Young children are often called natural scientists. Their inclination to be curious, explore, ask questions, and develop their own theories about how the world works makes science an excellent Domain for enhancing learning and school readiness. The Child Outcomes Framework identifies two Domain Elements of science: scientific skills and methods, and scientific knowledge. Children need to learn to use inquiry skills such as observing, exploring, problem solving, and applying the scientific method. They also need to learn the content of science—basic concepts about the living and physical worlds. The content of early childhood science is directly related to young children's natural interest in how the world works, in living things, their bodies, and the environment.

 

Domain Element: Scientific Skills & Methods

Children learn science by doing science. They need to be actively engaged in observing, exploring, questioning, experimenting, reflecting, and reporting. In other words, engaging children in scientific inquiry is the best way to teach science. The fact that such learning experiences are a natural fit with young children does not mean that they happen "naturally" or automatically. The curriculum should provide an organized program of scientific experiences that build on one another so that children can begin to develop key concepts and skills. Of course, teachers will want to use spontaneous experiences, play, and everyday routines to introduce children to science, but we need to keep in mind that science learning is too important to be left to chance. Therefore, staff must be intentional in their planning and implementation of learning experiences connected to the Science Domain. Children need to learn to use inquiry skills such as observing, exploring and problem solving. They also need to learn the content of science.

      When children are actively engaged in doing science, they form their own theories based on what they already know. These theories then get tested and either confirmed or challenged by new experiences. So science teaching is an excellent way to build on and expand children's existing knowledge and understandings.

      Research now shows that scientific study during the preschool years lays an important foundation for later success in school. The National Research Council (Bowman, Donovan, & Burns 2001) reports that a preschool curriculum that promotes skills such as reflecting, predicting, questioning, and hypothesizing is most effective for engaging young learners. Examples of teachers' questions that promote an attitude of inquiry and deepen scientific understanding in young children appear below. Science is the perfect topic to promote acquisition of these skills.

 

Scientific Skills & Methods Indicators

Domain	Domain Element	Indicators
Science	Scientific Skills and Methods	Begins to use senses and a variety of tools and simple measuring devices to gather information, investigate materials, and observe processes and relationships. Develops increased ability to observe and discuss common properties, differences and comparisons among objects and materials. Begins to participate in simple investigations to test observations, discuss and draw conclusions, and form generalizations. Develops growing abilities to collect, describe, and record information through a variety of means, including discussion, drawings, maps, and charts. Begins to describe and discuss predictions, explanations, and generalizations based on past experiences.

 

 

Scientific Skills & Methods Strategies

To help children learn scientific skills and methods

• Model curiosity, inquiry, and investigation for children.
• Provide a variety of tools for scientific observation and experimentation, such as magnifying glasses; scales and other measuring tools; collection boxes.
• Teach children observation skills. Encourage them to go beyond just "looking." Have children describe, draw, discuss with others, redraw and describe again to refine observation skills, build vocabulary, and develop understanding of concepts.
• Give children journals, clipboards, and writing tools to engage them in recording observations, gathering data, and communicating their findings to others.
• Listen to children and ask about what they are seeing and doing. When children talk with interested adults about what they see, hear, and think, they do more noticing, wondering, and reflecting. They make connections, think about causes, choose words to express what they mean and learn new, often rare words. Suggestions for teachers' questions .
• Incorporate science concepts and skills as children play with blocks, water, sand, playdough and other materials, and as they engage in dramatic play, cooking, art, music and movement, stories, and outdoor experiences.
• Build on and extend children's interests in the physical world and living things by using information books, field trips, visitors, and other ways of opening up the classroom to science.
• Engage children in formulating questions, such as "What do you want to know?"; designing experiments, such as "How can we find out?"; and making predictions, such as "What do you think will happen if…?" Children attend more closely to what they see, hear, smell, and feel when they have put forth their own prediction or question. When they have considered how to go about investigating something, they are also more likely to think about what their observations mean.

