THE IMPORTANCE OF CONCEPTUALLY FOCUSED TEACHER-CHILD INTERACTION IN EARLY-CHILDHOOD SCIENCE LEARNING

This paper presents the findings of a study which documented teacher-child discourse in two early childhood classrooms (Transition/Year One and Year Two/Three) with the view to mapping how young children come to understand the scientific concepts presented during science lessons. Examples are given to illustrate the different interaction types documented (procedurally and conceptually focused) and the subsequent constructive and destructive frameworks created by the children in working with technology-related tasks.