Fostering young children’s scientific practices in urban and Indigenous areas: an investigation of instructional strategies

This study examined children’s improvement in scientific practices, teaching effectiveness and the interplay of teaching and performances in Taiwan. Five teachers from two urban and two Indigenous classes were invited to implement a science learning module. They taught 73 children with an average age of 5 years and 8 months. Each child took a performance assessment of scientific practices before and after the learning module. Independent samples t tests and ANCOVA were employed to compare the performances of children in the two groups. Teachers’ lessons were videotaped and transcribed. Two coding schemes, teachers’ strategies and children’s practices, were developed and quantified to measure teaching effectiveness and analyse the interplay between two factors. We found that similar children’s improvement and teaching effectiveness provided a base for comparison of teachers’ instruction. Multiple strategies were used to guide urban children to make a plan and Indigenous children to share their investigation. Additionally, urban teachers tended to use strategies such as asking simple questions and reconciling disputes, while their counterparts often connected lessons to children’s experiences and guided them to compare and contrast. The findings shed light on effective early science instruction that responds to children’s cultural backgrounds, developmental needs and learning contexts.