Developing Scientific Inquiry in Early Childhood Education

Course aim

To explore and examine contemporary perspectives in science education in early childhood. To deepen students’ pedagogical content knowledge of scientific concepts and the inquiry processes young children engage with as they explore and make sense of the natural world. To build capacity in students’ ability to design, implement, assess and reflect upon young children’s scientific understandings.

Course content

Students will examine socio-historical perspectives alongside socio-cultural and constructivist theories that underpin effective teaching and learning of science in early childhood. Students will critique contemporary approaches such as play based discovery learning, inquiry based, instructional, and project learning to identify elements of effective pedagogy that develops rigorous scientific learning.
Students will generate and analyse various forms of educators’ documentation to identify elements of young children’s existing scientific thinking and will access guiding documents, including the Australian Curriculum, the Early Years Learning Framework and key texts to design future directions for learning. Students will investigate assessment strategies to build competency in differentiating learning experiences to accommodate the learning range, cultural backgrounds and interests of learners in early childhood contexts

Textbook(s)

Campbell, C, Jobling, W & Howitt, C, 2018, Science in early childhood, 3rd edition, Cambridge University Press, Port Melbourne, Victoria

Prerequisite(s)

Nil

Corequisite(s)

Nil

Teaching method

Note: These components may or may not be scheduled in every study period. Please refer to the timetable for further details.

Assessment

Essay, Report

Fees

EFTSL*: 0.125
Commonwealth Supported program (Band 1A)
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Fee-paying program for domestic and international students
International students and students undertaking this course as part of a postgraduate fee paying program must refer to the relevant program home page to determine the cost for undertaking this course.

Non-award enrolment
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* Equivalent Full Time Study Load. Please note: all EFTSL values are published and calculated at ten decimal places. Values are displayed to three decimal places for ease of interpretation.