Peggy Ashbrook

Q: Why is it so important to teach science to preschoolers? How does a foundation in science learning prepare them for school success?

Young children explore materials, ask questions, try to figure out how things work, draw and write or dictate to represent their work, listen to books read aloud, assign groups to the objects they observe, incorporate their discoveries into their imaginative play, discuss and reflect on the work they do and what it means, and do it all again. This is all part of science inquiry. Children engage in this work to make sense of the world, and by teaching science to preschoolers adults can support their work while (hopefully) providing experiences that lead to correcting their misconceptions.

Why wait until a later age when children are already exploring the natural world? Children should have the experiences of sprouting seeds, watching a slug crawl, holding a cricket, pouring and squirting water, building with blocks, cooking playdough, rolling balls on ramps and many others before they learn science at a more advanced level.

By exploring a topic or concept over weeks or even months, children have time to solve problems, experience the materials deeply, and answer the new questions that arise as they work. With a broad set of experiences in the world, including science inquiry and a moderate amount of direct instruction, children can build understanding of complex systems. The discussions and documentation that are part of science inquiry give children opportunities to use and develop vocabulary and other literacy skills, as well as practice early math learning and social skills.

Q: How can parents promote scientific inquiry and learning at home?

To support science inquiry and learning at home, parents can:

Encourage problem-solving by letting children struggle to open a door or snack package, zip their jacket or build a tower that doesn’t fall over. Let children own the joy of discovery and success at problem-solving (but it is fine to help before children give up from frustration).

Encourage questioning and finding out by saying to children, “I’m not sure, what do you think it is?” or “We might be able to try it (or ask a friend, or look in a book) to find out.”

Ask open-ended questions that steer children in the right direction in problem-solving, such as, “I wonder who we could ask about that?” and “What would happen if you put a big block on the bottom (or push on the door, or tear the slot on the cracker package)?”

Give children time to discover, and time to think before answering questions about their discoveries.

Include non-fiction and fiction in your home library. Children love the “collections” in identification books.

Q: How did the children you teach inform the activities in Science is Simple? What do your students teach you about writing activities for children?

I began teaching science with lesson plans and scripts of possible dialogue to remind myself not to say too much and not to leave out important information that linked our work to previous experiences. And then I learned so much from the children! Here are a few examples:

Discussion is a vital part of science inquiry. Children do have explanations for phenomena such as dissolving and evaporation, and need to discuss their ideas about what happens to sugar when mixed with water while making lemonade to develop their understanding.

They want to try everything themselves, so safe ways of melting and cutting need to be included.

Working with children, ages two to five, really brought home the reality that development happens at various paces. The most perceptive questioner may make very simple drawings, an early reader may be hesitant to explore, a child with speech delay may be the most persistent in problem-solving, and the child who carries a lovey may know the most about spiders.

No matter how well I plan and how experienced I am, children always come up with new ways to use the materials. This often contributes to their understanding of a science concept. One must be flexible about what is being taught and learned, and be prepared for safety with goggles for splashes, containers on lids of material that can spill, and with towels and tissues to mop up.

Don’t try to do it all in one session or day because the children will want more the next day. Children enjoy coming back to the explorations and trying new ideas.

Always have more than one book on a topic because it may be a day when reading is a preferred activity.

Children respond to open-ended questions with relish for a challenge and more exploration.

By their readiness for exploration, my students taught me to write recipe-like descriptions of science activities with explanation about why certain actions (such as goggles) are important, describing a plan for readiness that teachers (like any good cook) can tailor to their class. My hope is that teachers will use these individual activities as part of on-going inquiry to explore a concept in depth.

Q: Why do teachers shy away from teaching science to young children? What kinds of questions do teachers most often ask you in your trainings?

Many of us do not have extensive science content knowledge but we enjoy our children’s explorations and see how they develop skills as they explore. Teachers do teach science, although they may not call it science. It is harder to know how to help children make connections between the activities by having them record their understanding through drawing, dictating and writing, and reflect on the work they did—to have time to ponder and develop explanations. Science inquiry at its best requires time to develop, so teachers need to explain this to families and administrators.

Every teacher and every student has preferences for activities somewhere along the continuums of neat to messy, wet to dry, alive or not, 2-D to 3-D, and following a procedure or creating our own (among others). We should push ourselves to include activities that may be out of our comfort zone but are of high interest to the children, and to learn a little new science content every week. I recommend beginning with a short children’s book on the topic you will be exploring in your classroom, or a website aimed at middle school students.

Teachers often ask me technical questions such as, “How long do roly-polies survive in a container habitat?” or “Where can I buy good magnifiers?” They also ask for lists of resources to support science inquiry teaching and they want to share the science work that happens in their classrooms. This collaboration is one of the strengths of science and teaching!

Q: In your more than 20 years of teaching, how has the education field changed? What new challenges do modern teachers face?

There are many more resource books and curriculums for teachers to learn from in the area of science teaching. If a teacher has access to the internet, it easy to find answers to our many questions, such as: How can we make a birdfeeder? Which house plants are poisonous to people? What is a good song to sing about bouncing a ball?

Teachers have more ways to communicate with families and each other by using technology. Technology also makes new research on safety, special needs, and the importance of play in early childhood more easily available.

The playground equipment has changed—from individual swings to a single tire swing, from tall metal slides on a dirt ground to shorter plastic slides on at least 6 inches of mulch, and from a bike area (parking lot) marked off with orange cones to metal fencing all around. We see more children with severe allergies and adjust our snack list. Children seem to be watching more hours of television or video than they did 20 years ago so we discuss appropriate amounts of screen time in newsletters. Also, children are allowed less independent play so we must be mindful of developing children’s independence while we supervise them.

Our new challenges are also the old ones: to educate families and politicians about the incredible development that children achieve before kindergarten, to increase the professionalism of our work, to be mindful of the different challenges that each child faces and address those challenges as we teach the children.

At my co-op school there are fewer families where one parent does not have a paying job but the community’s value of working together in the best interest of the children has not changed.

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