Current Research and Learning in the Field of Early Childhood Science Education

Abstract

Although the education of young children in science is not a completely novel field of research, recent years have seen a renewed interest and a shift in research discourse toward addressing contemporary challenges and dilemmas. Within this, some features maintain continuity with past traditions, developing them to a place of contemporary relevance, as is the case for the focus on children’s perceptions of various scientific concepts and phenomena as well as teachers’ perspectives on these issues. At the same time, new research dimensions have emerged that focus less on the “what” of learning and more on the “how”. In this direction, innovative educational practices are being designed and implemented, diverse forms of representation and expression are being exploited, and learning contexts are broadened. This article presents such research directions and perspectives on early childhood science education that advocate more participatory and inclusive approaches, more attuned to the multiple forms of expression that young children use to make sense of the world.

1. Introduction

Scientific thinking is not the prerogative of adulthood. It begins in early childhood when children engage with their world through exploration, questioning, and meaning-making. Although early childhood education has been a long-established field of research, a specific focus on science education during early childhood years emerged relatively recently, but displays constant development (Ravanis, 2017; Siry et al., 2023). Recent shifts in early childhood science education emphasize the consideration of young children as informed participants rather than passive learners. This Special Issue of Education Sciences showcases contemporary research at the intersection of early childhood education and science learning, reflecting a growing consensus on the value of scientific experiences in early years. Each contribution included in this issue reveals how young children develop scientific concepts, how teachers and contexts shape these learning trajectories, and how innovation, from augmented reality to nature-based education, can engage children in inquiry activities. In addition, the importance of creating rich and diverse learning environments that encourage children to explore, experiment, and understand the world in a scientific way is highlighted. Collectively, the articles included in this Special Issue underscore the importance of listening to young children, amplifying their voices, and situating science learning within real-world contexts. From this perspective, science is presented in an accessible and engaging way with the potential to become a powerful tool for developing children’s critical thinking, creativity, and confidence. As Siry, Cabe-Trundle, and Sackes (Siry et al., 2023) point out, “early years science education can lead to important outcomes, which go beyond discreet skills and content knowledge” (p. 3).

A lot can be learnt from children when they are given the opportunity to participate in the processes that concern them and are valued as competent communicators. The acknowledgement and acceptance of this approach also opens up a new framework for research in early childhood education by positioning children as ‘experts’ on the issues affecting their lives and requiring the development of new ways of communicating and exploring children’s perspectives in order to enable them to participate in data collection, processing, and analysis. In other words, children’s participation refers to processes in which children activate their thinking (Clark & Flewitt, 2020). Grounded in sociocultural theory, we advocate a participatory view of learning where young children are not passive recipients but active meaning-makers and contributors. Many research perspectives remind us that children’s learning stems from participation in culturally and socially mediated practices (Hedges & Cullen, 2012; Hedegaard & Fleer, 2008). From this stance, research that recognizes children’s agency, symbolic capacities, and collaborative engagement enriches both theory and practice. Co-research with children gives them the opportunity to develop a wider range of skills and to try out different roles without this necessarily implying that the teacher or researcher abandons their own role as researcher; the nature of the role changes as new opportunities to co-construct meanings emerges.

Our view is further supported by the recent review of early childhood science education conducted by Siry, Cabe-Trundle, and Saçkes (Siry et al., 2023), who emphasize that the field has evolved significantly in the last two decades to recognize the value of inquiry, play, and holistic approaches to science education. They highlight how scientific thinking and modeling are achievable by young children and stress the importance of early experiences in fostering lifelong scientific literacy. Their findings echo the trends highlighted in this Special Issue and the specific consideration they afford to young children’s engagement in science activities.

2. The Importance of the Empowerment of Science Education for Young Children

According to the sociocultural perspective, each class is a context with its own particular practices that allow its members to co-construct common meanings by participating in classroom interactions (Hedges & Cullen, 2012). Learning is related to the children’s involvement in processes and different types of activities available to them, which concern both the way in which children participate and the knowledge they gain through them (Hedges & Cullen, 2012; Rogoff, 2008). Therefore, it is important that learning and teaching focus on children’s potential for learning and the exploitation of their perspective.

