1. Curriculum Planning:
Science

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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?

8. 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.

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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?