Science in the Preschool Classroom Essay

Nowadays, the importance of incorporating science into the preschool curriculum cannot be underestimated. Children should be provided with a number of opportunities to get to know the physical world, reflect on the events taking place in it, and develop the basics of scientific thinking (Barnett & Morran, 2002). There exist many practical ways and strategies to assist children in studying science in the preschool classroom. Below, a few practical ideas regarding this will be discussed on the basis of the findings made by the authors of the given readings.

In their article, Barnett and Morran (2002) suggest that children in the preschool classroom may benefit greatly from the studies of the phases of the Moon and lunar and solar eclipses. They propose that children may have short play-based studying sessions on a daily basis devoted to basic astronomical knowledge. To make such study beneficial, preschool teachers may use visual aids, reference materials, and video films. The studies may be held both indoors and outdoors. It is important not to make such environmental studying sessions too long because it would be tiresome for children, and, thus, will fail to attain its aim.

Basile and White (2000) advise that the main goal of environmental studies should be to ‘establish a sense of respect for all living and nonliving elements of the natural world” (Basile & White, 2000, p. 2002). This article proposes to incorporate the following elements into the preschool curriculum including (1) teaching about the facts on how living systems work; (2) encouraging students’ respect for all living things; (3) facilitation of critical thinking regarding environmental matters; and (4) facilitation of environmental stewardship. To put these recommendations into practice, teachers may organize daily environmental sessions outdoors. They may help children familiarize themselves with living beings of the surrounding world such as insects, birds, animals, and plants. Besides, teachers may organize daily debate sessions when students may ask them different questions regarding the functioning of all living creatures and natural phenomena. One more idea on how to incorporate environmental studies into the daily curriculum is daily tracking the weather.

Charlesworth and Lind (2010), and Robbins (2005) concentrate on the importance of the studies of maths and science in the preschool classroom. They recommend facilitating scientific and math experiments into the curriculum with the purpose of developing an ‘outside the box’ way of thinking. Furthermore, on a daily basis, maths studies can be incorporated into the curriculum in play form. In particular, students may build with blocks and count them, sort objects within the frames of different games such as ‘Find it first’, count toy money during a game of shopping, etc.

References

Barnett, M., & Morran, J. (2002). Addressing children’s alternative frameworks of the Moon’s phases and eclipses. International Journal of Science Education, 24(8), 859–879.

Basile, C., & White, C. (2000). Respecting living things: Environmental literacy for young children. Early Childhood Education Journal, 28(1), 57-61.

Charlesworth, R., & Lind, K. L. (2010). Math & science for young children (6th ed.). New York: Thomson Delmar Learning.

Robbins, J. (2005). ‘Brown paper packages’? A sociocultural perspective on young children’s ideas in science. Research in Science Education, 35(2), 151-172.