Beyond Nature Hikes and Butterflies

In the article, "Beyond Nature Hikes and Butterflies," in the newest Exchange Essential article collection Taking Play Outdoors, Kelly Twibell and Diane Harkins offer this advice on supporting scientific thinking:

"Some parents and early childhood educators avoid science because they think they need to have all the answers to children’s questions.  Perhaps they also think children are incapable of comprehending scientific phenomena.  Both assumptions are incorrect...  New attention is now being drawn to the importance of wondering alongside children.  In particular, older preschoolers are eager to engage in inquiry, often referring to such experiments as ‘real science.’

"When children observe a pattern of outcomes or experience disorder in a perceived pattern, adults can encourage them to form a hypothesis about what they observe to be true and then prompt them to test their idea...  It is important for adults to facilitate, rather than direct, a child’s investigations; quality science experiences develop out of a child’s own interests, not the agenda of an adult."  

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