Science in the Preschool Classroom
Young
children are full of wonder and curiosity about the world they live in! Daily, they engage in activities which allow
them to explore and discover how this world works. Science in the preschool classroom is so much
more than just magnifying glasses and magnets; or experiments set up by the
teacher. Rather, the preschool teacher
should pull science out of the environment and make it a part of the daily
experience. Through exploration and
discussion, preschoolers learn that science is part of their lives – and that
it is a lot of FUN!! In her article
“Preparing for Preschool: Science” Diana
Townsend-Butterworth makes notes these opportunities:
-
On
the playground: swings, bouncing balls,
and seesaws make the playground a natural physics lab. The seesaw demonstrates principles of
balance, the slide is an experiment in gravity and swings are the law of motion
in action.
-
At
the sand and water table: children will
use sieves with different size holes and pour sand and water through them,
noting how the size of the holes affects the results; they will learn the
property of water as they predict which objects will sink or float.
-
In
the block center: children build towers
and balance blocks of different sizes and shapes to construct bridges,
exploring concepts of spatial relations, gravity and balance. By racing cars down ramps children will learn
basic laws of physics by predicting which will finish first.
-
At
circle time: discussions about the
weather turn preschool students into mini meteorologists. Encourage children to record observations
about the weather in diagrams and on charts. When reading books encourage the scientific
method by having children predict what will happen next in the story
-
On
the windowsill: grow beans. Allow each
child plant a bean. Water the beans each
day and discover how it sprouts. Have
the children record its growth.
I
encourage you to move beyond thinking science in the preschool classroom is
restricted to the few items in the science center or books about plants and
animals and challenge you to make your entire classroom a science laboratory.
Try a few of these experiments and involves STEM into your classroom!
Don't underestimate the power of your students!
