About Early Science

What is Early Science?

What is Early Science?
Children’s Scientific Thinking
Communicating Discoveries
Early Science Experiences

Early science is not about repeating facts and vocabulary without direct involvement. It is not following a set of directed activities or understanding the scientific method. Early science for children is learning from their experiences in an increasingly systematic way, and then communicating these experiences. With exposure to the environment and access to a rich assortment of materials and thoughtful guidance, science becomes a natural and critical part of children’s early learning.

Children’s guided explorations can encourage them to observe more closely, develop new ideas about the world, and build a foundation of concepts and ideas that leads to later understanding. The development of early exploration and discovery skills can enhance a child’s ability to observe, estimate, measure, problem solve, communicate, and think more creatively!

Too often early childhood science becomes merely a category of facts and tasks. Science is more than that. Science is the passage of time, the distance between objects, the changes of days and seasons and organisms, the light and shadows, and the echoes in the room. Science is classifying concepts and puzzling out cause and effect through observation, trial, and error. Specific scientific skills will grow and build with each child’s own direct experiences.