Exploring the pedagogic relation - Supporting six-year-olds in making sense of physical motion

Sammendrag

This article explores how verbal relations between child and researcher may support the child’s reasoning and making sense of physical motion. In an earlier study, 64 children aged 6–14 participated in one-to-one reflective dialogues. Some of them developed their reasoning during the dialogue, and used an exploring approach to make sense of physical motion. For the present study, 6 transcripts were re-analyzed concerning the interplay between the researcher and the 6-year-olds who used this approach, aiming to explore the pedagogic relation, namely how the children used language to understand physical motion and how they were supported by the researcher. The analysis revealed some conditions for a pedagogic relation: the adult uses an inviting approach, directing the child’s awareness by framing the phenomenon, directing and reflecting the child’s awareness towards their use of language, and asking for the child’s perspective. Children who used an exploring approach spoke of the phenomenon ‘as’, expressed awareness of their own use of language, and tested and developed meanings. The results are discussed in relation to science education in early childhood settings, and ways of helping children expand their reasoning using an exploring approach to scientific phenomena.