Atmospheres of curiosity in early childhood nature and science education

This article contributes to research on practice in socially inclusive early childhood nature and science education by discussing the concept of curiosity. Based on ethnographic research and research dialogues with early childhood educators, we call for attention to educational ways of approaching curiosity, a key value within nature and science education, that go beyond focusing on individual motivations for learning. Exploring curiosity with inspiration from perspectives on the concept of atmosphere (e.g., Böhme 2016; Ingold, 2015; Mason, 2018), we highlight relational sensations of wonder and inquisitiveness, and collective exploratory practices arising situationally, in encounters between children, adults, and non-human nature. Our study suggests that atmospheres of curiosity are supported by socially and ecologically inclusive pedagogies that allow place and weather to be important agents in children’s engagements with the living world, offer time and space for sensuous and embodied experiences, involve a common ground of shared tasks or attentions, and give children access to simple, open-ended tools and tactile materials. The article takes its empirical starting point in a municipal project aimed at building socially inclusive cultures of science and nature education in urban early childhood institutions in Denmark, located in neighborhoods with high numbers of children in vulnerable positions. With a dialogical and formative research design involving ethnographic observations, qualitative interviews, and dialogues with project stakeholders, the study aimed to generate knowledge about the challenges and opportunities for social inclusion of children in vulnerable positions in early childhood nature and science education.