5-6 years old children's mental representations of water in plants

The concept of water holds a central position in almost every curriculum that is developed within early childhood education. The current study presents the findings of research on the way 5–6 year old children deal with the issue of the existence of water in plants. The research was qualitative and was conducted through semi-structured interviews with 66 children. The data was analyzed using content analysis based on the transcripts of the interviews. The results showed that only a small number of children were able to conceptualize the existence of water in plants, however these children were able to describe and make predictions that were in line with school knowledge. Consequently, this field constitutes an interesting area for further research and development of properly designed activities. Limitations of the current research were the restricted and convenient sample as well as the choice of descriptive analysis.