Educational research can incorporate participatory processes using appropriate tools, as has been demonstrated in recent years by the application of the Mosaic Approach, as formulated by Clark and Moss (2001, 2005). Participatory research gives children the opportunity to take an active role in the construction of meaning and knowledge and to make their own perspective visible. This perspective can then be used as a guide to redefine the perspective of researchers and teachers, creating opportunities to consider children as ‘co-researchers’, meaning they are willing to leave space for children to take initiative and share the ‘power’ of each interpretation with them.

The extent to which children can participate depends not only on their own abilities but also on teachers’ perceptions of these abilities, which ultimately influence the practices teachers adopt in the classroom. Children’s perspectives and learning processes are recorded in different ways so that they can be shared, discussed, and reflected upon, therefore meaning that they often take responsibility for contributing to their own learning and to the group’s projects. Traditional methods of observation and interviewing have been enhanced by participatory tools that children themselves can use (e.g., photographs, creating books, maps, etc.). This shift is particularly vital in the context of early science education, where children’s ideas, emerging conceptual frameworks, and everyday experiences play a formative role in how they make sense of the natural world. Involving children as informants respects their agency and affirms their capacity to contribute meaningfully to educational research and practice. In science education in particular, where curiosity and interest are foundational, children’s questions or reasoning act as entry points for meaningful learning and teaching and such contributions challenge researchers and educators to design more responsive, inquiry-based curricula. Participation in research can also have an empowering effect on children themselves. When they see their voices valued, their ideas taken seriously, and their questions explored collaboratively, they develop a stronger sense of self-efficacy and intellectual agency (Kampeza & Delserieys, 2020) which in turn leads them to develop a deeper engagement with science as a way of thinking, questioning, and understanding the world.

To summarize, the studies included in this Special Issue can help us realize that recognizing young children as informants is not a methodological luxury—it is a prerequisite for empowering science education that is inclusive, dialogic, and grounded in the lived realities and imaginative capacities of early learners.

3. Research Trends and Implications for Learning

Emerging evidence presented in this Special Issue underscores a shift in how we view early science education. Collectively, these works highlight innovative approaches that support children’s early capacities for complex thinking, from digital tools and multimodal representations to child-centered inquiry and enhanced teacher preparation. In recognizing preschoolers’ abilities to grasp scientific concepts, researchers are pointing toward enriched curriculum and pedagogical designs that leverage expression, play, technology, and guided inquiry. These trends carry significant implications for early childhood science teaching practice, suggesting the need for learning environments that nurture child agency, incorporate novel educational tools, and empower educators to facilitate deep science learning from the earliest years.

3.1. Children’s Conceptions, Models, and Ideas in Science

The way in which children think and their ideas about the concepts and phenomena of the world around them have different starting points and are constantly changing. One important theme present throughout the current research in early science learning is the capacity of young children to engage with sophisticated scientific ideas when given appropriate support. Several studies demonstrate that preschool-aged children can form meaningful conceptual understandings that have sometimes been considered “too advanced” for their age (Eshach & Fried, 2005). Learning is a dynamic process that requires the child’s genuine participation in order to create his/her own meanings (Rogoff, 2008). Although in relevant research concerning young children’s beliefs and ideas, a number of terms are used that often indicate difficulties or misunderstanding, such as alternative conceptions, misconceptions, mental representations, etc. (Ravanis, 2022), there is a constant interest in exploring children’s thought and the way they comprehend scientific concepts and phenomena. The current perspective does not focus so much on mapping the difficulties leading to the divergence of mental representations from knowledge gained in school, but rather aims to highlight the range of skills, knowledge, and abilities available to children which are shaped in their family and social life. Thus, researchers and teachers who adopt this dimension bring more participatory practices into classrooms, giving children the opportunity to make use of their funds of knowledge (Hedges & Cullen, 2012).

An example of this approach can be seen in the work of Christodoulakis and Adbo (2024), who conducted a longitudinal, play-based intervention exploring how preschoolers develop chemical concepts. Drawing on framework theory, they documented how 3- to 5-year-olds shift from intuitive to scientific conceptions of matter using embodied activities, metaphor, and visual representations (e.g., “tiny balls inside everything”). Children viewed zoomed-in videos and engaged with storytelling and material-based activities. The results suggested that children’s ontological frameworks evolve with structured multimodal interventions as they found that 4–5-year-old children began to construct an interconnected network of scientific concepts about matter at the submicroscopic level. The children in their study could imagine invisible particles and understood that water retains the same tiny “balls” (molecules) in different states, indicating an emerging grasp of molecular ideas. With regard to teacher training, this reinforces the need for epistemological awareness and scaffolding strategies that align with children’s intuitive models.

