NSTA Blog » Early Years

What is a Scientist? Resources for young children

PeggyA — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 13:43:35 +0000

What do your students think of when you talk about scientists? Is it Albert Einstein with long white hair, a person in a lab coat working with test tubes, or Sid the Science Kid? The work of science inquiry takes place in labs and many other locations. Broaden your students’ appreciation of science by broadening their understanding of the work of scientists. Read biographies, set up imaginative play centers with tools and clothes for working scientists, and invite local scientists of all kinds to visit your class for a short visit to discuss their work. Here are some resources to get you started:

Book resources for scientist biographies

Search the NSTA Recommends book reviews for “scientist” at http://www.nsta.org/recommends/?lid=tnav to find books about Scientists at Work, Extreme Scientists, Frog Scientists, and Scientists Who Made History.

American Library Association, Great Websites for Children: Biographies, http://www.ala.org/gwstemplate.cfm?section=greatwebsites&template=/cfapps/gws/displaysection.cfm&sec=11

Resources about scientists working today

Scientist at Work blog about scientists working today: http://scientistatwork.blogs.nytimes.com/

Read about soils scientists at: http://soils.usda.gov/education/facts/careers.html , and Soil Science Society of America https://www.soils.org/lessons/ask

Cool Careers at Sci4Kids, Agricultural Research Service, http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/kids/CoolCareers/coolestcareers.htm

Resources about inquiry

A Study Guide: Inquiry Science in the Elementary Classroom from the Education Development Center, Inc, http://cse.edc.org/products/inquiryscienceelemclassroom/default.asp (including the graphic on the flow of science inquiry in elementary grades, by Hubert Dyasi and Karen Worth at http://cse.edc.org/products/inquiryscienceelemclassroom/Inquiry.pdf )

University of California Museum of Paleontology. Understanding Science, http://undsci.berkeley.edu/index.php has another useful graphic on “How science works” at http://undsci.berkeley.edu/images/flowchart_35.pdf

National Research Council (NRC). 1996. National science education standards. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?isbn=0309053269

American Association for the Advancement of Science. 1993. Benchmarks for Science Literacy. See the grade 2 statement of what all students should know and be able to do in science, mathematics, and technology by the end of grade 2. http://www.project2061.org/publications/bsl/online/index.php

Resources on how children’s play supports their learning

Articles on Supporting Pretend Play in Early Childhood Research & Practice, on how teacher support of dramatic play (such as pretending to be a veterinarian) can support knowledge and skill development in many curriculum areas, and take a look through the extensive bibliography on play at: http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/v10n2/introduction.html

Can the Right Kinds of Play Teach Self-Control? By Paul Tough. The New York Times, September 25, 2009. A version of this article appeared in print on September 27, 2009, on page MM31 of the New York edition. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/magazine/27tools-t.html?_r=2&ref=magazine

National Association for the Education of Young Children. 2009. Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs Serving Children from Birth through Age 8. http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/PSDAP.pdf

The Serious Need for Play by Melinda Wenner. Scientific American Mind. January 28, 2009 http://www.melindawenner.com/Clips_files/MiQ109Wenn2p.pdf

Expose your children to the work of scientists through books, visiting scientists, fieldtrips, and play. Comment below to add your resources to this list.

Peggy

“Are you ready?” (What I learned on my summer vacation: ramps, video conferencing with children, and climate)

PeggyA — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 21:45:05 +0000

Are you hearing that question too often from people who wonder how you are going to make the adjustment back to school now that we are into August? I used to say, “No, I’m not nearly ready” but have decided to follow a more positive model and say, “I’m getting there”. (I’m inspired by wording used by the Early Sprouts Garden Project science-gardening-nutrition-cooking curriculum developers, Dr. Karrie Kalich and colleagues. They have children taste the vegetables they grow and tell if they “like it a lot”, “like it a little”, or “didn’t like it yet.”)

Before the schools open up to teachers, I went to a “spa” for my brain, doing professional development through a training at the University of Northern Iowa. The UNI Regents’ Center for Early Developmental Education offers workshops designed for teachers of 3-year-olds to second grade through their Center for Early Education in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (CEESTEM).

One of the sessions was on “Ramps and Pathways” which Betty Zan and Rosemary Geiken wrote about in NAEYC’s journal, Young Children. The discussion among the participants was vibrant and informative, making me realize anew how important it is to have planning time with other teachers. Naptime meeting are not enough—we need to meet to do science inquiry ourselves so we will be prepared to support our students’ learning with questions that move them along in their thinking rather than get them to parrot the correct answer.

