Metaforer i 2-åringars samtal om kondens : En studie om barns beskrivningar av kondens under ett experiment

Sammanfattning: The aim of this study was to contribute with further knowledge about children’s use of metaphors. In the study, 15 children at the age of two were interviewed during an experiment with condensation. In the interview the children were asked to describe the condensation to the interviewer. Most of the children were using subject relevant words, and a few were using pictorial descriptions. There was just one child that was using both pictorial descriptions and subject relevant words in their description of the condensation. The use of both categories can be interpreted as the child deliberately was using a metaphor and that shows, that even children as young as two years of age sometimes use metaphors. From a social constructivist perspective, language is the most important feature in acquiring knowledge, since knowledge is created in social interaction. Therefore the teachers in the younger years have an important role to guide and help children develop a nuanced language. Helping children understand, create and use metaphors in their interactions with others, and in their descriptions of phenomena, will help the children get a deeper sense of meaning in their quest to figure out the world around them.