AcknowledgementsList of Figures and Tables1 Beginning the Journey into Early Childhood Science Education Research: Beyond Alternative Conceptions 1 Introduction 2 Beginning the Journey 3 Concluding Remarks and Future DirectionsPaper 1: Children's Alternative Views: Alternative to What?2 Conceptual Play: New Research Agendas Driven by Policy Changes for Play-Based Settings 1 Introduction 2 National Reviews and Imperatives for Early Childhood Science Education 3 International Imperatives Shaping Early Childhood Education 4 Concluding Remarks and Future DirectionsPaper 2: 'Conceptual Play': Foregrounding Imagination and Cognition during Concept Formation in Early Years Education3 Building an Evidence-Based Model for Early Childhood Science Education: The Place of Emotions in Science, Motivating Learning into Play, and the Teacher in Play Relations 1 Big Research Problems Need a Suite of ARC Discovery Grants 2 Bringing in Emotions and Drama into Science 3 Motives and Motivating Conditions 4 Leaping Forward . 5 Going Back . 7 Thinking Differently about the Problem: Teachers Inside of Children's PlayPaper 3: Affective Imagination in Science Education: Determining the Emotional Nature of Scientific and Technological Learning of Young ChildrenPaper 4: The Demands and Motives Afforded through Digital Play in Early Childhood Activity SettingsPaper 5: Pedagogical Positioning in Play-Teachers Being Inside and Outside of Children's Imaginary Play4 Conceptual PlayWorlds: New Model of Practice for Supporting Early Childhood Teachers in the Intentional Teaching of STEM 1 An Educational Experiment and a Conceptual PlayWorld as an Intervention 2 The Five Characteristics of Conceptual Playworlds 3 ConclusionPaper 6: Conceptual Playworlds: The Role of Imagination in Play and LearningPaper 7: Scientific Playworlds: A Model of Teaching Science in Play-Based SettingsPaper 8: Conceptual PlayWorlds as a Pedagogical Intervention: Supporting the Learning and Development of the Preschool Child in Play-Based Setting5 Conceptual PlayLab for Early Childhood STEM: Australian Research Council Laureate Fellowship Scheme 1 Engaging with Social Media - Making and Curating Content 2 Video Productions 3 Halfway through the Five-year Period of Funding6 Agentic STEM Practices: From Role-Playing "As If" Engineer/Scientist to Imagining This As a Career 1 Mentoring in the Academy . 2 Building the Legacy and Circling Back . 3 Where Are We at Now? 4 Future Imagining in Engineering 5 Engineering PlayWorlds 6 Looking ForwardPaper 9: When Preschool Girls Engineer: Future Imaginings of Being and Becoming an EngineerIndex.