Sunday, January 24, 2010

Encouraging Scientific Thinking in Early Childhood Education


“Many saw the apple fall but Newton asked why.”
Bernard Baruch

How often do we provide opportunities for scientific thinking, questioning, and problem solving for our kids? Do we challenge them enough in their environment?
Take the challenge for yourself and ask yourself these questions.

*Are the children interested and excited about the materials in the environment both inside and outside?
*Do the questions I ask the children have a yes/no answer or a right/wrong answer at least 50% of the time?
*Do I allow the children to use materials in unconventional ways? Why or why not?
*Do I use materials in unconventional ways (in front of the children)? Why or why not?
*Do I ask children a question and correct them if they get the answer wrong?
*Do I ask children a question simply to hear their answer?
*Do I provide opportunities for children to problem solve together or individually.

What other questions do you think would be needful?

2 comments:

Dan Gurney said...

Yes. Do my actions as a teacher inspire my students to be kinder, gentler, and more caring? To me, these are by far the most important things for teachers to think about.

Barbra The Bloggess said...

This is an excellent point regarding the culture we create in our classrooms. This really cuts to the heart of what we as teachers really value.
That will be the inspiration for the one of the next posts...Thank, Dan.