Begynnande naturvetenskap och könade kroppar i förskolans utelek

Abstract

Drawing on new materialist thought (Barad 2003, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2014), this study explores preschool children’s gendered becomings as they play and explore together with two large boulders in a natural setting. The study takes its point of departure in emergent science (Siraj-Blatchford 2001) which refers to science as a social practice that is already explored by children’s daily play. Data for the project was constructed during a field study in a Swedish preschool with 25 five-year old children. The focus of the field study was the children’s play and explorations together with the preschool environment, during activities not specifically guided by teachers. The findings show how also natural materials, as the boulders in this study, can take part in and shape, both the children’s scientific explorations and their gendered becomings. This means that the ways that a child managed to explore and become was dependent on if and how the child managed to co-act and play together with the boulders and friction. However, not only the boulders, but also gender norms functioned as co-creators in this process. This goes against the common thought of children’s play in nature as “free and equal”, a notion that is not often questioned. Studies exploring children’s play and learning outdoors often lack gender perspectives, especially when science is also in focus. One of the article’s conclusions is the need for preschool teachers to engage in how children explore emergent science together with the natural/ material-discursive surroundings. That is, how different natural materials co-act with gender norms in different ways, moment by moment, and thus enable or prevent children from engaging with science and scientific phenomena.