While visiting relatives and talking with a neighbor I learned how useful video conferencing is for keeping young children in touch with their families. A niece talks nightly at bedtime with her son who is staying with the grandparents while she is completing her preservice training and the neighbor talks weekly with her granddaughter, reading books to her while the child eats breakfast and shows how she can get her shoes on.

Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears posted an online primer for understanding climate–Climate Literacy in the Elementary Classroom by Susan M. Buhr and Mark S. McCaffrey with strategies for becoming climate-literate. They present a guiding principle—Humans can take actions to reduce climate change and its impacts—and seven Essential Principles beginning with, “The Sun is the primary source of energy for Earth’s climate system.” The positive wording teaches what we–teachers and our young students–can do.

What has been your best formal or informal learning experience this summer?

Peggy

Conceptual Framework for New Science Education Standards, draft ready for our review

PeggyA — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 20:03:48 +0000

Science learning begins in early childhood.

Teachers of K-12, including early childhood educators, we have until August 2^nd, 2010 to comment on the preliminary public draft of the Conceptual Framework for New Science Education Standards

Here are a few paragraphs from the beginning of the document to get you interested:

“This document is an interim draft of a report from a committee of the National Research Council (NRC) on K-12 science education in U.S. schools. It is being made public so that the authoring committee can receive comments and suggestions from interested practitioners, researchers, and the public to inform its final product.” (first page of Memo)

[Peggy: They want to hear from us! Therefore the authors may be forgiven for staying within the K-12 scope by describing children who are “entering school” as being kindergarteners. In this preschool teacher’s view, children “enter” school the first time they are formally taught, at home, in preschool, or in kindergarten.]

“The conceptual framework in this report presents the committee’s vision of the scope and nature of the education in science and engineering that is needed in the 21st century. Thus, it describes the major scientific ideas and practices that all students should be familiar with by the end of high school. Engineering and technology are featured alongside the natural sciences in recognition of the importance of understanding the designed world and of the need to better integrate the teaching and learning of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.” (Chapter 1, Introduction: A New Conceptual Framework, pg. 1-1)

“The rationale for organizing content around core ideas comes from studies that show that one major difference between experts and novices in any field is the organization of their knowledge. Experts understand the core principles and theoretical frameworks of their field. Their retention of detailed information is aided by their understanding of its placement in the context of these principles and theories. Novices tend to hold disconnected and even contradictory bits of “knowledge” as isolated facts, and struggle to find a way to organize and integrate them. Learning to understand science or engineering in a more expert fashion requires development of an understanding of how facts are related to each other and to overarching core ideas. Research on learning shows building this kind of understanding is challenging, but is aided by explicit instructional support that stresses connections across different activities and learning experiences.” (Chapter 1, Introduction: A New Conceptual Framework, Understanding Develops Over Time, pg. 1-6)

[Peggy: Making connections may be easier in early childhood—before students have different teachers for different subjects.]

“As a result of our effort to identify fewer core ideas of science and engineering, some scientists and educators may be disappointed to find little or nothing of their favorite science topics included in this framework. The committee is convinced that by building a strong base of core knowledge and competencies, understood at a deep enough level to be used and applied, students will leave school with a better grounding in scientific knowledge and practices and greater interest in further learning in science, than those whose instruction “covers” multiple disconnected pieces of information, to be memorized and forgotten as soon as the test is done.” (Chapter 1, Introduction: A New Conceptual Framework, Selecting Core Ideas and Practices, pgs. 1-14 & 1-15)

[Peggy: Yes, let children work on a few topics or concepts for a long time to develop the deep understanding they are capable of. There are many favorites still in the mix.]

There are four grade level bands, K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12. I have only taken a brief look at Chapter 3, Core Ideas and Chapter 7, Learning Progressions, (similar in structure to the conceptual strand maps in the Atlas of Science Literacy (AAAS)), and see that there is more than one progression for each branch of science, one for each Core Idea. I definitely need more time to read and think about this draft and may need to see it printed out to really be able to think about it.

Here’s one question I have:

Does the Life Science Core Ideas 1, or 3, (see below) need to add something about plants and animals needing access to air into the K-2 section? Maybe it is omitted because the concept of matter existing as a gas is not introduced in the Physical Science Core Idea progression until Grades 3-5 (also below).

On page 7-9, Life Science (LS) Core Idea 1: Organisms have structures and functions that facilitate their life processes, growth, and reproduction.

