Preschool Educators’ Attempts to Establish Intersubjectivity in Science-Play

Abstract Play is considered a leading activity for children’s learning and development. Preschool educators have an important role in teaching and in creating conditions for children to explore and discover science. Therefore, there is a reason to encourage and explore activities where play and science are integrated. In this study, play and science are understood as a mutual activity, here referred to as science-play . The aim was to explore preschool educators’ attempts to establish intersubjectivity in science-play. Here, intersubjectivity is understood as participants’ attempts to coordinate their actions towards a common perspective. The empirical data consists of video-observations of preschool educators and children’s participation in science-play. The study draws on a sociocultural perspective, which emphasises the importance of social interactions, various communicative actions and artefacts for children’s learning. A qualitative content analysis was used to single out nuances in preschool educators’ use of verbal and non-verbal communicative actions. In addition, the theoretical framework Play-responsive early childhood education and care , PRECEC (Pramling et al. in Play-responsive teaching in early childhood education, Springer, Cham, 2019) contributed with analytical tools through the concept of as if (fantasy) and as is (reality), and intersubjectivity . Three narratives have been constructed to provide an in-depth perspective into how preschool educators use communicative actions and artefacts to establish intersubjectivity in science-play. The narratives illustrate variations in how intersubjectivity was facilitated , partially achieved , or hindered in science-play. The results are discussed in relation to implications for preschool teacher education and preschool practice.