Similarly, Jelinek’s (2024) intervention on conceptualizing the Earth’s shape foregrounds the significance of children’s mental models and their evolution over time. Jelinek’s work contributes to the research concerning children’s ideas and appropriately organized educational activities that can be effective in supporting children, using the example of how forming the concept of a spherical Earth can act as an essential starting point for understanding elementary astronomy. The use of the EARTH2 test allowed children to express their conceptual frameworks through visual selections, reflecting internal models of understanding. Through a multilevel educational intervention with 7–8-year-olds, the author shows that model building (with a ball-Earth) prior to using the globe as a codified artifact enhances the cognitive integration of the concept of globality. The intervention additionally enhanced children’s curiosity and led to spontaneous questions about Space that extended far beyond the scope of the school curriculum.

Ioannou, Kaliampos, and Ravanis (Ioannou et al., 2024), on the other hand, deal not only with the transformation and evolution of children’s mental representations but also with the formation of precursor models in children’s thinking. Their research concluded by acknowledging that it is possible to some extent to transform young children’s initial mental representations into representations compatible with school knowledge. More specifically, they address children’s mental representations of clouds, as well as condensation and the precipitation of water vapor, implementing a qualitative study involving 19 preschool children. The survey included pre-tests and post-tests for recording children’s mental representations, as well as a structured teaching process adapted both to children’s cognitive needs and the conditions of a real classroom.

3.2. Teaching Strategies

Across these studies, there is a strong emphasis on teaching strategies that adopt child-centered inquiries in early science learning. Young children are not just capable of absorbing scientific facts, they are inclined to practically do science when provided with the right opportunities. More importantly, with the appropriate scaffolding, children can develop first understanding of science concepts and scientific reasoning skills.

In their study of young children’s mental models of condensation, Ioannou, Kaliampos, and Ravanis (Ioannou et al., 2024) also introduce interesting teaching strategies for kindergarten settings in Greece. The teaching strategy they developed followed an inquiry-based, four-step engineering design process: problem definition, exploration, modeling, and testing. Their research results showed a transition from fragmented ideas (“clouds are sponges”) to cohesive precursor models incorporating key features of scientific models (e.g., invisible vapor, cooling). In stressing the importance of sustained, structured inquiry within playful contexts, these findings also suggest that teachers may benefit from professional development that focuses on designing science activities with iterative modeling opportunities.

García-Rodeja, Barros, and Sesto (García-Rodeja et al., 2024) present a case study of undertaking inquiry activities about woodlice with 3- to 5-year-olds. Over seven sessions, children generated hypotheses, conducted observations, and participated in designing simple experiments. The study documents children’s challenges with experimental control but highlights their ability to express curiosity, categorize traits, and adapt their thinking through dialog. Their study outlines the key elements that support inquiry-based teaching for early science education, and, in particular, stresses the importance of prioritizing support for planning inquiry sequences, guiding observations, and creating the conditions for young children to articulate their scientific reasoning.

In a complementary study, Papantonis Stajcic, Vidal Carulla, and Åkerblom (Papantonis Stajcic et al., 2024) analyze Swedish preschoolers’ questions during a digital interactive chemistry session. Children asked spontaneous questions (e.g., “Can molecules dance?”) that reflected imaginative reasoning and prior experiences. The findings reveal the value of children’s questions as entry points into complex science content and advocate for training teachers to use children’s questions as didactic tools.

The main idea confirmed in these studies is that inquiry processes can take root in early childhood (Siry et al., 2023). Young learners enjoy activities where they can explore phenomena, ask questions, and attempt explanations, even if they require guidance to fully make sense of the outcomes. These findings align with broader research suggesting that play and inquiry in the early years build the foundation for scientific thinking by cultivating curiosity, observation skills, and reasoning (Siry et al., 2023). Early childhood science teaching strategies should foster opportunities for open-ended exploration and guided inquiry, where children’s ideas drive the investigations and teachers act as facilitators who support children in the inquiry process. Engaging in such inquiries and play activities is important in early educational settings, not only for the development of scientific skills, but also of scientific knowledge and scientific reasoning, which later support problem solving and critical thinking (Vartiainen & Kumpulainen, 2020).

