Curriculum Planning: Science

What is Science? Science involves observing, exploring, measuring, comparing, classifying, predicting, and discovering Young children focus on observing and exploring They will watch, study, wonder, or ask questions to learn about science Science should be taught with a hands-on approach to allow children to think about sights, sounds, and smells of the world around them

Planning Science Experiences Science activities should offer children the chance to: Observe Note differences and likenesses Solve problems Collect samples Develop new interests and skills Listen to sounds Look at books Collect pictures

Planning Science Experiences Activities should promote development of the five basic process skills. These skills are: Observing objects using the five senses Drawing conclusions from observations based on knowledge gained in past experience Classifying objects into sets based on one or more observable properties Comparing sets of objects by measuring and counting Communicating by describing objects, relationships, and occurrences

Planning Science Experiences To encourage children to explore, use effective questioning techniques Ask questions that require more thought Open ended questions promote discussion and require decision-making skills Closed end questions demand few decision-making skills and are more often answered with yes or no (so do not use in the preschool classroom!) Poor questioning techniques encourage children to guess

Planning Science Experiences Identify the following as open-ended or close-ended questions: What are you observing? What color is it? How could you classify these? Can you classify these by shapes? What happens to the hamburger when it is fried? Has the hamburger changed color? What are you observing? open What color is it? closed How could you classify these? open Can you classify these by shapes? closed What happens to the hamburger when it is fried? open Has the hamburger changed color? closed

Planning Science Experiences Questions to encourage thought: What will happen if…? What can you tell me? What is happening? How do you know? How can we find out? How are these alike/different? Why isn’t this working? How can it be put together?

Using the Senses to Teach Science Concepts Feeling Create feely box/bag where children can reach in the bag and try to identify objects inside without exposing the contents Smelling Play a game trying to guess what objects they can name by smelling, ex: crayons, marker, playdough, etc. Seeing Playing “I-spy” or what’s missing from a group Hearing Recording children telling a story and play it back to the group and ask to identify who told the story Tasting Exposing children to food during lessons What’s missing from a group is when you gather items such as blocks, crayons, puzzle pieces, paintbrush and have students close/cover their eyes, remove an item, have students open their eyes and guess what is missing.

Using Color to Teach Science Concepts Matching or grouping colored objects together Observing colors during a nature walk Mixing colors to learn how colors are made Overlap colored cellophane Place water in clear cups and add food coloring to mix You can make a “color of the day” and have students wear something that color and serve food to coordinate with the color of the day Stress color comparisons by saying: lighter than, darker than, or same color as

Using Water to Teach Science Concepts Concepts taught with water include: Water dissolves some foods Give children plastic glasses to fill with water Supply materials that both dissolve and do not dissolve in water such as salt, sugar cubes, baking soda, rice, margarine cooking oil Ask children “What happens when you add ___ to water?” Frozen water is called ice Freeze water for children so they can see that ice can melt, ice can be picked up, ice melts in warm places

Using Water to Teach Science Concepts Concepts taught with water include: Some objects float on water give children different materials and hypothesize and chart what items they think will float on water Wooden blocks, pencils, paper, plastic alphabet letters, metal spoons, and aluminum foil Some materials absorb water give children different materials and hypothesize and chart what items will absorb the water Sponge, terry cloth, tissues, paper towel, cardboard, plastic wrap, wax paper, newspaper, finger paint, plastic

Using Foods to Teach Science Concepts Children can learn foods vary in size, shape, weight, and color Activities could include: Preparing food in different ways (boiling, baking, broiling) Using many kitchen tools Examining the inside of foods (slicing an apple) Observing the way foods change during preparation

Using Foods to Teach Science Concepts Foods that can be prepared relatively easily in the classroom: Ice cream Cookies Applesauce Bread Scrambled eggs Cocoa Butter Ice pops Pudding

Using the Child’s Body to Teach Science Concepts Take picture and view them to determine similarities and differences between themselves and their classmates Have students lie on a piece of paper and trace their body Create a growth chart and record each students height

Activity: Get up, open cabinets, find, and record on a sheet of paper the science resources that are available in the preschool classroom. Record at least 15 items Of the 15 items recorded, explain how one of the items can be used to teach children about gardening, air, or animals. Include two questions that you would ask students during the lesson. Ex: bubbles. What is inside the bubbles? How did you get air inside the bubble? How an you make the bubble larger? How can you make the bubble smaller?