Undervisning i förskolan – en fråga om att stötta och att skapa gemensamt fokus

The aim of the study is to describe how a teaching situation with a group of kindergarten children takes shape when the children are to learn about technique (structural stability) and collaboration. The research questions are: 1) How does the kindergarten teacher stage what the staff have planned to teach the children? 2) How do the children meet the kindergarten teacher’s wish that they need to collaborate and construct something in order for it to be tall and stable? 3) How does the kindergarten teacher meet the children’s actions in the teaching situation?

Although the analysis shows that there are examples of the kindergarten teacher supporting the children and situations where sustained shared thinking arises, the authors believe that most of what happens in the teaching situation takes place on the adult’s terms, where little room is given to the children’s world and their ideas. The authors also believe that the teaching should have contained facts about the stability of structures and why this is important in a wider social context. In conclusion, the authors of the article argue for a mutually divided focus in kindergarten teaching. Such teaching is based on interaction and communication, where the children’s world of experience must be the starting point for didactics, and where play and learning are integrated into the goal-oriented processes of the teaching.

The sample consists of six children aged four to five years old and one kindergarten teacher. The children were divided into pairs and tasked with building tall and stable Lego structures. The activity was recorded by video camera and then transcribed and analysed with a focus on the interaction and communication between the adult and the children, and between the children, based on the concept of sustained shared thinking and scaffolding. The researchers also took audio recordings of meetings in which the staff planned and evaluated the teaching activity.

Melker, K., Mellgren, E. & Samuelsson, I. P. (2018). ”Undervisning i förskolan – en fråga om att stötta och att skapa gemensamt fokus”. Forskning om undervisning och lärande, 6(1):64–86.