Bokens författare börjar med att behandla de små atomerna, därefter cellen och villkoren för några olika livsformers liv och växande, och avslutar i ekosystemen och våra mänskliga samhällen. Deras utgångspunkt är övertygelsen om att det naturvetenskapliga ämnesinnehållet ska behandlas tillsammans med de ämnesdidaktiska frågorna.Den didaktiska belysningen är inspirerad av variationsteorin, en teori om lärande som utgår från att variationen är en viktig förutsättning för att vi ska kunna urskilja saker i vår omvärld. Fokus ligger här på ”lärandets objekt”, det vill säga det som eleverna förväntas lära sig, hur detta lärande görs möjligt och vad eleverna sedan faktiskt lär sig.Boken är främst tänkt som kurslitteratur inom lärarutbildningen och grundläggande fortbildningar för förskollärare och lärare. Den kan också användas i olika barnledarutbildningar inom natur- och fritidssektorn. Intresserade lärare som vill bredda sina kunskaper i ämnet kan också ha stor glädje av boken.Denna nya upplaga har kompletterats med två nya kapitel: ett grundläggande från fysikens område och ett om rymden.

Bokens innehåll bygger på en longitudinell studie då författaren följde hur enskilda elevers förståelse av ekologiska processer utvecklades från årskurs två till årskurs åtta i grundskolan samt hur eleverna såg på sin kunskapsutveckling i början av sista terminen på gymnasiet. Författaren beskriver och diskuterar elevers förståelse av ett antal ekologiska fenomen som handlar om villkor för liv, växande och nedbrytning i naturen samt om blommans roll.

Några av frågorna som ställs i boken är:

• Vilka föreställningar har elever om de gröna växternas villkor för liv och växande?

• Vad föreställer sig elever att det händer med döda växter på marken? Hur uppfattar de att jord bildas?

• Hur föreställer sig elever att tillväxten från frö till fullbildad växt går till?

• Vilka tankar har elever om blommans roll?

Boken vänder sig till lärarstudenter och yrkesverksamma lärare.

Following an intensive debate on the advisability of building a refuse disposal unit in the town of Kristianstad, Sweden, local people started to discuss what would happen to the residue from refuse incineration. From the debate it was evident that there was limited knowledge of what actually happens to refuse in general. Many thought that the matter would disappear, except for a small residue of ash. There was, in many cases, no recognition of the existence of waste gas. Most people found it difficult to realize that all matter still existed after combustion. This became a challenge for us as teachers and teacher educators. Is not this a kind of knowledge that citizens should acquire at school?

The purpose of this chapter is to give examples of what emergent science can mean for preschool practice. Children are seen as active in their own learning in communication with others. They experience the world around them with curiosity including a special sensitivity, alertness and a sense of wonder. Empirical examples which are reported build on teachers’ and 3 to 6 years old children’s work with “animals in a tree stump”. Children’s experiences of ecological phenomena are related to their interaction with the teachers. The analysis shows that children have a growing curiosity to learn more about different scientific phenomena. There is a need for teachers to recognise and use the possibilities to challenge children to develop deeper understanding of a scientific content area. If teachers meet children’s questions seriously such an approach can be a foundation for the development of children’s understanding, a lifelong learning and learning for a sustainable future.

Empirical examples which are used built on a preschool’s work with ‘animals in a tree stump’ with special relations to organisms need for food, space, water and air. We will also discuss the characterizations of air, food and water in relation to children’s’ experiences and teachers interactions. Children three to six years old and teachers take part in the study.

The analysis shows that children have a growing curiosity to learn more about different scientific phenomenons. It is also showed that there is a need for teachers to recognise and to use the possibilities to challenge children to develop deeper understanding of scientific phenomenon. If teachers meet children’s questions seriously it could be a foundation for lifelong and sustainable learning.

On the basis of an increasing awareness about the importance of ecological questions and the need for a sustainable development, it has been argued that Swedish preschool children shall develop knowledge also about natural science. One important aspect of this is to make ecological phenomena visible in children’s every day life. The aim of the present paper is to report on a study of verbal communication between teachers and children in preschool about ecological phenomena. Children are here seen as active in their own learning and that develops on the basis of their own experiences in communication with the surrounding world. 21 children (3-6 years) and three teachers participate in the study. Six of the 21 children do not have Swedish as their first language.  A preschool unit was followed by video observation during two months when working on themes about life in a tree stump and decomposition of leaves. Focusing the verbal communication the data observations have been transcribed. Then the transcriptions were analysed from the know-what and the know-how aspect of learning. The result is presented on the basis of the communication of the what-perspective and is discussed in terms of what is noticed and how the children’s understandings are communicated.  Finally we discuss the connections between children’s ability to understand and communicate their observations, as well as the role of the preschool teacher and education for a sustainable development.

Det är viktigt att ge lärare i förskolan och grundskolans tidiga del en fördjupad kunskap om möjligheten att ge barn positiva upplevelser och förståelse av grundläggande naturvetenskapliga fenomen. Därmed läggs grunden för ett livslångt lärande om dessa fenomen. Denna bok vill ge lärare och lärarstudenter kunskap i naturvetenskap samt ge förslag på undervisning som kan stödja och stimulera barns lärande.

In this paper we present results from a 10-year (1997-2006) longitudinal study in which we, by interviews once or twice every year, followed how students, throughout the compulsory school, developed their understanding of three situations in which transformations of matter occur. We believe that students have to meet scientific ideas early in order to gradually, in social cooperation with classmates, friends, teachers, and other grown-ups, elaborate the meaning of a concept. We followed 23 students all born in 1990. In 1997 we introduced the idea of the particulate nature of matter. We have conducted interviews allowing students to explain the transformation of matter in fading leaves left lying on the ground, burning candles, and a glass of water with a lid on. In the interview at 16 years of age, less than one-fifth of the students use molecular ideas in scientifically acceptable ways. The overall conclusion is that most students do not connect the knowledge they gain in school about the particulate nature of matter to these everyday situations. On the other hand, the students seem capable of using a simple particle model and the model can help them understand the invisible gas state. The question of how to use this capability in order to develop students' scientific ideas is still not solved and more research is argued for.

In this paper we present results from a 10 year longitudinal study with the aim to investigate how students use experiences when they develop their ideas about decomposition, burning, evaporation, and condensation. The theoretical framework of this study builds upon social constructivist perspectives. In our study (1997-2006) we have followed 23 students all born in 1990. We have conducted interviews allowing the students to explain the transformation of matter in fading leaves left lying on the ground, burning candles, and a glass of water with a lid on. Most students make progress in describing and explaining the situations in the first years of the study. Then there is a vast spread in the students’ capability to use their experiences and science taught in school in productive ways to improve their understanding of transformations of matter. We discuss the implications for science education research, compulsory school science curricula, and school science education out of these findings.