Four-year-old Kyle is full of questions. “Why are you wearing glasses now?” he asked teacher Valentina Feldman at San Francisco’s Holy Family Day program. “How come glasses help you see better?”

That “innate curiosity (is) at the core of science,” says Kelly Twibell, preschool coordinator at UC Davis’ Center for Child and Family Studies.

“We want to encourage them to ask why, why, why, even when we’re tired of it,” says Director Janet Thompson at UC Davis. “We help children learn the skills of scientific inquiry (observation, collecting data, comparing, making predictions, and testing them) and nurture their curiosity.”

Build on children’s curiosity

The teachers at UCLA’s Early Care and Education Krieger Center encourage kids to ask questions and gather information about things they’re interested in, says teacher Christine Ramirez. “Children are very curious about themselves and their families,” so teachers encourage discussions comparing families— their types of housing and who takes care of the kids. “We want them to be aware of their environment, to have the comfort to ask questions,” she adds. On a field trip to a beach and aquarium, the children extended their comparisons of families: They observed that whales spend a lot of time with their calves like humans do, but some animals, like crabs, don’t care for their young at all.

At the UC Davis Center, Thompson says, “Our job is to follow the child’s lead. We’re doing a lot, but it’s elaborating on their play, using questions, comments, and observations. Children learn much more when they explore their own ideas.”

Ask “What do you notice?”

Twibell recalls, for example, a time when ‘Lyle,’ age four, told her, “I’m making a boat.” “Tell me more about how you’re doing it,” Twibell said. So he showed her how he was folding paper and stapling it. Twibell noticed a flaw in his design: the base of the boat was too narrow, so it probably would not float. Instead of correcting him—or giving him a lecture on physics—she said, “I’m going to make a boat too.”  She built hers like a raft, with very broad base, and invited Lyle to test their boats together. They filled a tub with water. When they put their boats into it, Lyle’s toppled over while Twibell’s floated. 

“I noticed two different things,” said Twibell. “What did you notice?” Lyle said, “Mine fell over and yours stayed up.” Then she asked, “Why do you think that happened?”  Lyle answered, “Because yours was flat.”  “Yeah,” reflected Twibell, “mine had a big, flat bottom.  I wonder if we could take your idea and my idea and make a whole new boat.” Lyle agreed and spent the next 25 minutes crafting a boat that floated. “He was so proud of his work!” Twibell remembers. And she had helped him “consider, reflect and investigate.”

Encourage investigation

When Ramirez was a new teacher, she says, “Science was not a comfortable area—I never felt secure in teaching it.” She thought of science as a set of facts to memorize. When she joined the UCLA Center staff, she learned to see science as “learning through investigation.”

Twibell advises teachers, “Forget about the facts and remember the wonder. Rather than take that ‘I’m the teacher’ posture, get down to their level and ask the same questions they are asking. Make observations together. You’re helping them to put language to what they’re seeing and to make sense of it.”

Feldman is comfortable saying “I don’t know” in response to children’s questions. But she doesn’t stop there, adding, “Let’s look it up.” Or “Ask your parents tonight.” And she introduces new experiences. After Kyle’s questions about her glasses, she showed him a magnifying glass and they explored what they could see with it.

Use everyday opportunities

Feldman integrates science concepts into many activities. “It’s not that hard to do,” she says. “It’s a frame of mind.”  Children notice that leaves on one tree change color and fall while others stay green. They compare the differences between their own bodies and their classmates’. As they cook, Feldman chats with them about the proportions of flour and water.

“Science can take so many different forms,” says Twibell.  “It can be wondering about how things work.” In one class, children wanted to know how telephones work, so they had fun taking old telephones apart and looking at all the wires inside. Sometimes it’s about exploring the natural world—looking under rocks at worms and slugs, smelling herbs, making observations during walks.

Provide tools for observation and construct the environment for inquiry

Whether it’s a nature walk or an indoor activity, Twibell says, “You want to provide the tools that help make sense of the observations,” such as magnifying glasses, paper, graph paper, rulers, tweezers, droppers, containers, mirrors, flashlights. “It doesn’t have to be expensive.” For example, the children get sheets of paper divided into three sections for predictions, observations, and explanations. They can record their data with drawings—or photos using the director’s digital camera. These tools, Twibell says, give children the message, “Your investigation is important.”

Help children notice and question

When some of the kids wanted to keep the worms they unearthed, Twibell took the opportunity to talk with them about what worms need to survive. “I began by asking the children to think about where they found the worms. “What does it look like?  Feel like?”  My goal was to draw attention to the moist soil—worms need moisture to live. I also helped them think about what contents in the soil might serve as food. The children made several guesses and we used a book to learn more.”

Through this experience, Twibell says, “I’d like to think they learned about living organisms and what they need to survive: food, cover (shelter), and water.  As we encouraged the children to return the worms to their homes, we also talked about why our gardens need worms, guiding them towards an ecological perspective.”

Resources

• Mudpies to Magnets: A Preschool Science Curriculum, by Robert Williams, Robert Rockwell, Elizabeth Sherwood, Gryphon House (1987)
• Bubbles, Rainbows and Worms, by Sam Ed Brown, Gryphon House; Rev Sub edition (May 1, 2004)
• Steve Spangler Science at
  www.stevespanglerscience.com
• how2science, www.how2science.com
• RedLeaf Press, many early math and science
  curriculum publications, www.redleafpress.org/showproducts.cfm?FullCat=249  

Extra resources from the Children’s Advocate bulletin

• Big Science for Little Hands series includes activity ideas to help introduce science concepts to young children using crayons, sponges, and things that move. $17 each. Available from Terrific Science.
  
  

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