Art-based Methods and Signs of Science Capital: Approaching Young Children’s Experiences and Relation to Science

Science education are fraught with challenges that call for research to explore the complexity of how people from various backgrounds and at different ages interact, engage with and relate themselves to science. In this paper, we examine a possible approach for the investigation of young children’s relation to science and we explore what we might learn by employing the theoretical concept of science capital. Based on a longitudinal qualitative project following children and young people through primary school in Denmark, we argue that art-based methods are valuable in exploring how young children experience and relate to science. We further argue that science capital as an analytical lens has the potential to direct our attention towards inequalities in the resources, with which children enter primary school. Through the presentation, we hope to open up the discussion about how we might approach young children both methodologically and theoretically in order to understand their perspectives and possibilities for participation in science