Revista Brasileira de Pesquisa em Educação em Ciências doi: 10.28976/1984-2686rbpec20181811 RBPEC 18(1), 1–25 April 2018 | 1 Learning about Microorganisms in Childhood: Four- to Six-Year-Old Children’s Voice in Kindergartens and Museums Aprendizagem sobre Microrganismos na Infância: a Voz de Crianças de 4 a 6 anos em Creches e Museus Celi Rodrigues Chaves Dominguez Brazil Natalia Leporo Brazil Milene Tino De Franco Brazil Glaucia Colli Inglez Brazil Viviane Maimoni Gonçalves Brazil Alessandra Fernandes Bizerra Brazil Te main purpose of this research was to identify 4 to 6-year-old children’s ideas about microorganisms, taking into consideration the learning processes carried out in diferent educational contexts. To this end, data were collected from two institutions – a science museum and a kindergarten – by means of interviews, recorded conversations, drawings, and the application of a didactic sequence with the kindergarten group. A qualitative analysis of the data revealed that children associate the presence of microorganisms with dirty places and see them as pathological agents. Te children demonstrated that they understand the idea of scale and the need for magnifying instruments. We found that they consider microorganisms morphologically similar to insects and that they use various scientifc words appropriately. It was concluded that young children understand the theme “microorganisms”, and that it should be addressed more actively by institutions that teach four- to six-year-olds, which are responsible for contributing to their scientifc literacy and science learning in childhood. It is proposed that the following themes be developed in educational activities with young children: biodiversity, scale, biological functions, and relationships with humans and food. Keywords: science education; early childhood education; science museums; microorganisms. Esta pesquisa teve como principal fnalidade identifcar as ideias de crianças entre quatro a seis anos de idade acerca do conhecimento que possuem sobre microrganismos. Os dados foram coletados em duas instituições: um museu de ciências e uma creche. Para tal, foram realizadas entrevistas, registros de conversas, coleta de desenhos, além da