Symbolic Representation of Young Children in Science: Insights into Preschoolers’ Drawings of Change of State of Matter

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Dear authors,

I have attached a PDF of the paper with my feedback. I hope you find my comments helpful for your work.

The study under review explores the drawings created by young children aged (4-6) during a teaching intervention on changes in the state of matter. It employs a sociocultural approach, viewing drawing as a tool to facilitate children’s understanding and learning.

The aim is to gain insights into the types of drawing activities that can be introduced to young children in science education and how these activities can support their meaning-making process in science.

The introduction and literature review provide a comprehensive overview of the topic. The methodology is suitable and well-detailed and the results are clearly presented and interpreted. The discussion section thoroughly addresses the research questions. The limitation section identifies constrains that future studies should consider. There is also a section dedicated to conclusions and implications. References relate to the main content of the paper and do not look abundant.

Generally, this paper is well written and organised. I recommend it for publishing in MPDI, Education Sciences.

As far as the areas of improvement, I would suggest the following points to be considered by the authors towards their final publication of the paper:

·       Ensure consistency in spelling throughout the paper (Either British or American English spelling).

·       For a work with three or more authors, include the name of only the first author plus “et al.” in every citation.

 

 

 

 

 

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Comments: 

Ensure consistency in spelling throughout the paper (Either British or American English spelling).

For a work with three or more authors, include the name of only the first author plus “et al.” in every citation.

Response: 

Thank you for the positive comments and all the interest you showed in our research.

The points you made about the consistency on American or British spelling as well as the intertextual references are accurate. The passages you pointed out have been corrected in the revised text.

The term “conventional” representation, in the sub-paragraph title 5.1 is explained below in the text, and an explanation has also been added in the introduction of the result section, in paragraph 5.

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Thank you for your study. Drawing is always an interesting method with children to know their understanding in learning and not only psychological state. It is true, the sample is small and it would be interesting also to know if  the differences between the countrys, culture and education influence the results, the drawings. Drawing requires a prior mental representation and a motor process in addition to the cognitive process. But they are different processes. It is not easy. I think is interesting to continue along this line of research to understand the learning and communication process of children.

Best regards

Author Response

Comments: Drawing is always an interesting method with children to know their understanding in learning and not only psychological state. It is true, the sample is small and it would be interesting also to know if the differences between the countries, culture and education influence the results, the drawings. Drawing requires a prior mental representation and a motor process in addition to the cognitive process. But they are different processes. It is not easy. I think is interesting to continue along this line of research to understand the learning and communication process of children.

Response: 

Thank you for the positive comments and all the interest you showed in our research.

Your suggestion concerning cultural and educational differences between the two countries would go beyond the scope of the specific paper. In particular, specific data on specific differences about the teacher, the educational settings, the cultural references of the children would be necessary. At that stage of the research and with the sample available, it was not possible to have meaningful data about differences between countries cultural and education influence on the results. 

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Please see the word file below

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Thank you very much for taking the time to review this manuscript.

Please find the detailed responses below and the corresponding revisions highlighted in the re-submitted manuscript.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf