Inclusive science education in an infant school: obstacles and barriers to overcome

Science is a vital part of everyday life as it can help society tackle important topics, such as global warming, pollution, pandemics, and even social inequality (ScienceEurope, 2021). Given this centrality, it seems important to teach science to everyone from an early age so that they can become active agents in modern society. Teaching science to everyone means transforming science education into inclusive science education (ISE). An empirical research, following a naturalistic ecological paradigm, was conducted to see how to implement an ISE in pre-school. It is a multiple case study methodology involving indepth data collection, placed within a qualitative method (Creswell, 2014). A total of 44 pupils from 2 different infant schools took part in the study. Biology and physics laboratories were observed and recorded by researchers, and each recording was coded through an observational grid, revealing different factors that facilitate or hinder inclusion. These factors include the activity design that motivates the learning process, the quality of the classroom environment which predicts learning achievements and adults’ attitudes. These variables suggest that in order to have an ISE environment, practitioners should adopt specific pedagogical styles and a laboratorial approach.