Grades K – 2

How do living things meet their basic needs?

All living things have various external parts. Different animals use their body parts in different ways to see, hear, grasp objects, seek, find and take in food and move from place to place. Plants also have different parts that help them meet their needs.

On page 7-11, LS Core Idea 3: Organisms and populations of organisms obtain necessary resources from their environment which includes other organisms and physical factors.

Grades K – 2

Where do animals get food?

Animals depend on plants and other animals for food. When animals and plants (or plant parts) die, they are fed upon by tiny organisms that break them apart. Plants depend on air, water and light to grow.

On page 7-40, Physical Science (PS) Core Idea 1: Macroscopic states and characteristic properties of matter depend on the type, arrangement and motion of particles at the molecular and atomic scales.

Grades K – 2

What kind of parts are objects made of? (macroscopic)

Objects are generally made of different parts. The parts can be made of different materials. Materials can be natural or manufactured from natural resources. The identity, characteristics and function of an object depend on the materials/building blocks used to make it, and the way they fit together. The same materials can exist as a solid or a liquid depending on the temperature. Solids have a definite shape while liquids flow to the lowest level in the container.

Grades 3 – 5

How do the parts of an object affect its structure and function? (macroscopic)

All substances are considered matter. Matter can exist as solid, liquid, or gas. In all forms it can be felt and weighed. It is possible to break materials apart into pieces too tiny to see. However, the material still exists and continues to have weight even though we can’t see it. You can make a great variety of objects with just a few types of components. The structure, properties and uses of the objects depend on the nature of the components and they ways they attach to one-another, but can be quite different from those of the components. Knowing about the characteristics of materials helps design uses of them. Many substances can exist as solid, liquid or gas depending on the temperature. Solids have definite shape and volume, liquids also occupy definite volume, but not shape, gases are made of particles too small to see that move around throughout the full volume of any container.

Thank you to all involved in this important endeavor. Let’s take a close look and give the committee our feedback. A survey will be posted on July 14, 2010.

Peggy

Is “connecting with nature” the same as “science”?

PeggyA — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 19:27:44 +0000

Take a look at The ChildCare Information Exchange’s current “Insta-Poll” (a casual poll of readers) on their views on the Highest Priority Teacher Training Topics. “Connecting children with nature” is fifth in priority today when I looked at the poll, mentioned by 19% of the 263 people who had so far responded and “Science” is 42^nd, tied with “Art” as mentioned by 3% of respondents. The Exchange publishes books, the Child Care Information Exchange magazine and the online ExchangeEveryDay daily early childhood newsbrief, and founded the independent non-profit organization, the World Forum Foundation, which runs a yearly conference on early care and education.

I think science walks and explorations, and making art would be excellent ways to connect children with nature. Perhaps taking nature walks would be a good first step in strengthening the science curriculum in early childhood programs.

The “Into the Woods” Teaching through Trade Books column by Karen Ansberry and Emily Morgan (Science and Children April/May 2007) describes how a class can explore a natural area outdoors, record their observations, and create a class book containing their own questions and answers about local wildlife (available at no cost online to NSTA members and to non-members after registration—scroll down to search). “A Walk in the ‘Tall, Tall Grass’” by Kathryn Kaatz (Science and Children February 2008) describes an inquiry-based lesson (inspired by Denise Fleming’s 1991 book entitled, In the Tall, Tall Grass) that takes kindergarteners out on a nature walk to make observations and record them (available at no cost online to NSTA members and for $0.99 to non-members—scroll down to search).

Children are thrilled by the smallest discoveries, such as a critter on the sidewalk or an interesting cloud. I’m wondering, can every walk can be a nature walk in early childhood or should some be specially for observing?

Peggy

Safety information for teaching science

PeggyA — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 22:15:19 +0000

In planning for the school year, I check for safety considerations on the National Science Teachers Association website, at www.nsta.org/portals/safety.aspx#elem

Of course, each class of children is different, and I won’t know until September if any of the four-year-olds still put small objects in their mouths, or if any of the children have allergies. I’ll use the links to find safety guidelines, but once I know my class I’ll be able to know which hazards particularly apply to my students. Wearing safety goggles when working with substances such as Borax solutions which might splash and get into children’s eyes is good practice but requires teacher vigilance to make sure children keep them on!

