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This book describes and analyzes the ways that children aged one to five grapple with scientific concepts, and suggests ways in which pre-service and in-service teachers can be trained to support children´s development in cultural and historical contexts.

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Children´s learning and understanding of science during their pre-school years has been a neglected topic in the education literature-something this volume aims to redress. Paradigmatic notions of science education, with their focus on biologically governed development and age-specific accession to scientific concepts, have perpetuated this state of affairs. This book offers a very different perspective, however. It has its roots in the work of cultural-historical activity theorists, who, since Vygotsky, have assumed that any higher cognitive function existed in and as a social relation first. Accepting this precept removes any lower limit we may deem appropriate on children´s cognitive engagement with science-related concepts.

The authors describe and analyze the ways in which children aged from one to five grapple with scientific concepts, and also suggest ways in which pre-service and in-service teachers can be prepared to teach in ways that support children´s development in cultural and historical contexts. In doing so, the book affirms the value of cultural-historical activity theory as an appropriate framework for analyzing preschool children´s participation in science learning experiences, and shows that that the theory provides an appropriate framework for understanding learning, as well as for planning and conducting training for pre-school teachers.

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Foreword.- 1. Learning, Development, and Cultural-Historical Activity Theory.- PART I: THE BEGINNINGS OF HIGHER ORDER PSYCHOLOGICAL FUNCTIONS.- 2. The Origins of Reading - Science Texts.- 3. The Genesis of Conceptual Categories.- PART II: RETHINKING YOUNG CHILDREN´S ENGAGEMENT IN SCIENCE.- 4. Engaging Children in Collective Curriculum Design.- 5. Margin Center.- 6. Darkness Light.- PART III: TEACHER PREPARATION AND CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT.- 7. Creating the Potential for Learning in Early Childhood Education.- 8. Preparing Teachers for Early Childhood Science Teaching.- 9. Magnifying Effects with LIGHT.- Epilogue.- 10. Valuing Children´s Early Science Experiences.- References.- Index.

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From the reviews:
"As there is so little available on the topic of science during the preschool years, the authors have made a successful attempt to fill the gap with this title. This book, which combines practical work for students and teachers, will be useful for all those who work in the early childhood sector as teachers or teacher educators. ... I would recommend this study to both teachers in practice and also student teachers. ... A sure sign that there is plenty to gather from this text." (Sujatha Gomathinayagam, hekupu.ac.nz, Vol. 3 (2), March, 2013)

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