The aim of this thesis is to combine three research areas, namely preschool, science and illustrations, in order to examine (a) how modes are combined when references to the body are made or the body as such are used to explain scientific concepts and phenomena in preschool science education, and (b) how do the children handle, explore, discuss and talk science when approaching multimodally illustrated scientific contents in the studied activities. Four studies were conducted, all of which were built on empirically generated questions and were theoretically grounded in cultural-historical and multimodal perspectives. Participants were preschool students, aged 4-6 years, from three preschool groups, as well as their teachers and two science centre guides. Specific focus was directed toward activities where adults and children use their bodies or refer to their bodies to illustrate scientific concepts, for example, “the water circle” in a board-and-dice-game (study I); “water has the power to lift,” in experiments relating to a life-jacket (study II); stability in a drama-play and related experiments (study III); and evaporation in embodied illustrations and hands-on activities (study IV). The empirical material consisted mainly of video recordings. A multimodal approach was adopted for the analyses.

The results indicate that multimodal illustrations may be complicated for this target group. Difficulties were found to intensify, rather than decrease, by the fact that different modes and elements were often intricately combined in the same illustration, presumably with the intention of providing instruction as well as entertainment. From the four studies, it became evident that, even if the current natural science offered in preschool education often is conducted as “discovery learning”, the assumption that children can learn complex content without support cannot be left unquestioned. This thesis illustrates the crucial role played by a guiding teacher when it comes to concretizing abstract scientific phenomena for young children. A conscious introduction of bodily-based elements in multimodal illustrations may be useful on such occasions. However, even with such seemingly transparent components included, we cannot take adequate meaning-making for granted.

Even though water is a frequently addressed theme in preschool education and illustrations of different kinds are typically used to explain pre-science concepts, there is a remarkable shortage of studies in this part of the educational research field. The present article deals with 4–6-year-olds making meanings about the water circle from a board and dice game. Video-recorded sessions with small groups of children have been used and analysed from socio-semiotic and cultural historical perspectives. The results show that even though the children referred to and made intended meaning of several of the illustrated water phenomena, it seemed difficult for them to come to grips with the water circle as such. In particular this seems to be a result of the fact that the concept of evaporation was a stumbling block that was too abstract to overcome.

[...]Lärarutbildningen vid Högskolan i Borås har alltså bedömts hålla hög kvalitet. Ett skäl till detta framgår av Högskoleverkets motiveringar och handlar om en god balans mellan vetenskaplig och professionsbaserad kompetens bland lärar-utbildarna. I den här rapporten ges ett smakprov på områden där enskilda lärare vid institutionen har fördjupade kunskaper och intressen. Utgångspunkten för artiklarna är texter skrivna inom ramen för en kurs, Lärarutbildning och veten-skaplighet, läsåret 2008-09. De sju artiklarna behandlar på olika sätt och med olika utgångspunkter och tillämpningar, relationen mellan teori och praktik, just den fråga som har varit, är och ständigt kommer att vara lärarutbildningens kärnfråga.

Kapitlet har för avsikt att diskutera aspekter av lärarutbildningens möjligheter och svårigheter när det gäller att uppmärksamma och sammanväva teoretiska studier och praktisk yrkesutövning. Ett för studenter möjligt gränsland mellan två verksamhetsfält, ett nödvändigt gemensamt forskningsfokus och framtida utmaningar i lärarutbildning diskuteras också. Litteratur och innehåll i den forskningsförberedande adjunktsutbildningen Lärarutbildning och vetenskap-lighet har utgjort inspiration för de tankar som redovisas nedan. Egna erfaren-heter av förskole- och högskoleverksamhet ligger också till grund för några av dessa ställningstaganden.