Science

Mixed Ages

What We Saw: One of the items served at snack was raw purple cabbage. The children really liked it! The teacher and children discussed how the cabbage turns their teeth purple. Then the children noticed that the paper plate that held the cabbage was turning purple. This fascinated the children. Later in the day the teacher let the children experiment with the cabbage during choice time. The children put shredded cabbage between two pieces of paper and used rolling pins, plastic hammers and their hands to press the cabbage onto the paper. The teacher asked the children, "What do you think will happen when we do this?" One child responded that "it would make designs". The teacher suggested to the children that they have their parents guess how they made these pictures.

What It Means: Science is more than just an area of the classroom (the "science corner"). The children marveled that their teeth turned purple, and so did the paper plates! The teacher expanded upon this natural curiosity by letting the children investigate further through a creative art project. This bright teacher was using Emergent Curriculum: something that fascinates the children emerges from their ongoing activities, often in an unplanned way like in this example, and then the teacher uses that fascination to teach. In this case, the basic scientific concept of plant-based pigments was introduced to the children.

Preschool

What We Saw: The teacher is working with a boy matching color tiles. He easily matches all the colors. The teacher then challenges him by setting out a green tile and asking, "What two colors make this color?" He doesn't know. She gives him a hint that one is blue. He still can't figure out what the other one is. Then the teacher sets out a red tile and a white tile and asks what color he would have if he mixed those two together. He makes two guesses before saying pink. She takes him over to the easel and lets him try mixing the colors. First he puts blue paint on the paper. Then he cleans his brush and adds yellow. As he brushes it turns green right before his eyes. He is so excited that he almost jumps into the air. Next he tries red and white and again he is very excited by the transformation.

What It Means: The child is involved in an activity that is very easy for him. The teacher wants to give him a challenge, however the challenge she offers him turns out to be a little too challenging. This matching of task difficulty with the cognitive abilities of the child is the essence of great teaching. Terrific teachers give children puzzles that are just slightly more difficult than their previous best effort. (Psychologists have a lovely phrase for this: they call this a "delicate cognitive mismatch.") Knowing that children learn best through direct experience she offers him the opportunity to experiment and observe what happens. His excitement shows what a big impact this learning had for him.

Preschool

What We Saw: The teacher has incorporated a worm box into her classroom. The worm box is a large wooden box with a hinged lid. It has mesh on the bottom and sides. The children helped to gather leaves to place in the worm box. When the worm box was started the class talked about a few rules for this activity. "You can't put them in your pockets," and "You can't scare each other with them." The children take turns every day giving the worms water and scraps from the kitchen. The children watch every day to see how the worms will turn the leaves into dirt. One day the teacher was closing the lid on the worm box during a music activity. One child exclaimed, "I think the worms want to hear us sing too". So the teacher left the worm box open so the worms could hear the children sing!

What It Means: Having the worm box in the classroom is much more than a science activity. It's true that the children are learning about the process through which earthworms benefit the soil. But they are also learning how to take care of a classroom pet and develop compassion for other living things.

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