Discovering the Worlds of Life Sciences, Objects and Material in Nursery Schools: Teaching Practices and Training Proposals

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Mimi

The paper explores how French nursery school teachers implement the curriculum area “Discovering the world of life sciences, objects and material,” linking children’s early learning in biology, physical sciences, chemistry, and technology to teachers’ recorded practices. Using teachers’ logs and questionnaires, it identifies educational contents, activities, and issues that shape those experiences. Results indicate biology is prioritized over technology and highlight interrelations between scientific and technological curricula through “compositional schemes,” informing recommendations for professional training.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages13

Reading Time33 min

AccessFree to download

Background and Issues

Early childhood care facilities and curriculum structure

Experiential capitalization and empirical referent

Teaching area and scientific-technological education

“Discovering” life science, material, and objects

Research focus and methodology

Teachers’ logs and questionnaires

Discovering the Worlds of Life Sciences, Objects and Material in Nursery Schools: Teaching Practices and Training Proposals By Frédéric Charles 􀀍 In French nursery schools (“l’école maternelle française”), primary school teachers take charge of the content organised into teaching areas of activities. The prescribed teaching activity “Discovering the world of life sciences, objects and material” refers to biology, physical sciences, chemistry and technology. The children’s learning path concerning these worlds represents the early stages of the curriculum. Many research studied these children’s learning (e.g. Bisault, 2005; Fleer, 1996; Ravanis & al., 2013). This paper focuses on teachers and aims at describing and analysing the implementation of the practices of this early childhood education. Ina curriculum perspective (Dillon, 2009; Martinand, 2003; Ross, 2000), an inquiry about the practices reported both in teachers’ logsand questionnaires, reveals the contents, activities and issues associated with these educational experiences. The results show biology is privileged and preferred to technology by the teachers. The research indicates an interrelated scientific and technological curriculum and a science and technology mostly found, in what I called, “compositional schemes”. The discovery of this world, through these compositional schemes, takes various positions according to the priorities assigned by the teachers. The research at last allows me to discuss the professional training of preschool teachers in order to improve the teaching practices in science and technology. Background and Issues In early childhood care facilities, French nursery school (“l’école maternelle française”) is characterized by a clearly educational direction that has been taken since the fifties (Prost, 1981) . Completely integrated into the school’s structure (Ministry of National Education, 1989), nursery school (NS) is set by programs that define content organised into areas of teaching activities. This curriculum structure differs from the end of primary school (PS) or secondary school (SS), where identifiable and comparmentalized academic subjects exist. 􀀍Associate Professor, S2HEP, University Claude Bernard Lyon 1, France. [https://doi.org/10.30958/aje.1-3-3](https://doi.org/10.30958/aje.1-3-3) doi=10.30958/aje.1-3-3 In the last prescribed curriculum (Ministry of National Education, 2008), the teaching area called “Discovering the world of the living science, material and objects” refers to the beginning of science and technology education (STE) . The term “education” is preferred to the teaching of science and technology for these reasons (Bisault, 2011, p. 9): 􀁸 Firstly, the definition of the entity “science” is not obvious in nursery and primary schools. 􀁸 Secondly, there is not any science or technology teacher in these schools. 􀁸 Finally, the curriculum doesn’t only content knowlegdes or skills: in science and technology, as in other fields besides, there are many contents related to educational activities. Through these educational purposes, NS is the school that has to ensure a successful entry into scientific and technical culture (Orange & Plé, 2000) contributing to the discovery of natural and artificial environment. The social and educational issues are fundamental, because NS is the first mean that provides training for almost all three to six year old children, in the current context of development of science and technology. This training must offer the first experiential capitalization contributing to establishment of an empirical referent (Coquidé & Lebeaume, 2003) . These experiments have to be in according with the principles set by Pauline Kergomard 1. Maryline Coquidé (1998) clarifies the meaning of these first experiments: she places the NS as the place of practical familiarization. These experiences are mainly actions, sometimes real experiment. In building an empirical referent perspectiv

FAQs

What curriculum area does the paper focus on in French nursery schools?

It focuses on the teaching area “Discovering the world of life sciences, objects and material,” covering biology, physical sciences, chemistry, and technology as part of early curriculum stages.

Which sources are used to investigate teachers’ practices?

The study relies on teachers’ logs and questionnaires to identify the contents, activities, and issues connected to these educational experiences.

What main outcome does the research report about teachers’ preferences?

It shows that teachers privilege biology and prefer it to technology, while also describing how science and technology appear together via “compositional schemes.”

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Mimi