Preschool children's scientific reasoning approaches towards socio-scientific events

The aim of this study is to reveal how preschool children interpret socioscientific issues and the scientific reasoning processes they carry out regarding these events. The research was conducted in accordance with the case study, one of the qualitative research approaches. The event in the case was narrated chronologically, and children were allowed to have an internal discussion between the description and analysis of the events. The study group consisted of 12 5-year-old children attending a kindergarten in Kastamonu in the 2023-2024 academic year. Participants were selected by convenience sampling method. Three different data collection tools were used in the study: demographic information form, story form and semi-structured interview. The data obtained were analysed by discourse analysis method. The analyses revealed that children were able to develop some solutions for environmental and human-related issues and to establish cause-effect relationships by using scientific language and terminology from time to time. The findings show that media and family interaction can be effective among children's sources of information, while their scientific reasoning processes can be associated with their cognitive development levels and the socioeconomic environment in which they live. In this context, it is thought that supporting scientific thinking skills at an early age, especially when combined with an educated family structure and enriched learning environments, may contribute to the development of children's awareness and reasoning skills towards socioscientific issues.