thematic teaching including science during degree projects in cooperation with preschools. The analysis presented here focuses on expressed aims for science teaching in relation to science curriculum emphases and ‘being’ and ‘becoming’ perspectives. It is seen that children’s learning about science in and through their everyday lives here and now is the primary emphasis expressed during the audio-recorded planning sessions. On the contrary, expressed aims for fundamental science and correct scientific explanations in preparation for future studies and lives are almost absent. The paper discusses possible causes and implications for pre- and in-service teacher education, especially in relation to degree projects.