Invited Speaker at the Ministry of Education Research & Evaluation Strategy

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Picture books as a source of knowledge for young children’s learning about science

Children enter school with many isolated facts and misconceptions. What they are missing is a viable conceptual framework to link some of their isolated concepts together and to counteract some of their naive misconceptions.  Because joint book reading has the potential to serve as an excellent source of early knowledge about scientific concepts, Dr. Ganea has been interested in the use of picture books as a way to introduce children to simple scientific concepts about the world.  In this session, Dr. Ganea discussed what types of books facilitate children’s transfer of knowledge and how books can be used in the early years’ classrooms as a source of conceptual knowledge.  This research adds to a growing body of literature on how young children learn key concepts, and how different media support or detract from their learning. This session was of interest to a wide audience.