Scientific literacy at the 3-6 year old stage: an analysis of spain’s national curriculum

Abstract

An analysis is made of the scientific literacy promoted by Spain’s national curriculum for the 3-6 year old stage. To this end, a questionnaire was designed and implemented combining inter- and intra-rater processes of analysis as a strategy of validation and reliability. An evaluation was made of how the official document addresses the following dimensions of science education at this stage: the construction of school science; the axiology and psychology of learning science; objectives and competences; content; teaching activities, design, and strategies; and teaching resources and evaluation. The results indicate that the school science actually being put forward in the document is, to a major degree, out of tune with current trends in Science Teaching. In view of the deficiencies identified in the document several improvements are recommended.