Learning & Development Science: Sky high

The main argument for including science in early childhood education is that young children love it. They are extremely curious and have a great desire, in fact need, to discover and to understand the world around them. Science answers this need: it nourishes and stimulates the innate curiosity of children, paving the way to explore and discover new things. It is the job of educators to take advantage of the full potential of children at these young ages, creating stimulating environments that enable them to integrate the scientific approach into their daily activities.

Including a scientific approach in early childhood education enables children to acquire important basic knowledge: to discover that plants grow from seeds, some objects float on water while others don't, the moon reflects the light of the sun. But science offers children much more than a body of knowledge. It is also a way to reason and to discover, through developing skills and processes such as questioning, observing, making comparisons, making predictions, reflecting, communicating results. These are important intellectual tools that are not confined to science and make more complex learning possible.