Scientific practices in early childhood education. An approach to the analysis of the curriculum and teacher training plans in Galicia

Abstract

This paper presents a study about scientific practices in the curriculum and in teacher training plans in science in Early Childhood Education (ECE). The research questions are: 1) How are scientific practices integrated in the Early Childhood Education curriculum? 2) What initial and continuous training do the early childhood teachers receive in order to promote scientific practices in their classroom? Specifically, how important are these practices in their professional development? The scientific practice with highest presence in the ECE curriculum is inquiry, followed by modelling and scientific argumentation. The analysis of early childhood teachers initial training plans in our community reveal that only two subjects of Early Childhood Education’s Degree include in their programmes scientific practices. One activity for scientific training is found within the Annual Teacher Training Plan, although scientific practices are not mentioned.