ABSTRACT
Science education has undergone a series of revisions centered around young children’s thinking and learning (Duschl et al., 2007). In the past, researchers grounded their work in the Piagetian perspective that young children are concrete thinkers and flow systematically through developmental stages. This created developmental constraints on young children’s involvement in practicing science (Metz, 2004). Emphasis was placed on deficits and stages of abilities, which generalized children’s capacities and reflected the conception of cognition on which early constructivism was based (Duschl et al., 2007; Robbins, 2005). Numerous researchers (e.g., Gelman & Coley, 1991; Inagaki & Hatano, 2002, 2006; Metz, 2004; Michaels et al., 2008; Varelas et al., 2008; Zembal-Saul et al., 2013) have thought differently of Piaget’s early developmental distinctions and have argued for a more robust introduction to science learning and literacy for young children in school science.
