Content transfer from preschool teachers to preschool children in teaching natural science

Abstract

Science education is increasingly important in preschool programs, and research shows that it fosters the development of children's scientific thinking, at the preschool level, natural science allows each child to perceive the meaning of concepts, to observe relationships, and to discover new ways to understand his surroundings, understand the cycle in nature, and how people, nature and society interact with each other [1]. Teachers of preschools can choose several ways to pass science education to children. The present study is aimed at capturing the essence of the content transfer in natural science education by preschool teachers. The transfer is based on the influence of a previously learned form of behavior on the acquisition and handling of another form of behavior. Teachers should proceed from children's individual skills, knowledge and experiences that are used in new situations to develop new skills. The quantitatively oriented research methods were content analysis and observation. The subject of the analysis was school educational programs of selected preschools. Content analysis has become a source for the emergence of categories that have become the basis for subsequent observation of the real work of teachers in given preschools. This was primarily about the topic chosen by the teacher for her work with children, the methods, the organizational form, the activities and the questions that she considered during the activity. The research sample includes 5 teachers with secondary and tertiary education and with different lengths of practice. Observations were conducted in preschool classes attended by children aged between 2 and 7 years. The data obtained was coded and categorized. The research results consist of the models of content transfer in science education, which reflects the moments when the activities directed by the teacher are focused on the given area of education. The models show whether and how teachers only pass the information to children, or activate them and ask them questions. The findings show that teachers are aware of the importance of a constructivist approach, but they do not sufficiently use the elements of science education and they are not always able to motivate children appropriately.