3.3. Engagement in Different Forms of Representations and Expression

In the logic of strengthening participatory methods, given that the use of children’s perspectives brings us closer to their lives and understandings, a combination of traditional methods of observation and interviews with children with more participatory tools is attempted (Clark & Flewitt, 2020). A number of studies presented in this issue incorporated drawing, language, digital media and videos, or immersive experiences to make science concepts accessible and contribute to the important task of nurturing young children’s thinking from an early age (Salmon, 2016). Often, offering children the opportunity to express their views is insufficient, and it can be more interesting to provide them with different ways and tools to convey their ideas. Teachers’ training and professional development programs could incorporate such proposals that involve finding appropriate ways to access children’s multiple views of specific science topics. If educators allow children to act as agents and actively listen to their diverse voices, they may gain important contributions to facilitate learning that would otherwise be missed (Rogoff, 2008; Kampeza & Delserieys, 2020).

In their study, Kampeza and Delserieys Pedregosa (2024) analyze how young children represent their understanding of physical changes in matter—specifically melting and freezing—through drawing, highlighting the importance of using drawing to reveal children’s rich repertoires of signs and symbols in science. Using a sociocultural lens, they examine 4- to 6-year-olds’ symbolic and iconic representations and identify how different drawing tasks triggered different representational modes, scaffolding scientific thinking. Their study, combining classroom-based storytelling and observation with task-specific drawing prompts, demonstrates that children creatively blend everyday and scientific understandings. When children combine their own symbols with symbols they are familiar with from their everyday environment, they use codes, which they gradually adapt and improve. In relation to teacher training, this finding implies the importance of integrating symbolic tools into science pedagogy and encouraging diverse representational modes to help children articulate and develop early scientific models.

Fridberg and Redfors (2024) explore how two Swedish preschool teachers used augmented reality (AR) to engage children with the Sustainable Development Goals. Through place-based thematic teaching supported by AR applications, children explored issues such as plastic pollution. They guided students to link, confirm, and expand meanings across representations, referring to transduction as the process where children experience meaning from a specific content based on the experience of several different representations of that content that teachers help them to link together. The study shows how AR facilitated transduction between real environments and symbolic representations, fostering agency and critical reflection. Teachers initially approached AR cautiously but came to view it as a tool for enabling children’s social participation. “The children transduced their knowledge and meaning of the SDGs between representations in the physical world such as local places, paper drawings and recycled materials and the digital world with the colorful SDG symbols in AR applications” (p. 12). These findings call for teacher preparation programs to support confidence in digital pedagogies while situating technology within inquiry and critical engagement.

A study by Papantonis Stajcic, Vidal Carulla, and Åkerblom (Papantonis Stajcic et al., 2024) provides valuable evidence for the use of diverse forms of representation and expression in early science education. Conducted during the restrictive context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the study implemented an interactive digital learning approach in which young children were introduced to abstract concepts such as molecules and matter through pre-recorded videos. These videos featured dramatizations, using dance, theatrical play, and gestures, performed by drama educators. The sessions were followed by a question-and-answer forum with a chat function, allowing children to pose questions to adults with chemists’ expertise. Analysis of the children’s questions revealed how this interactive digital environment enabled them to connect scientific content with everyday experiences, play, and imagination. The authors suggest that digital lessons can effectively introduce and illustrate abstract concepts like molecules and matter through multimodal approaches. As mentioned earlier, this multimodal approach is further deepened by the questioning approach supported by teachers.

Similarly, Christodoulakis and Adbo’s (2024) use of “zooming-in” animated videos of microbes and molecules provided preschoolers with a concrete representation of invisible phenomena. Through these visualizations, children were able to describe microscopic germs on leaves and recognize that tiny unseen particles (like salt grains too small to see) exist and matter in explaining real-world outcomes. Such multimodal representations (visual, kinesthetic, etc.) serve as powerful bridges from the known (the observable world) to the unknown, enabling young learners to conceptualize scientific realities that lie beyond direct perception. By zooming in and visualizing the microscopic world, Christodoulakis and Adbo show that preschoolers can engage with complex ideas like microorganisms and molecular structures when these are presented in an age-appropriate manner. Their work adds a valuable dimension to the Special Issue, demonstrating the impact of creative, multimodal pedagogy on expanding children’s scientific understanding. The study suggests that introducing “invisible” scientific phenomena through imaginative visual and hands-on experiences not only raises children’s interest but also lays the groundwork for deeper scientific literacy from a very young age.

