Preschoolers’ conceptual development of the plant reproduction cycle

Plants play a central role in all life on Earth, and it is important to learn about them from an early age. It is important to understand and incorporate children’s concepts of biological topics to prevent learning difficulties. This study examines their understanding of the life cycle of flowering plants, as few studies exist on this topic. A total of 16 children aged 5 to 6 years from a kindergarten in Vienna participated in a pre- , post-, and late-post-study. The children’s conceptions of the life cycle of plants were as­sessed using drawings and group interviews. A four-day intervention, based on the results of the pre-interviews, was designed to support learning towards scientific conceptions. The children’s concepts were a mixture of alternative and scientific ideas about all stages of the life cycle, some of which evolved through the intervention. From the beginning, the children understood that plants grow from seeds and require water and light. As a result of the intervention, most children were able to describe the connection between flowers and fruit. A range of anthropomorphic and anthropocentric perspectives could be observed, particularly regarding seed dispersal, but these decreased following the post-interviews. From the post-interviews onwards, some children recognized the existence of pollen, but at no point were they able to explain the process of pollination. The children’s interest was most effectively stimulated through the use of living plants at different cycle stages, various sensory experiences, and the examination of plants under incident light microscopes.