Science in early years education: introducing floating and sinking as a property of matter

In the present study we test the effectiveness of a teaching intervention concerning the phenomenon of floating and sinking as a property of the matter the bodies are made of. The treatment, designed for children aged four to six years, comprises two units of hierarchically sequenced activities. The children experiment with objects having specifically designed characteristics aiming at shifting children's attention from the objects to the material(s) these are made of. Both solid and hollow objects were used. The activities were developed collaboratively by a researcher and early years teachers and were implemented by the teachers of the work group in their own public school classes in a sample of 104 children. Action research processes were used to optimise classroom practices. Teacher preparation took place within the work group before implementation. Concept cartoons were used for the children's final assessment. Analysis of classroom data recorded during the course of the activities showed gradual redirection of the children's attention from the objects to the materials of which they were made. The results of the post-instructional assessment revealed high percentages of pupils understanding the kind of material as the determining factor for the bodies' behaviour in water.