“Hit and Run Research” with “Hit and Miss” Results in Early Childhood Science Education

Constructivism has provided us with a useful pedagogy and a powerful methodological framework for over twenty years. We now know a great deal about children's thinking. Can this research paradigm take us any further? Are we locked into a particular perspective about data gathering and categorising children's thinking? Have we tended to fit early childhood data into the 'accepted science education paradigm'? As early childhood researchers, we have found the wealth of research in science education research unable to provide solutions to some fundamental challenges we face when working with young children. This paper seeks to examine the established body of literature in science education research with a view to seeking out a more inclusive research approach to support early childhood science education. Examples of early childhood data within a range of contexts are presented to illustrate some of the challenges. Some of the issues that are raised may well be helpful to the field as a whole.

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