Science and Engineering in Preschool Through Elementary Grades The Brilliance of Children and the Strengths of Educators (2022) / Chapter Skim
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3 The Contextual Nature of Children's Learning
3 The Contextual Nature of Children's Learning
Pages 53-72
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From page 53... ...
learning is a pro cess of identity development; (3) children move through a range of cultural contexts where they learn science and en gineering, and variations in these contexts shape what and how children learn; and (4)
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From page 54... ...
, is an important task of educators and others who support children's learning, as subsequent chapters address. This chapter explores how children engage in sensemaking and the many contexts in which they learn about disciplinary approaches to and explanations of the natural and the designed world, about themselves as thinkers and actors, and about scientific investigation and engineering design as distinctive approaches to understanding the world (Bricker and Bell, 2014)
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From page 55... ...
Fourth, how teachers teach and children learn science and engineering are shaped by social and political forces -- learning in these disciplines is not neutral because the disciplines themselves are not neutral. Box 3-1 provides an example of how these big ideas play an important role in children's learning and sensemaking.
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From page 56... ...
56 SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING IN PRESCHOOL THROUGH ELEMENTARY GRADES BOX 3-1 Learning in Places Vignette Ms. Poppy's second-grade class is on an outdoor learning walk as part of the Learning in Places project.
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From page 57... ...
The lesson in this vignette was designed to engage children directly with the cultural and the contextual dimensions of science learning by inviting them to bring a scientific lens to an environment they knew well through everyday experience, and by creating space for children's per sonal experiences and observations of that environment to be surfaced and shared. As the lesson unfolded, two children moved through different experiences of identity formation.
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From page 58... ...
. Here, in discussing the chapter's first big idea, that learning is a cultural process, the focus is on how symbolic resources, made available through talk and text, and material resources (i.e., physical objects and tools)
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From page 59... ...
Children's access to and identification with science and engineering is accomplished, in part, through their increased engagement in the fields' specialized discourse practices. Equitable science and engineering learning settings provide children opportunities for deepening participation in the fields' specialized discourse practices, while not negating the productivity of other practices that are productive and familiar to them.
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From page 60... ...
. For example, the restricted space of traditional school science discourse, with its emphasis on abstract vocabulary, makes it difficult for minoritized learners "who do not command middle-class language practices to participate or be understood" (Rosebery et al., 2010, p.
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From page 61... ...
. Cultural studies of science learning reveal that learners who succeed in school forms of science may not have positive attitudes about it (Kanter and Konstantopoulos, 2010)
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From page 62... ...
found that many hobbyists' lifelong science interests began in childhood, shaped by family members and the social capital they provided through science-related leisure activities. Lifelong learning in these hobbies is an indicator of sustained science identity work (Bell et al., 2012)
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From page 63... ...
The available evidence base about children's science and engineering learning is shaped by the settings in which that learning happens and the opportunities involved in conducting research in those settings. Research on children's science learning is often conducted in formal education settings with similarly aged peers (preschool, elementary schools)
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From page 64... ...
The family unit also brings individual learners into contact with a range of more and less formal learning environments in which children can develop generalizable knowledge and understanding of science and engineering. These experiences also contribute to a child's corpus of experiences, observations, and ways of relating that they will draw upon in future, more formal science and engineering learning.
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From page 65... ...
, and that young children within family contexts can jointly engage in scientific inquiry around everyday phenomena of interest (Keifert and Stevens, 2019) . Informal Settings Designed for STEM Learning Science centers, zoos, botanical gardens, and natural history museums are all examples of designed, curated institutional settings that work both to elevate and celebrate various forms of scientific achievement and domination (Harraway, 1984)
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From page 66... ...
suggest the distinctive opportunities that well-designed informal STEM learning environments can provide for learners and their families as sites for sensemaking and intellectual risk taking (Bencze et al., 2020; Pedretti and Iannini, 2020) , which can contribute to children's positive identity formation as science learners among older youth (Lin and Schunn, 2016)
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From page 67... ...
Most children spend significant portions of their time online and engaging with digital resources. An enormous array of digital media devoted to science and engineering are available and can play constructive roles in expanding young people's understanding of science and engineering phenomena, environments, and ways of working.
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From page 68... ...
. Digital science journals and other tools for capturing and visualizing photo and video data have also been found to uniquely support science investigation in preschool (Presser et al., 2017, 2019)
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From page 69... ...
restrict the content and form of science valued and communicated through science education and (b) locate children, particularly minoritized youth, in positions that undermine their engagement in meaningful science learning (Bang et al., 2012)
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From page 70... ...
However, learning settings and learning science and engineering are not neutral. All learning occurs in places that involve powered and racialized relationships that affect what and how children learn.
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From page 71... ...
, and how different levers can support the development and enactment of those learning environments (Chapters 7, 8, and 9)
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