A Didactic Proposal on Ramps in Early Childhood Education: the Importance of Teacher Intervention in the Development of Scientific Skills and Constructions

Abstract

This study presents, as a result of school-university collaboration, the design, implementation and evaluation of a didactic intervention with a socio-constructivist approach and dialogic nature on interactions in physical systems (ramps and pathways) in early childhood education. The designed didactic proposal consists in two phases and four different activities and was implemented in a group (n = 20) of pre-school children (5-6 years old) in a free choice context based on play and autonomous movement. During the implementation, the emerging scientific skills, the complexity of the constructions made, as well as the effect of the teaching intervention on learning were evaluated. The results indicate a positive evolution in the emerging scientific skills and in the degree of sophistication of the constructed structures. The children were also able to establish cause and effect relationships, as well as to talk in scientific terms about position, trajectory, and speed.