“ONCE UPON A TIME IT WAS ALL SEA”: TEN-YEAR-OLD CHILDREN’S REASONING ABOUT ROCK FORMATION

The presence of fossil shells in a sample of sedimentary rock collected in the mountains was the starting point for the construction of educational research on children’s concepts about rock formation. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with a sample of ten-year-old children. In the study, we ask the children to describe the rock and to give us an explanation for the presence of shells in a rock collected in the mountains. The interviews were analysed to look for common features and for the emergence of ideas about the transformations of the natural environment in time. The purpose of the study was to gain information on children’s reasoning on rock formation and related topics such as geological time and past changes in the environments. The information collected in this research can be useful for the improvement of didactic activity and the design of the science curriculum.