3.4. Teachers’ Perspectives

The reflection on early childhood science education, presented through these studies, places heavy demands on the role of the teacher and the quality of teacher preparation in early science education. If young children are to engage in activities that develop their scientific thinking and conceptualization, educators must be equipped to guide and scaffold their experiences. However, a noted challenge is that many early childhood educators feel underprepared to teach science effectively, especially in ways that also support diverse learners (Areljung, 2019). This concern is directly addressed by studies in the Special Issue focusing on professional development and teacher attitudes.

Chen, Sermeno, Hodge, Murphy, Agenbroad, Schweitzer, Tsao, and Roe (Chen et al., 2024) present a mixed-methods study of a year-long professional development program in Idaho focused on metacognition-driven science teaching, involving 20 teachers and 110 children aged 4–6. The quantitative results showed increases in teacher science self-efficacy and metacognitive awareness. In the teacher’s classrooms, the researchers measured corresponding increases in children’s self-regulated learning skills. The qualitative findings from this study further revealed that after the intervention, teachers were providing richer science activities that not only taught science content but also supported children’s learning in literacy, math, and social–emotional domains through integrated, reflective practice. The study confirms that professional development programs aligned with child development and science teaching can transform the beliefs and practices of teachers. It is also made clear that young children benefit broadly by becoming more self-directed learners and connecting science with other areas of development.

In a similar vein, Young, Hoisington, Kook, and Ramer (Young et al., 2024) report on a multifaceted professional learning program aimed at empowering preschool educators to engage emergent multilingual learners (EMLs) in science, in partnership with families and community science centers. Their quasi-experimental study showed that educators who received in-depth training and support grew significantly more confident in science teaching for diverse learners, compared to a control group. These teachers, in turn, provided higher-quality classroom science experiences. Their research also highlights that, with appropriate training and community engagement, teachers can ensure that all children, including dual-language learners, have access to high-quality science learning in their formative years.

However, improving teacher readiness for early science is not only a matter of offering professional development. It also involves addressing the underlying beliefs of teacher and their pre-service education. Pahl and Tschiesner (2024) examine the attitudes of Swiss trainee teachers toward the multidisciplinary subject Nature–Human–Society. Using qualitative and quantitative data from 220 student-teachers, they found that many trainees reported discomfort or low interest in teaching science topics, with lower preference and self-efficacy for teaching physics and technology compared to biology and social science. When asked to justify their preferences, the most common reasons for putting aside certain science topics were a lack of confidence (low perceived control over the content) or a lack of personal connection to the material. In contrast, the topics they enjoyed teaching were those they felt more knowledgeable about or emotionally drawn to. This dichotomy is important because it suggests that without intervention, teachers might unintentionally prioritize content they are comfortable with and omit key science concepts in early education.

This research reinforces the idea that teacher education programs must proactively build strong science content knowledge and positive dispositions towards it in future educators. The authors advocate for building a deeper understanding of science topics but also emphasize the importance of fostering a positive experience of science with inquiry-based science learning experiences for teachers themselves, in order to help new teachers overcome anxiety and develop a sense of ownership towards teaching science. The goal is to cultivate educators who are both confident and competent in facilitating early science, thereby ensuring that innovations like those put forward in this Special Issue can take root in real classrooms.

3.5. Questions About Contexts and Learning Environments in Early Science Education

A final trend emerges from the research in this Special Issue, which is the consideration that a community and environmental orientation in the curriculum can broaden learning contexts. Field trips, outdoor learning sessions, gardening projects, and community projects or partnerships with science museums and parks can situate children’s learning in authentic contexts. Such approaches not only reinforce concepts through multiple contexts but also affirm cultural and linguistic diversity, in particular by engaging parents and community members as partners in science learning (Siry et al., 2023).

