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Education Sciences
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Effective Science Education for Young Children in Early Years Contexts
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Effective Science Education for Young Children in Early Years Contexts

A special issue of Education Sciences (ISSN 2227-7102). This special issue belongs to the section "STEM Education".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 January 2026 | Viewed by 2595

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Pauline Roberts

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Education, Edith Cowan University, Perth, Australia
Interests: reflection; ePortfolio; early childhood science and STEM; technology in early childhood; NAPLAN perspectives; documentation of learning
Dr. Patricia Collins

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Education, Edith Cowan University, Perth, Australia
Interests: personal values (i.e., individual motivational goals) in adults and children; relationships between personal values and wellbeing (including self-esteem); relationships between personal values and social behaviours; best–worst methodology; teacher and pre-service teacher's personal values impact their teaching style, wellbeing and behaviour, and social and emotional development and learning; STEM in education

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Young children are innately curious about the world around them and learn through direct contact with their environment as they explore, test and question. In education settings, however, these opportunities for exploration and learning can sometimes be missed due to a multitude of reasons. In addition, when children commence formal schooling, the preferential focus given to literacy and numeracy means that science is not given due consideration in the weekly schedule of activities or lessons, despite the opportunities for the integration of these three (and more) content areas. When educators/teachers are cued in to notice opportunities regarding science, rich learning can occur for the children and those guiding the learning that exceeds expectations held by people about young learners and those set within the curriculum requirements.

This Special Issue of Education Sciences aims to showcase effective practices in engaging young children in science learning within formal and informal learning contexts and reports on research that enhances the knowledge, skills and confidence of pre- or in-service teachers and educators to engage in science with young learners.

The scope of this Special Issue includes, but is not limited to, the following:

  • Educational effectiveness;
  • Learning and teaching;
  • Pedagogies;
  • Teacher education;
  • Testing and evaluation.

Suggested themes:

  • Early childhood education
  • Curriculum and instruction
  • STEM education

Dr. Pauline Roberts
Dr. Patricia Collins
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Education Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • early childhood science
  • teacher confidence in science
  • formal science
  • informal science
  • educator knowledge and skills
  • young children and science

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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20 pages, 1972 KB  
Article
Facilitated Play in Nature Playgroups: An Opportunity for Early Childhood Science Education
by Christopher Speldewinde, Suzanne Infantino and Coral Campbell
Educ. Sci. 2025, 15(12), 1634; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15121634 - 4 Dec 2025
Viewed by 289
Abstract
Advocates for playful nature-based learning espouse the benefits of children’s self-directed play; however, past research has questioned whether this form of activity is beneficial to children of all ages, particularly the very young. In Australia, there are rapidly growing numbers of nature playgroups [...] Read more.
Advocates for playful nature-based learning espouse the benefits of children’s self-directed play; however, past research has questioned whether this form of activity is beneficial to children of all ages, particularly the very young. In Australia, there are rapidly growing numbers of nature playgroups and bush kindergartens in which young children’s self-directed play-based learning is promoted. Bush kinders, as they are known in Australia, are a local adaptation of the European forest kindergarten approach, where three- and four-year-old children spend one day a week in outdoor contexts away from the kindergarten premises to learn and play. One further example of Australian nature-based approaches to Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) is the nature playgroup where forests, parklands, and beaches are used by parents to regularly meet so their children can socialise and play. Science learning is often prevalent in these nature playgroups where children observe the sky, ground, plants, and animals across changing seasons. The children can mix earth and water and move their bodies as they run, dance, and roll on the grass. Despite the popularity of nature-based ECEC approaches globally, Australian nature playgroups led by facilitators other than parents, aimed towards young children aged from birth to four, have only gained popularity in the past decade. This paper draws upon fieldwork informed by ethnographic methods and undertaken in 2024 at one nature playgroup. The observations of facilitators, parents, and children and the interactions between the researchers and the playgroup participants are described using vignettes to understand the experience of science learning during facilitated nature playgroup sessions. Through analysing research in ECEC nature-based science teaching and learning, we propose that facilitated playgroups are valuable for young children to interact with nature as an avenue to build science knowledge. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Effective Science Education for Young Children in Early Years Contexts)
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Review

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18 pages, 880 KB  
Review
Reimagining Science Learning in Early Childhood Through Storybook Reading
by Amanda S. Haber and Sona C. Kumar
Educ. Sci. 2025, 15(10), 1361; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15101361 - 14 Oct 2025
Viewed by 1869
Abstract
This paper presents a model for reimagining science learning during the early childhood years through storybook reading. Much of the research on storybooks in early childhood has emphasized how storybooks promote knowledge acquisition in literacy, social–emotional learning, and science. This model proposes that [...] Read more.
This paper presents a model for reimagining science learning during the early childhood years through storybook reading. Much of the research on storybooks in early childhood has emphasized how storybooks promote knowledge acquisition in literacy, social–emotional learning, and science. This model proposes that shared science storybook reading, through interactions with adults and society, integrates these domains and encourages the development of skills critical to success in science fields such as persistence in the face of failure and growth mindset. The model is situated within two theoretical frameworks: a social interactionist framework that adult–child interactions during a shared storybook reading can advance children’s learning and an ecological systems framework, which highlights how early development occurs in informal and formal learning environments in preschool through second grade, and within the context of larger societal values surrounding science. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Effective Science Education for Young Children in Early Years Contexts)
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