Using Cultural-Historical Theory to Design and Assess a Chemistry Play-Based Learning Intervention

An objective of the kindergarten training curriculum is for children to understand simple chemical processes. On the other hand, uncertainty exists within current pre-school practice about how to teach this, especially considering that there is little scientific literature on this topic. This study investigated how children can be taught about abstract phenomena such as atoms and molecules using a play-based learning intervention.

The results are presented in vignettes illustrating significant moments from the intervention, along with a discussion of how social situational development, the actual development zone and mediating tools create an understanding of atoms and molecules for the children.

The study included 20 three-year-olds from a Swedish kindergarten. The children were taught using a cultural-historical teaching model where the researchers themselves both taught the children and collected the data. The teaching sessions lasted from between 15 to 30 minutes and were recorded on video and transcribed by the researchers. The study consisted of two data collections: first a pilot study in January 2018 in which four children participated, and then a larger collection of data in November 2018 in which 16 children participated.

Carulla, C. V. & Adbo, K. (2019). «Using Cultural-Historical Theory to Design and Assess a Chemistry Play-Based Learning Intervention». Cultural-Historical Psychology, 15(4):35-43.