In the California Preschool Learning Foundations for Science, a detailed outline of what preschoolers should know before entering kindergarten and the skills they can typically learn, observation is listed as one of the key strategies for early science. Playgroup students and families gather around Ashley Barajas, an early education science specialist, as she introduces them to an animal during a visit to the Lawrence Hall of Science. “We are talking about children exploring and figuring out how the natural world works through (play-based) experiences and a lot of observing and testing of their own ideas and their curiosity.” “This is about thinking about how young children do science, because for a lot of people, science still conjures up images of working in a lab with beakers and formulas and many adults don’t really know what we mean when we say science for young children,” Blinderman said.
It’s also about building on a child’s natural curiosity about the world and teaching families foundational science skills, such as observation, comparison and problem-solving, said Ellen Blinderman, director of early childhood projects at the Lawrence Hall of Science. The goal is to give more young children experience with science while fostering parent-to-child bonding, which early education advocates say is critical to a child’s overall development. Science specialists help to conduct research, develop curriculum and lead training workshops and science lessons at the Hall and in other areas, especially where there is limited access to science. To parents and teachers, she explained: “The goal is not necessarily for them to build a tower, but to explore.”īarajas’ work is part of a longtime effort by science specialists at UC Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science to bring free, play-based science lessons to children from low-income families across the San Francisco Bay Area. “And even knock it down,” she said, sweeping her right hand across it, eliciting giggles from some of the kids, who range in age from 18 months to 4 years. “So if I can put this, like this and maybe this, I can build something,” she said, placing a plastic record on top of a cylinder. It may look like child’s play, but Barajas, an early education science specialist, knows that exploration is the gateway to magically transforming circle time into toddlers learning science.Īt a recent playgroup in Oakland, she led the way by example. Eyes on the Early Years Newsletter ArchiveĪshley Barajas watched intently as toddlers stacked foam blocks and examined colorful cylinders.Local Control Funding Formula Explained.
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