The role of science in Swedish pre-schools: student teachers’ attitudes and teaching experiences

To investigate how students view the role of science in Swedish pre-schools before and after a semester in pre-service teacher education. A renewed curriculum entails discussions about pedagogical consequences for preschool and pre-school teacher education. Aims for emergent science, children as “being” or “becoming” (Eshach, 2006, Fleer, 2013), practices and teacher competencies need to be problematised. The theoretical framework is based on phenomenography focusing on developmental pedagogy (Marton & Booth, 1997, Pramling Samuelsson & Asplund Carlsson, 2008). A written questionnaire has been piloted and distributed (pre and post) a semester, including science and practice teaching, in pre-service teacher education. A double blind comparative analysis of 107 students aiming to reveal qualitatively different ways of experiencing is presented. The research adheres to the ethical guidelines of the Swedish Research Council. All participants are informed and agree to voluntary and anonymous participation with a right to abandon participation. Preliminary findings show that many students saw science as biology/nature and several did not adjust even though chemistry and physics was taught. Few students were negative towards science - none after the course. Most students described what and why perspectives, but few developed a synthesised view. Both teacher and child centred perspectives were used, and the fraction of the aimed for composite perspectives increased. Explicit aims and appropriate science content in pre-service teacher education are important. Many students remain hesitantly positive towards science, but positive towards practices with children, hence an increased focus on practicing science seems effective.