 

Domain Element: Scientific Knowledge

As important as it is to foster children’s interest and introduce them to the processes and methods of science, expanding their content knowledge is also essential. As noted in the Eager to Learn report (Bowman, Donovan, & Burns 2001, 185), "[d]eveloping expertise requires both a foundation of factual knowledge and skills and a conceptual understanding that allows facts to become ‘useable’ knowledge."

      Across the vast and varied areas of scientific knowledge, what is important for children to know? There are many ways of approaching and organizing this knowledge. The National Science Education Standards (National Research Council 1996) uses four basic categories: life science, physical science, earth/space science, and scientific inquiry. (Three other content areas focus on science and technology, science in personal and social perspectives, and the history and nature of science. However, these content areas are less relevant to young children's education).

     Science for preschoolers can provide opportunities to experience and explore major concepts in the four categories and build a foundation for later learning:

• In the life sciences, major concepts include living and non-living, basic needs, the life cycle, diversity and variation and habitats.
• In physical science, as children explore structures, water, shadows, prisms and rolling things, they experience concepts including properties of objects and solid and liquid materials; how things move; and characteristics of sound and light.
• In earth and space science, as children investigate their environment, they begin to observe more closely what is under their feet such as soil, sand and human-made surfaces. As they look upwards, they notice the sky and the changes that take place and the seeming movement of the sun and moon.
• Inquiry skills are part of all that children do as they explore their world. They use their senses to observe and gather data; they think about their experiences and form new ideas; and they communicate what they are learning.

      As well as the specific content of science, there are unifying themes and processes that span the sciences. These include change, patterns, and cause and effect. Regardless of the focus of children's exploration—whether in the life, physical, or earth/space sciences —teachers can highlight these themes. Watching plants grow and nails rust can be talked about in terms of change. A tap on a ball causes it to roll; a large block placed on top of a structure may cause it to fall. Using the language of cause and effect introduces children to this theme in the context of their work and play.

     An example of integrating broad themes and specific content from life science comes from one classroom where children had been investigating plants and animals in their local environment for several weeks. To guide their explorations and challenge their thinking, the teacher had posed questions related to concepts in the life sciences and to themes of change, pattern, and cause and effect. Furthermore, the questions helped focus children's attention and provided rich language learning experiences:

What are the differences in the plants we have seen? In their leaves?
Can we organize them by shape or size?
What do we have to do to keep our plants alive in the terrarium?
How have our plants grown and changed in the last week?
How could we find out what our snails like to eat best?
How do snails move? Worms? Do they move in the same ways?

      An effective science program is integrated with the total life of the classroom (Education Development Center [EDC] 2001). Teaching teams promote science knowledge through the intentional, careful planning of the environment, preparing focused learning experiences, extending children's play, and creating an integrated curriculum. Children can learn science when they wash a greasy dish, scoop out the insides of a pumpkin, ride down a slope on a tricycle or sled, or watch ants on a sidewalk. Children can also learn science when working with math and computers or when reading.

      Science content helps children acquire knowledge and skills relevant to other outcome Domains. Notions of number, shape, pattern, and measurement and processes such as categorizing, problem solving, and reasoning used in science are also important to mathematics. Scientific inquiry offers many opportunities for teachers to intentionally stimulate children's language and literacy development. In science, children read nonfiction books related to the topics of study, record their observations, write or dictate their findings. Some children may want to keep science journals; others may choose to make their own books on science topics. The content and vocabulary of science are rich additions to children's language and to the background knowledge needed for reading comprehension. As children document and share their observations and findings, they use various forms of representation and different media which they also put to use in the creative arts. "In a good science program, science is embedded in the curriculum yet maintains the depth and focus required for conceptual learning"(EDC 2001, 10).

     Science also helps children develop positive approaches to learning. The sense of wonder and excitement at watching flowers grow or ants build their villages, the sense of accomplishment and pride at figuring out a cause and effect or the workings of a machine encourage and reward perseverance and curiosity while enhancing reasoning and problemsolving abilities.

