Impact of Montessori Cosmic Education science program on preschoolers’ scientific process skills

This study aimed to examine the effect of preschool-adapted science activities inspired by Montessori Cosmic Education on the scientific process skills of 5–6-year-old children. The literature indicates that experimental studies integrating this approach into preschool science education and examining its effects on scientific process skills are limited. A pretest–posttest quasi-experimental design was used; clusters were randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups, and baseline equivalence was established. The study was conducted with 40 children (n = 20 experimental; n = 20 control), and the program was implemented in the experimental group over nine weeks. Data were collected using a scale developed by Büyüktaşkapu (Citation2010) and analyzed using nonparametric tests. Internal consistency was α=.64 (pretest) and α=.94 (posttest). Results showed significant improvement with a high effect size (p<.001, r >.50), and gains were maintained at follow-up. Findings indicate that the activities have the potential to support scientific process skills.