From babyhood, children show curiosity in the world around them. They begin to make sense of their world through exploration and, in a meaningful way, by touching everything they see and putting things in their mouths. The sense of wonder and the enthusiasm for discovery that we see in such young children is the basis for and the force behind their future learning, none more so than in children's scientific development in the early years.
As early years practitioners, we all know the pleasure of sharing in children's excitement as they become engrossed in investigations and their delight at their own discoveries. We aim to inspire in children a continued thirst for knowledge, give them a confident approach to learning and equip them with the skills and tools to pursue interests. It is through early exploration and investigation that children develop scientific understanding, and the more they are encouraged and enabled to find out for themselves, the deeper their learning will be.
The curriculum guidance for the foundation stage recognises the importance of first-hand scientific experiences and it groups early learning goals for 'exploration and investigation' within the broader area of 'Knowledge and understanding of the world'.
The goals covering scientific development are:
* Investigate objects and materials by using all of their senses as appropriate.
* Find out about, and identify, some features of living things, objects and events they observe.
* Look closely at similarities, differences, patterns and change.
* Ask questions about why things happen and how things work (Curriculum guidance for the foundation stage, p86-88).
For many practitioners, science is not an area in which they feel confident about their own learning. Negative feelings about our school experiences can limit what we offer to children. It is important to dispel the myth that investigative science is solely the domain of the 'scientists'. Of course, we must always be sure that the information we are giving children is scientifically sound, and that the vocabulary we are using is correct, but we must not be afraid of letting children know that we do not have all the answers.
Learning together
Finding out alongside children can be great fun and can result in powerful learning experiences. Good practice involves practitioners joining in with children's investigations, making mistakes with them and moving on from these, evaluating and reaching conclusions together.
This approach can help children to understand that, in order to further their knowledge, they must take risks and view 'mistakes', not as failures, but as important steps in the learning process. Indeed, it is crucial that we do not jump in too quickly with information that will put an end to children's investigations.
For example, telling children who are attempting to build 'castles' in dry sand that they need to add water to the sand will only cut short their thinking processes and the route to the answers, depriving them of that exciting moment of discovery and probably limiting the depth of their understanding. How much more effective to make sure that children have access to water and to support them on their journey of discovery through open-ended questions such as 'Why do you think your castles keep collapsing?' 'What does the sand feel like?' 'How is the sand different from yesterday when you made lots of castles?' 'What could you do to make the sand wet?' 'What happens if you add too much water?'
For practitioners to recognise significant scientific learning in children's play and to plan meaningful experiences and activities, we need to first look in more detail at the knowledge and understanding that we hope to develop in young children. The areas of scientific learning can be subdivided as follows: Living things
* Investigating growth (conditions necessary, developmental stages) and living things
* Looking at pattern, and similarities and differences in nature Materials and their properties
* Sensory exploration of materials
* Looking at pattern and at similarities and differences in properties
* Looking at how materials change and can be changed Physical processes
* Exploring forces, discovering the effects of pushes and pulls
* Effecting changes in, for example, speed and direction
* Investigating sound, colour and light.
The right attitude
Through all strands of scientific learning we can identify common skills and attitudes necessary to the acquisition of knowledge and the understanding of concepts. We need to be aware of these as we plan for children's learning, ensuring that opportunities for developing the 'tools'
for learning, and a positive approach, are offered in a range of contexts in the setting.
Skills
* Exploring and investigating
* Using senses as appropriate
* Observing, describing
* Identifying, labelling, sequencing
* Comparing and sorting
* Initiating and sharing ideas
* Planning investigations and developing ideas
* Questioning/responding to questions
* Recalling, predicting
* Problem solving
* Finding out information
* Evaluating and offering explanations for why things happen Attitudes
* Motivation to learn and to 'find out'
* Interest and curiosity in resources/activities
* Excitement and a sense of wonder about the world around them
* Confidence, perseverance and concentration
* An independent/co-operative approach
It is important that we recognise that scientific learning rarely takes place in isolation from other areas of learning. For example, three children attempting to lift a bucket of stones using a piece of rope over a tree branch as a pulley will be learning much about forces and movement.
They will also be developing skills and understanding in the areas of: mathematical development (weight of bucket, length of rope), communication and language (negotiating plans, using talk to clarify thinking and ideas), personal, social and emotional development (working co-operatively, taking turns) and physical development (showing an awareness of space, themselves and others, handling objects safely).
Equally, we need to recognise that the scientific learning does not take place only during activities that we have planned with a scientific focus, or through experiences that we expect will develop scientific understanding. We must be aware of the opportunities for scientific learning in all areas of the setting and through all activities.
For example, children using clay as a medium for representing caterpillars that they have found in the nursery garden may become fascinated by the effect that their wet hands have on the clay. Such observations may lead to further experimentation and investigation into the changes that occur when water is added to this material. We must be prepared to turn such unexpected occurrences into learning experiences by questioning with children why things have happened -for example, why butter left too near to a radiator melts, or why a paper towel dropped into a basin of water begins to fall apart.