The quality of early science education: Influencing factors of professionals and institutions
Final Report Abstract
Overall, little is known about the implementation of science education processes in preschools. In addition, there are no findings on the necessary conditions on the part of the preschools and the institution for the implementation of high-quality science education processes. Above all, there are a lack of studies that examine the cognitive and motivational professional competences, the institutional level, and the process quality together and assess their relative contribution to quality. Therefore, the aim of the project was to investigate the relationships between institutional conditions, the competences of the preschool teachers, and the initiation and quality of the accompaniment of everyday integrated science-specific learning opportunities. In a cross-sectional design, data from N = 61 preschool teachers from N = 59 institutions were collected. Quantitative surveys of the head teachers and the preschool teachers were combined with testing of the staff and standardized observations of the process quality. The standardized observations included live observations of everyday activities and video recordings of semi-standardized scientific learning opportunities. Consistent with previous research findings, the results show that preschool teachers, as measured by standardized surveys, often do not recognize potential scientific learning situations as such. At the same time, there is a great heterogeneity in this ability. The results of the study also indicate that formal and subject-specific qualifications (e.g., professional degree, continuing education) are less important for high science-specific process quality than are domain-specific competencies (e.g., the ability to recognize science-specific educationally relevant everyday situations, pedagogical content knowledge, enthusiasm in designing science learning opportunities). This emphasizes the importance of strengthening the competences of preschool teachers on the one hand, and on the other hand, it points to the need for further research on the best possible promotion of domain-specific competences in training and further education.
Publications
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Interaktionsqualität von Nawi-Bildungsangeboten in der Kita. Vortrag gehalten auf der Osnabrücker Fachtagung Frühkindliche Bildung: Lernanlässe schaffen – Entwicklungsprozesse begleiten, Osnabrück, Deutschland.
Barenthien, J., Anders, Y. & Steffensky, M.
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Measuring Interaction Quality in ECEC: An Empirical Analyses of the CLASS Pre-K and the SSTEW. Vortrag auf der Konferenz der European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI) 2023, Thessaloniki, Griechenland.
Oppermann, E., Burghardt, L., Barenthien, J., Steffensky, M. & Anders, Y.
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Prozessqualität von naturwissenschaftlichen Bildungsangeboten in der Kita und die Bedeutung des fachdidaktischen Wissen für die Prozessqualität. Vortrag gehalten auf der 10. Fachtagung der Gesellschaft für Empirische Bildungsforschung (GEBF), Essen, Deutschland.
Barenthien, J., Anders, Y. & Steffensky, M.
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Qualität von Nawi-Angeboten und die Rolle des fachdidaktischen Wissens pädagogischer Fachkräfte. Vortrag gehalten auf der 50. Fachtagung der Gesellschaft für Didaktik der Chemie und Physik (GDCP), Hamburg, Deutschland.
Barenthien, J., Anders, Y. & Steffensky, M.
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Verbale Fachkraft- Kind-Interaktionen in frühen naturwissenschaftlichen Lerngelegenheiten. Vortrag auf der Osnabrücker Fachtagung "Frühkindliche Bildung: Lernanlässe schaffen - Entwicklungsprozesse begleiten", Osnabrück.
Oppermann, Anders, Barenthien, Burghardt, Dominke & Steffensky
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Beobachtungsverfahren zur Erfassung der Interaktionsqualität in Kindertageseinrichtungen. Frühe Bildung, 13(1), 29-35.
Oppermann, Elisa; Barenthien, Julia; Burghardt, Lars; Steffensky, Mirjam & Anders, Yvonne
