CEBU, Philippines - We have spent the last month giving you tips to aid your young child develop skills that will help them think like a scientist. The activities we suggested would not only sharpen skills that are useful in science, but would also encourage your child to be more imaginative and develop attitudes like curiosity, enthusiasm for exploration, and problem solving-attitudes and skills that will help your child navigate and succeed in today’s world.
As your child grows, he or she will spend a lot of time in their school. Therefore, it is important for parents to look closely at a school’s curriculum (what is taught and how it is taught) to ensure that the school is working to develop the same skills, values, and attitudes that you are working towards at home.
If you would like the school to help your child think like a scientist and not just know science facts, here are some questions you might consider asking:
• Does the school provide materials that encourage exploration? Can children touch, look, play with the materials? Some examples of materials that can spark a child’s interest are water, magnets, leaves, twigs, soil, gears.
• Does the school organize field trips where children can see different natural environments or places where children can learn and see how things work?
• Does the school or teacher assess more than just knowledge of facts (e.g. through paper and pencil tests)? Facts are important and children should learn them. But teachers can also look at how well children observe to learn facts, how they are able to communicate what they know, how they apply them to problems. They can likewise look at attitudes, like persistence and how willing they are to take risks (and maybe be wrong) as they search for the facts.
• Does the school invite parents or resource speakers who work in the field of science (doctors, nurses, engineers, biologists)? Hearing about what these people and why they enjoy it may spark children’s interest in science and see how the knowledge can be applied in the real world.
• Do teachers encourage children to ask questions? Do they support them as they explore and find answers? Are children asked to draw conclusions from what they have observed? Not all teachers are trained to teach in this way. Not all schools encourage this type of teaching. It is important to talk to your child’s school and teacher to better understand their approach and ensure that it is consistent with your own.
Most of us were educated in a way where science was taught to us. Even in the lower years of elementary school, we learned science facts. We read textbooks with black and white illustrations, and we did prescribed experiments and answered in a prescribed format (I therefore conclude...). Even as young children, we were assessed through multiple choice tests with only one correct answer.
While the learning of science facts remains important, we now know that it is not enough. Rapid developments in technology and in the way the world works have made it important for people to constantly learn new things, solve problems, and find new solutions.
This makes the development of scientific thinking skills and attitudes relevant not only to people in the field of science but also to those working in other fields as well. Since young children naturally exhibit many of these skills and attitudes, it is important to take advantage of the opportunity nature has given us and to continue to build on it.
Le us give our kids an early start and develop a future community of independent thinkers and problem solvers!
Source: http://www.long wood.edu/cleanva/images/sec6.processskills.pdf (FREEMAN)