Learning about bees in pre-school education: art and recycling in science education

Abstract

Learning about the bees in preschool is so important as these insects are for the environment and life in the earth planet. In the context of supervised pedagogical practice of the master degree for pre-school and primary school teachers’ qualification, an intervention project was developed in a kindergarten with 20 four-year-old children in a Portuguese city. Following an action-research, thirteen activities were carried out, from the reading of the children's book about bees, through dialogue about the morphological structure and social organisation of bees, as well as the exploration of recyclable materials and construction of a castle, hives and bees. Dialogues and draws allows us to evaluate the children involvement, conceptual change and their awareness of the learning process, as well as to contribute to the socioemotional skills related to environment and bees’ preservation.