RT Journal Article
T1 The practice of using evidence in kindergarten: The role of purposeful observation
A1 Fernández Monteira, Sabela
A1 Jiménez Aleixandre, María Pilar
K1 Purposeful observation
K1 Kindergarten science
K1 Use of evidence
K1 Scientific practices
AB This article examines kindergarten children’s (5–6 years old)engagement in scientific practices, with a focus on generating and usingevidence to support claims, during a 5-month project about snails. Theresearch questions are as follows: (1) what meanings do kindergartenersconstruct for what constitutes evidence? How are those meanings reflected inthe development of data into evidence? (2) Which ways of gathering empiricalevidence are jointly constructed by children and teacher during the project? (3)How do children use evidence to revise their understandings? The participantsare one class of Early Childhood Education children (N ¼ 25) and theirteacher. They were engaged in a project about snails, involving pursuing theirown questions, carrying out experiments and purposeful observations,collecting data and drawing conclusions, under the guidance of the teacher.The results show that children developed meanings of a certain level ofsophistication about evidence, that they distinguished between empiricalevidence from planned experiments and from prolonged observation, which wecall purposeful, and that they combined different types of evidence in the revisionof their ideas about snails. We identified two levels in the development of datainto evidence—closer to descriptive statements and evaluative judgments. Wesuggest that purposeful observation, which has a clear focus, is guided by theteacher and explicitly discussed, has affordances in early childhood science.For instance, 30 out of 57 evidence statements relate to purposefulobservation. Promoting purposeful observation as a source of evidence at thisage may allow studying processes both for children (biology processes) andfor researchers (learning processes). The results would support Metz’s (2011)contention about the relevance of instructional opportunities overdevelopmental constraints.
AB Examínase a participación do alumnado de educación infantil (5–6anos) nas prácticas científicas, en concreto en xerar e usar probas parasustentar conclusións, durante un proxecto de cinco meses sobre caracois.As preguntas de investigación son: (1) Que significados constrúen os nenos enenas para o que constitúen probas? Como se reflicten estes significados nodesenvolvemento de datos en probas? (2) Que formas de obter probasempíricas son construídas conxuntamente por nenos e mestra durante oproxecto? E (3) Como usan os nenos e nenas as probas para revisar o seucoñecemento? Os participantes son unha clase de terceiro curso deEducación Infantil (N= 25) e a súa mestra. Levaron a cabo un proxecto sobrecaracois, procurando respostas ás súas propias preguntas, realizandoexperimentos e observacións cun propósito, recollendo datos e extraendoconclusións, guiados pola mestra. Os resultados mostran que desenvolveronsignificados de certa sofisticación sobre as probas, distinguindo entre probasprocedentes de experimentos planificados e da observación prolongada, quedenominamos cun propósito; e que combinaron diferentes tipos de probas narevisión das súas ideas sobre os caracois. Identificamos dous niveis natransformación de datos en probas, enunciados cercanos a descricións e xuízosavaliativos. Suxerimos que a observación cun propósito, caracterizada por ter unobxectivo definido, estar guiada pola mestra e ser discutida explicitamente, tenpotencial no ensino das ciencias en educación infantil e primaria. Porexemplo, 30 dos 57 enunciados sobre probas relaciónanse coa observación cunpropósito. Promover a observación cun propósito como fonte de probas nestasidades pode permitir estudar procesos, tanto polos nenos (procesos biolóxicos)como polas investigadoras (procesos de aprendizaxe). Os resultados sutentana perspectiva de Metz (2011), respecto da relevancia da instrución sobrelimitacións debidas ao desenvolvemento.
PB Wiley
SN 0022-4308
YR 2016
FD 2016
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10347/32335
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10347/32335
LA eng
NO Monteira, S.F., & Jiménez-Aleixandre, M.P. (2016), The practice of using evidence in kindergarten: The role of purposeful observation. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 53, 1232-1258. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21259
NO This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Monteira, S.F., & Jiménez-Aleixandre, M.P. (2016), The practice of usingevidence in kindergarten: The role of purposeful observation. Journal of Researchin Science Teaching, 53, 1232-1258, which has been published in final form at  https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21259. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions. This article may not be enhanced, enriched or otherwise transformed into a derivative work, without express permission from Wiley or by statutory rights under applicable legislation. Copyright notices must not be removed, obscured or modified. The article must be linked to Wiley’s version of record on Wiley Online Library and any embedding, framing or otherwise making available the article or pages thereof by third parties from platforms, services and websites other than Wiley Online Library must be prohibited.
NO This study was supported by Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO) (EDU2012-38022-C02-01). To the teacher Dolores Vázquez and her students. Sabela F. Monteira's work is supported by a BES-2013-062873 scholarship from the Spanish MINECO. The authors thank Ibrahim Delen, and JRST Editors, Associate Editor and anonymous reviewers for their suggestions to the first draft.
DS Minerva
RD 28 abr 2026