     Science can be important for social and emotional development. Some children who may be shy or withdrawn in other areas of learning can shine in the science area. They can gain the positive attention of their classmates, enhancing their self-concept and expanding their social relationships. Self-control and ability to cooperate can also develop as children hear each other's ideas and work together to solve problems.

     The Domain of science is attractive to English language learners because they can touch, manipulate, and explore without using language until they are comfortable. Children can listen to English being spoken around them to pick up on content vocabulary. However, it is preferable that children first learn science content in their home language so they are familiar with the concepts when introduced to science in English.

 

Scientific Knowledge Indicators

Domain	Domain Element	Indicators
Science	Scientific Knowledge	Expands knowledge of and abilities to observe, describe, and discuss the natural world, materials, living things, and natural processes. Expands knowledge of and respect for their bodies and the environment. Develops growing awareness of ideas and language related to attributes of time and temperature. Shows increased awareness and beginning understanding of changes in materials and cause-effect relationships.

 

 

Scientific Knowledge Strategies

To help children acquire scientific knowledge

• Model an attitude of openness and flexibility to asking questions, not needing to have all the answers.
• Focus on teaching scientific knowledge that is familiar and meaningful to children, such as concepts of temperature based on their own experiences with weather. Although children are more capable of abstract learning than previously thought, it is usually easier to begin with more concrete, accessible experiences that can be seen, touched, tasted, or heard.
• Involve parents in sharing science-related experiences from home.
• Read information books or explore the Internet to learn more about a given topic of study.
• Plan in-depth projects or topics of study related to science knowledge that build on and expand children's interests.
• Engage children in coherent, organized studies of animals, plants, and the environment.
• Spend sufficient time on topics for children to follow their interests. For instance, in a class study of local animals, small groups of children or individuals may study one animal in-depth and report their findings to the others in the group.
• Focus children's attention during a scientific study on relevant and interesting phenomena. Describe what is happening and point out details. Invite their questions and observations.
• Emphasize phenomena that can be observed and experimented with directly because the children's interest and learning will be high. When children express interest in remote or invisible things and events, such as those in outer space or long ago, we need to find ways to support their interests while keeping a focus on more accessible topics and concepts.
• Encourage children to reflect on their experiences and share their ideas with others (EDC 2001). Young children's direct experience with materials is important to their science learning, but it is not enough. Reflecting on what they have experienced, representing observations and ideas, and communicating with others are also crucial.
• Emphasize questions that can be explored. For example, ask what will happen if the child squeezes an object or challenge several children to blow on a spool to move it across a table. From infancy, children learn about the physical world by acting on objects. They often explore effects without knowing how they achieved the results. Getting children involved in focused explorations and asking about what they did and what happened helps them think about cause and effect.
• Give children a variety of ways to document and represent their work, which is powerful in promoting their insight and understanding (EDC 2001). Ongoing discussion between teachers and children, informally and in planned groups, gives children the chance to hear others' thinking and perspectives and to develop skills in communication.

     In the Head Start program, we can ensure that children have access to science experiences, concepts, and thinking skills. These experiences will make an enduring difference in children’s knowledge, problem solving, interest in the world around them, and in learning in general.

 

Teachers' Questions

Watch closely and use well-timed questions or comments to prompt children to—

Think aloud

What are you doing now?
What have we got here?
What is next?

Reflect on their actions and solutions

What did you do before that worked?
How do you know? How did you figure that out?
What do we need to solve the problem?
How will we keep track of the ones we’ve counted?

Make predictions

I wonder what will happen if…
What will it look like if…?

Provide justifications for their choices or answers

Why did you choose that?
How did you decide on that one?
Why are you putting three of them there?

Go further in their thinking

Can you find another way to…?
What if you tried that with 8?
What else does this graph tell us?

(Source: Copley 2000; Dodge, Colker & Heroman 2000; Greenes 1999.)