Some of the dangers I’ve seen occur (which I did not predict) are:

Children blowing into a plate of dry sand that we were looking at using magnifiers and getting sand in their eyes. Now I give children just a pinch of sand into their palms and caution them not to blow or it may get into their eyes. I could also have the children use safety goggles but they find it hard to use the magnifiers at the same time.
Children standing on a group of marbles (on purpose) and slipping. Now I only give out two marbles per child.
Children falling when they slipped on the edge of a scarf while dancing around a room with a tile floor. We moved the scarves to a carpeted area.
I forgot that a child had contact allergies to wheat and brought in a container of Tenebrio beetles and their babies (mealworms) which live in a bedding of oatmeal and wheat bran. Luckily another teacher remembered before I opened the container and the class just observed the insects inside.
Children flinging dirt up into the eyes of the next child. Now I model how to dig towards oneself before we hand out the large soup spoons we use as trowels. It also helps to enthusiastically say, “Oh look at all that good dirt you are digging up! Save that dirt right next to the hole so you can use it to put back around the flower bulb/roots after you plants.”

I hope you’ll share some safety tips with all the Early Years readers by commenting below.

Washing hands after handling dirt, or other substance which may have harmful bacteria, viruses, or molds, or animals such as guinea pigs or slugs, is one of the easiest safety precautions to put into use, but it does take time. It makes sense to have a sink in every early childhood classroom and two or three might be even better! Can you suggest ways to make hand-washing go faster or an activity to do while waiting to wash?

Peggy

Re-grouping in the calm after the end of the school year

PeggyA — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 14:25:03 +0000

This past year I didn’t communicate well enough with some of the classroom teachers I work with so some science activities that might have been used sat on the shelf instead. Putting my efforts into doing science with the classes of children has introduced their teachers to many activities but has not developed the teachers’ knowledge of science inquiry as fully as I had hoped. So next year I plan to…..(“calm” is relative—at least the summer pace of re-thinking my science work, planning family gatherings and summer school attendance is less hectic than the weekly gathering of materials for upcoming activities and parent meetings that occur during the school year.)

Now I have more time for reflection on where I want to make improvements to the science instruction at the preschool programs I’m involved with. One school has already sent out an email requesting ideas for strengthening the curriculum for the upcoming school year. I would like to do a training in science inquiry with the classroom teachers so they can experience the process themselves away from children. Taking a professional development course about science inquiry in early childhood myself at the University of Northern Iowa is one way I’m going to develop my skills. My summer reading list has a few teaching-related items on it, including the short piece How to…Ask the Right Questions by Patricia E. Blosser, a guide to evaluating your use of questions in the classroom and how the amount of time you wait for students to answer, and how long you wait to reply, affect the students’ learning. And I’m going to look for ways to collaborate close to home so I can learn all year long—your comments on the NSTA blogs and the discussions on the NSTA email lists always inform, and planning time with the other teachers in the school helps me reflect on what and how I teach. See the Summer 2010 issue of Science and Children for more ideas about how to make professional development work for you.

Peggy

Free journal columns on early childhood science

PeggyA — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 15:22:03 +0000

In the interest of making it easier for early childhood educators to teach science, I am unabashedly tooting my own horn—read the Early Years column I write in the National Science Teachers Association’s elementary school journal, Science and Children. Not an NSTA member? Some of the Early Years columns are available online to non-members at no cost in the NSTA Learning Center if one follows these steps:

Create an account (no charge).
Use the “advanced search” option.
Search for “early years” as a keyword and “ashbrook” as author, and “free” as cost.

I think it will be worth your while to find columns about such topics as melting, inventing animals, and the sun’s energy. While you’re there take a look at some of the other benefits of membership. Members get one journal in the mail and online access to all four NSTA journals.

Is there a topic you would like me to write about in the Early Years column? Post a comment below and let me know.

Peggy

Update on the success of using local butterflies

PeggyA — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 12:21:45 +0000

Yes, I will do this again next spring! We had caterpillars crawling out of the net housing, more caterpillars appearing than expected, wasps pupating next to their caterpillar host, a few deaths due to neglect, and beautiful (is there any other kind?) butterflies emerging from their chrysalids. My plan to introduce the butterfly life cycle to the preschool classes I work with using only locally-found butterfly eggs and caterpillars worked fairly well (see post of May 7, 2010). While not as certain as ordering caterpillars from a biological supply company, I was able to get caterpillars into every classroom. There were fewer caterpillars for each classroom but most children got to see the life cycle beginning with the eggs before the caterpillars hatched. I only use the Cabbage White and Black Swallowtail butterflies because they are not endangered, and locally abundant.

