Children’s Literature: A Contribution to the Emergence of Science in the Early Years

Abstract

Children’s natural curiosity by everything around them is a premise for discovery. Natural phenomena such as the alternation between day and night, elements of nature such as the tree’s leaves and their shapes and colors, daily routines as sorting waste, raise many questions in children, stimulating them towards scientific literacy trough what is familiar to them and their personal life experiences. In the science children’s books, the concepts’ approach sometimes difficult its understanding by children, due to the used vocabulary, the lack of an appealing narrative, among other aspects. In turn, children’s literature books without any intention of promoting or developing ideas of science can, through their narrative and illustrations, in a more meaningful context for children, motivate the inquiring and the concepts’ exploration. This work results from a presentation session of the children’s book “From the outside to inside and from the inside to outside” to children of a Portuguese school of the 1st Cycle of Basic Education, by the authors which are also the researchers, having as aim create an environment based on questioning activity, supported in the story narrative, and develop children’s divergent thinking in a context involving scientific ideas.