Preschool Educators’ Attempts to Establish Intersubjectivity in Science-Play

Play is considered a leading activity for children’s learning and development. Preschool educators have an important role in teaching and in creating conditions for children to explore and discover science. Therefore, there is a reason to encourage and explore activities where play and science are integrated. In this study, play and science are understood as a mutual activity, here referred to as science-play. The aim was to explore preschool educators’ attempts to establish intersubjectivity in science-play. Here, intersubjectivity is understood as participants’ attempts to coordinate their actions towards a common perspective. The empirical data consists of video-observations of preschool educators and children’s participation in science-play. The study draws on a sociocultural perspective, which emphasises the importance of social interactions, various communicative actions and artefacts for children’s learning. A qualitative content analysis was used to single out nuances in preschool educators’ use of verbal and non-verbal communicative actions. In addition, the theoretical framework Play-responsive early childhood education and care, PRECEC (Pramling et al. in Play-responsive teaching in early childhood education, Springer, Cham, 2019) contributed with analytical tools through the concept of as if (fantasy) and as is (reality), and intersubjectivity. Three narratives have been constructed to provide an in-depth perspective into how preschool educators use communicative actions and artefacts to establish intersubjectivity in science-play. The narratives illustrate variations in how intersubjectivity was facilitated, partially achieved, or hindered in science-play. The results are discussed in relation to implications for preschool teacher education and preschool practice.