ABSTRACT
The value of stories is not only in their ability to entertain, but also in their power to persuade. For children abstract scientific ideas can at first seem to have little relevance to how they usually visualise the world. Everyday experience stimulates children to develop their own ideas which they trust and are reluctant to change. For example, a child may visualise a battery as a container full of electricity which slowly empties out when connected to a circuit. This is not scientifically accurate but it is useful because it enables the child to explain why batteries go flat over time. It is consistent with the child’s experiences and enables them to predict how a circuit will behave.
