Abstract:
Scientific literacy helps children develop the habit of scientific thinking, supporting them as scientifically literate citizens by interpreting scientific facts and their collected meaning and enabling them to make socio-scientific decisions. Children gradually mature their scientific concepts from several similar everyday experiences, which also helps them develop their everyday concepts, as Vygotsky stated. While several studies suggested an intentional integration of science activities in early years and a continuation of science play activities in developing scientific literacy, how scientific literacy could become sustainable is yet to be addressed. This study investigated how intentional science play activities could support children’s scientific literacy development in their early years to progress in sustainability. Considering cultural-historical methodology to understand the whole process and relationships, around 21 hours of video data were collected from play activities of a regional early childhood centre in Australia in which 28 children (4-5 years) and three educators participated. This paper analysed nine hours and 20 minutes of video data of three similar events related to indoor and outdoor colour play activities. In the first event, children identified a relationship between mixing colours and creating a new one caused by chemical reactions directly in the paper through their colour play. The second event was an experiment to observe colour changes in a locally available vegetable, which also provided them with additional scientific knowledge of the photosynthesis process in green plants that use sunlight and absorb water to make their food. Based on their previous knowledge and understanding, children used their assumptions and imagination in the third event, in which they mixed different colours, created new colours as they wanted and made coloured objects of several states of matter, such as solid, thick, thin, and liquid. With the presence of intentional planning and teaching in play activities, these three everyday play-based experiences and interrelated continuous events allowed children to apply and establish their everyday learning in practical situations and interpret small science learning and their meanings by using their conscious understanding, critical and scientific thinking, and decision-making process. These events help children understand a system of interrelated concepts by establishing a series of new relationships with the relevant everyday concepts, eventually forming scientific concepts. Sustainable scientific literacy among children in their early years can be outlined using the combination of intentional planning and teaching, intention for sustainability and continuous practices through an interrelated application in a practical situation.