Children's Encounters With Friction as Understood as a Phenomenon of Emerging Science and as “Opportunities for Learning”

The aim of this study is to explore preschool children's opportunities for learning about friction. A cultural-historical perspective is adopted in which the primary focus of analysis is children's encounters with the phenomenon of friction, on a personal level and within a social situation in which critical moments become aspects that involve opportunities for learning. The data consist of video observations carried out at a preschool in the southwest of Sweden, where four children were observed for whole days over a total of 12 days. The results show that children are in contact with the phenomenon of friction during their play. Such everyday play situations can be used by teachers to become more knowledgeable about children's current understandings of the phenomenon and ways of directing their attention toward understanding of friction in a more explicit manner, such as by inspiring children to new forms of play where the phenomenon of friction is prominent. The results indicate that a lack of adequate knowledge in this area hinders teachers from taking the opportunity to understand the children's perspectives and their intentions.