The learning environment, both physical and social, yields specific experiences and interactions. In this Special Issue, the scoping review of Trina, Monsur, Cosco, Shine, Loon, and Mastergeorge (Trina et al., 2024) examined how nature-based outdoor environments contribute to preschoolers’ STEAM learning, with STEAM approaches integrating science technology, engineering, and mathematics with art education. Analyzing two decades of studies, they found that intentionally designed outdoor settings offer rich “STEAM learning affordances” for young children. Diverse natural elements encourage a spectrum of scientific and mathematical behaviors; for example, sand play invites children to experiment with forces, textures, and material properties (by pouring, molding, and observing cause-and-effect), while gardening in a plant-rich area prompts children to ask questions about living things, engage in hands-on observation, and even collect data to engage in authentic scientific practices. These informal outdoor explorations nurture skills such as problem-solving, classification, measuring, and noticing patterns in nature, all of which are foundational to science and engineering thinking. The findings underline the role of environment design in prompting STEAM skills and call for collaboration between educators and landscape architects. The overall implication is that teacher education should include increasing awareness of environmental affordances and integrating place-sensitive science pedagogies.

Collaborations within a larger educational community, engaging families and informal science resources, presents another way forward for early science education. In their work, Young, Hoisington, Kook, and Ramer (Young et al., 2024) describe the SISTEM project, a multi-faceted intervention for preschool educators and families of emergent multilingual learners (EMLs) in the U.S. The project has a strong focus on community and family engagement and includes professional learning, family science nights, STEM kits, and community engagement through informal science learning environments. A quasi-experimental design showed gains in teacher confidence and quality of instruction, while interviews with caregivers revealed increased science-related interactions at home, with these findings reinforcing the power of community-based approaches and the call for teacher education to build partnerships across formal and informal learning spaces.

4. Conclusions

Children arrive in educational settings with rich and often underappreciated conceptions about the world around them. These conceptions represent valuable starting points for learning. If we are truly interested in participatory learning as an approach that recognizes important competences in children, then it is essential that the voices of children are included in research. When teachers recognize and engage with these early scientific ideas, they can transform them into opportunities for conceptual development. Across diverse national and pedagogical contexts, the studies presented in this Special Issue advocate the need for policies and practices that enhance active, experiential, and meaningful science education from the earliest years of life and affirm that empowering young children in science education is crucial from both a pedagogical and scientific point of view. From this perspective, we have sought to bring together the main research directions by grouping them into subsections concerning children’s ideas and voices, which cover teaching strategies and teachers’ perspectives, including different forms of representations, contexts, and learning environments.

The findings of these studies emphasize that effective teaching strategies in early science education must embrace dialog, play, exploration, and guided inquiry, allowing children to experiment with ideas through observation, modeling, discussion, and reflection. Importantly, it is clear that young learners benefit when they are encouraged to express their thinking through multiple forms of representation, such as drawing, storytelling, embodied movement, symbolic play, and digital tools. These representational modes not only make children’s thinking visible but also serve as scaffolds for the gradual articulation of more complex scientific ideas.

Teachers play a pivotal role in orchestrating these learning experiences. Their capacity to listen actively, pose thoughtful questions, and create safe spaces for inquiry is central to the empowerment of children. However, such responsiveness requires support, necessitating that teachers are also empowered through appropriate training to act as active facilitators of scientific thinking.

This Special Issue affirms that early childhood is a fertile ground for science learning and concept formation. From this perspective, a more holistic and participatory view of early science education emerges, not merely as a discipline to be mastered, but as a way of engaging with the world that is available to all children, from their earliest years. It values children as capable knowers, teachers as reflective co-learners, and science as a human endeavor rooted in curiosity, creativity, inquiry, and reasoning.

The review by Siry et al. (2023) reinforces these findings, underscoring the centrality of inquiry, play, affect, and inclusion in quality science education in early years education. Their synthesis of a decade of research outlines key future directions, including the need for multimodal methodologies, inclusive pedagogies, and increased attention to teacher education and policy frameworks. We share this vision and advocate for ECSE as a foundational and transformative part of lifelong science learning.

We hope that this issue provides not only a scholarly contribution but also an impetus for researchers, educators, and policymakers to continue building an early science education landscape that honors the voices, creativity, and potential of all young learners.