This research is a comparative study of Finnish and Australian science curricula in early childhood education (EC). The study aims to figure out the constructivist components of the science curriculum in two countries as well as locate the similarities and differences in the rationale and aims, contents, learning outcomes, learning activities, teacher’s role and assessment. The curriculum analysis framework developed by Van den Akker (2003) was used as a methodological framework for the curricula analysis. Based on the theory-driven content analyses, findings show that both countries have several components of constructivist curriculum, but not always clearly focused on science education. The Australian Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) integrates children’s science learning within their five specific learning outcomes, whereas the Finnish national core curriculum for early childhood education and care has no defined learning outcomes in general. The Finnish curriculum more clearly than EYLF encompasses science and environmental education as a learning domain, within which children participate in targeted scientific activities to gain procedural knowledge in specific environmental-related concepts. More focus should be turned to the teachers’ role and assessment, which are not determined in science context in both countries. This international comparative study calls for the need of a considered EC curriculum framework that more explicitly has science domains with specifically defined rationale, aims, content areas, learning outcomes and assessment criteria. The implications lie in providing early childhood educators with tangible and theoretically solid curriculum framework and resources in order to foster scientific thinking in young children.

这项研究是对芬兰和澳大利亚幼儿教育课程（EC）的比较研究。这项研究旨在弄清两个国家科学课程的建构主义组成部分，并找出其原理，目的，内容，学习成果，学习活动，教师的作用和评估的异同。Van den Akker（2003）开发的课程分析框架用作课程分析的方法框架。基于理论驱动的内容分析，研究结果表明，两国都有建构主义课程的几个组成部分，但并不总是明确地侧重于科学教育。澳大利亚早期学习框架（EYLF）将儿童的科学学习整合到其五个特定的学习成果中，而芬兰国家幼儿教育和照料的核心课程总体上没有明确的学习成果。芬兰的课程比EYLF更清楚地将科学和环境教育作为学习领域，在此领域中，孩子们参加有针对性的科学活动，以获取有关特定环境概念的程序知识。两国应将更多的重点放在教师的角色和评估上，这在科学背景下并没有确定。这项国际比较研究要求有一个经过考虑的EC课程框架，该框架应更明确地包含具有明确定义的理由，目标，内容领域，学习成果和评估标准的科学领域。