CHILDHOOD AS AN INVESTIGATIVE SPACE: PLAYFULNESS AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE
Keywords:
Early Childhood Education, Playfulness, Science Education, Mathematics Education, Inquiry, Child DevelopmentAbstract
This article analyzes the role of playfulness as a structuring axis in the construction of scientific knowledge in Early Childhood Education, examining how Geography, Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics emerge from children’s sensory experiences, social interactions and spontaneous investigations. Considering childhood as an inherently investigative stage, the study seeks to answer the following question: how do play, exploration and multiple languages foster the initial development of scientific thought in young children? The research is justified by the need to strengthen pedagogical practices that recognize children as active subjects, capable of formulating hypotheses, observing phenomena, interpreting regularities and producing explanations about the natural and social world. In contexts where fragmented or content-based approaches still prevail, understanding playfulness as an epistemological foundation becomes essential for expanding scientific education from early childhood, in line with national guidelines and contemporary perspectives in psychology and science education. Methodologically, this study is characterized as a qualitative, bibliographic and analytical research. It draws on classical theorists such as Piaget, Vygotsky and Wallon, as well as authors in science and mathematics education, including Carvalho, Krasilchik, Mortimer, D’Ambrosio, Lorenzato and Kishimoto. Books, peer-reviewed articles, dissertations and thematic studies were analyzed and organized into thematic axes addressing: childhood as an investigative field, playfulness as an epistemological language, articulations among different scientific domains, and the role of teacher mediation in early scientific development. The results indicate that playfulness is not merely a teaching strategy but a necessary condition for the emergence of scientific thinking, since it involves observation, manipulation, comparison, hypothesis formulation, problem solving and symbolic representation. The study concludes that the sciences and mathematics are intrinsic dimensions of children’s daily lives and that investigative, sensitive and experience-rich environments strengthen autonomy, creativity and holistic development, promoting meaningful, culturally situated and intellectually profound learning.
