Purpose
Based on a sociocultural perspective, this study investigates the use of a model that combines stories and drama in order to teach young children science. The research question was: how children’s learning in science is influenced by the use of a combination of stories and drama to explain a complex scientific concept?
Result
The results showed that many of the children had learned the names of the immune system’s cells and how they worked when someone had a cold. Moreover, they had also learned that viruses cause colds. There was also a small number of children who showed no signs of learning related to the specific content. In any case, the researchers maintain that the combination of stories and drama is a teaching strategy that has positive potential when it comes to teaching children about scientific topics.
Design
The participants were children from two Swedish pre-schools (4–6 years) and two primary school classes (7–8 years); a total of 25 children were involved in the study. The children were told a story about viruses and colds. No pictures were shown, but the children were asked to draw while they listened. The researchers then conducted semi-structured interviews with all the children for about 20 minutes per child. The main questions in the interviews were (1) Do you remember the story we told you a little while ago? What was it about? (2) How does a person catch a cold? (3) How do we recover? What happens? During the interviews, the drawings the children made while the story was being told were shown to help them recall any memories they had.
References
Walan, S. & Enochsson, A. B. (2019). «The potential of using a combination of storytelling and drama, when teaching young children science». European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 27(6): 821-836.