Lessons learned:

Just because there were an abundance of Eastern Tent moth caterpillars in the fruit trees last year, does not mean there will be any this year. The weather has been unusually cool and I haven’t spotted any of the hairy caterpillars or their webs in tree branches.
The paper plate and net housing doesn’t fool Black Swallowtail caterpillars who are searching for either fresher food or a high place to pupate. Next time I will add fresh food cuttings several times a week to keep them happy. I may make the fabric overlap wider, or tape the overlap closed. We should try our best to provide for all their needs.
There are tiny wasps that parasitize Cabbage White butterfly caterpillars, laying their eggs in the caterpillar body where they hatch and feed, emerging later to form pupa cocoons. Ick, but that is a beautiful system for the wasps. See more about this and moths of the cabbage plant family on the Ontario, Canada Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs page on Caterpillar Pests of Cruciferous Crops. Trying to understand where this new set of pupae came from may be too much for young children unless they have observed a caterpillar growing and changing into a butterfly several times. So I said that these new pupae are insects that I don’t know enough about to raise and care for them indoors so we put that leaf out in the garden.
Unseasonably cool weather may mean newly emerged butterflies need to be kept and fed indoors for a day or two. The cool temperature seemed to make the one pictured below sluggish, allowing a very close and careful look.
I’m going to plant patches of fennel in more locations so I will have more places to gather Black Swallowtail butterfly eggs and larvae.

Most of the 15 classrooms had butterflies to release at the end of six to ten weeks. Teachers sent me text messages, took pictures and gushed about the excitement the children expressed at seeing the butterfly fly away. “It went up and up and up!” was one child’s description.

I still don’t have any Monarch butterfly larvae on the milkweed plants and think at this late date that the migrating adults have passed my yard by and gone north. Perhaps the next generation of Monarch butterflies will decide to lay eggs here. The flowers of the milkweed have been very popular with many species of bees, wasps, and this Tiger Swallowtail butterfly.

What kinds of lifecycles do you talk about and observe in your classroom?

I have much to learn about raising butterflies from eggs. What suggestions do you have?

Peggy

Summer reading, summer camping, summer science

PeggyA — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 11:56:44 +0000

What can you suggest to your students and their families for summer science explorations? Indoor museum and library visits, and outdoor trips to the local park and to a novel environment—prairie, riverside, city parking lot, mountain, desert or beach—may entice you and your students to seek new experiences and knowledge that can be built on when you return to school.

For a list of fiction and non-fiction books, look at the Science NetLinks list for summer reading, just one part of the Summer Science Fun. The list of resources includes books, online games, and hands-on activities for children. Check out the lists and make one to send home with your students.

Expand the list with activities from commercial websites. Send home information about one of the activities on the Home Science Tools Summer Science Projects page. Include prompts for families, such as, “Ask your children what they wonder about and talk with them about the questions the activity might answer before doing the activity”. Some activities on the Steve Spangler “Science Experiments” page are as simple as discovering what you can do with a drinking straw to explore how sound can be changed.

As a fundraiser for the National Wildlife Federation, and an awareness-raiser about nature, go camping in your backyard on June 26^th as part of the National Wildlife Federation’s Great American Backyard Campout^®. Funds raised will be used to establish and maintain programs to make outdoor time a priority to protect children’s health and ensure their readiness to learn. Memories made will be used to build understanding about nature.

If you’d rather go camping in a park, check out the U.S. National Park Service listings. The Grand Canyon’s 20^th annual Star Party is going on right now until June 12, 2010.

Children and their families can do a science exploration right outside their door by following the model suggested by Donald Silver and Patricia Wynne’s book, One Small Square: Backyard. Their book series includes Pond, Woods, Seashore, Tundra, Swamp, and Desert, with illustrations to guide the suggested explorations.

Here’s what else is in my backyard,

Peggy

Jean Craighead George

PeggyA — Fri, 14 May 2010 12:48:08 +0000

I read Jean Craighead George’s My Side of the Mountain at just the right time in my life—young enough to believe that I could live in the woods like Sam and old enough to try some of the living-off-the-land strategies he used (while I still lived comfortably at home). Her writing and illustrations taught me while transporting me to another place and I’ve also learned from and enjoyed her other books.

She has been awarded the 2009 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science Books and Films Lifetime Achievement Award. Adults and older children will enjoy listening to a podcast interview with Jean Craighead George on the AAAS’s Book Talks.

Peggy