Oi! Sjå på den! – Funn av naturelement som utgangspunkt for utforskande naturfaglege samtalar mellom barn (5-6 år) og pedagogar

The study examines what characterizes situations that facilitate young children´s participation in exploratory scientific dialogues in outdoor education. By using action cameras mounted to the chest of three children (5-6 years) and two pedagogues during an outdoor session, recordings of 106 scientific dialogues are identified and analyzed in terms of categories describing the communicative project (the purpose) of the dialogues. These categories are: exploring, informing/presenting, and calling for attention. Children´s findings of nature elements initiated 60% of the scientific dialogues between children and pedagogues. Children´s utterances as “Look at this!” are often starting points for these dialogues. It is showed how pedagogues can extend the dialogue by using follow-up questions and encouraging children in applying their senses when exploring their findings. The study also indicates that visiting an area that offers rich possibilities of experiences and findings of nature elements, could enhance the children´s participation in exploratory scientific dialogues.