Chapter 9 highlights the importance of play in young children’s science learning. During playful events, children can explore, discover, investigate and experiment, thus promoting critical thinking and scientific inquiry. Play pedagogies that promote children’s learning through playful activities are discussed. Four case studies are presented to highlight how EC professionals can encourage children’s scientific exploration and thinking through play.

In this chapter, the intersection between digital technologies and sustainability is explored, supported by many practice examples and comprehensive linking to relevant resources. Central to this chapter is a digital technology for sustainability education (DTfSE) framework proposed by the authors to guide educators in navigating this intersection. In a field of rapidly changing digital technologies, the possibilities for ECEfS are expanding.

When assessing epistemic justification in the biblical narratives, we must consider how much the author reveals about justification in the text itself, and, only then, what types of justification appear to be employed by the characters. There are at least three possible type-scenes used across these texts to justify a conclusion: tests, ouija, and witnesses.In this chapter, I review the twentieth-century discussions of logical necessity and justification and how the biblical authors employ means of justification similar, but not identical, to scientific inquiry.

Play is important to children’s learning. When young children have uninterrupted time to playfully and independently explore, discover, investigate and experiment in stimulating, safe and varied environments, critical thinking and scientific inquiry are promoted. Notably, facilitating on-the-spot observations related to the ‘nature of science’ during play provides diverse opportunities to support children to construct scientific knowledge as a process of inquiry. This chapter describes the importance of play in early childhood and the ‘nature of science’ in the early years. This is followed by four case studies that highlight how studying scientific phenomena can be facilitated through play. Each case study describes the context of the children’s play and how the educator/teacher expands on this to encourage their scientific explorations and thinking. The development of the case studies occurred in a school inspired by the Reggio Emilia educational philosophy.