How do early science skills develop?

Observing phenomena, forming hypotheses, comparing, measuring, and testing hypotheses – so far, there is very little knowledge of how such basic science skills (inquiry skills and practices) effect subsequent learning development. The aim of the project of the Leibniz Center of Excellence for Early Childhood Education was to investigate the extent to which the promotion of these competencies has an impact on the acquisition of new knowledge. The study compared different interventions in which the instructional support for inquiry skills was systematically varied. The overarching question was to what extent available inquiry skills and practices support the development of conceptual knowledge, e.g., in the domains of magnetism, swimming and sinking or aggregate states.