Unit How Young Scientists Use Concepts ‘ter eating this uni, you shuld beable to Develop lessons wsing a variety of scence proces skis such a abserving, camping, measuring, clasiying and predicting, | Apply proble-sling Use data collecting and arayis bass for designing and eaching science lessons. Design experiences for young ciden that emich thei experence a the preapertinal evel and prepare them fer the concrete operational lev! Descbe the proces of sltxequlation, Describe the proper use ofa discrepant even in teaching scence egies to lessors designe fr young tudes, Young children try very hard to explain the workd ‘around them, Do any of the following statements sound fai "hunuer isthe sound ofthe angels bowling. “Choickens lay eggs, and pigs lay bacon, ‘lectrtetty comes from a switch on the wall The sua follows me when I take a walk. These are the magleal statements of intuitive thinkers. Children use their senses or intuition to make Judgments. Their logic Is unpredictable. and they tre- ‘quently prefer to use “magical explanations” to account for what is happening in their world. Clouds become the ‘smoke of angels." and rain falls because “It wants to hilp the farmees.” These comments are typleal of the solBeenterod view of intuitive children. They think that the sun rises ia Uae morning just to shine on them. tt never occurs to then that there may be another expla- nation. They also have a difficult time remembering smote tiastone thi nis and abilities such as these inspired Jean ty about young children’s belies His search for answers about how children think ard learn has contributed ioourunderstanding that learnings ant internal process, nother words, itis the child who brings ‘meaning to the world and not vice versa. A child's mis. ‘conceptions are normal, This s what the child believes thus, thisis what Isreal to he child (Figure 6-1) The temptation ist try to move children out af their magical stage of development, This is 2 mistake 192. secriont “The sun follows me!” Children have miseaneoptions. Although some misconceptions can be corrected, oth- fers must wait for more advanced thinking to develop. Students cannot be pushed, pulled, or dragged throug! developmental stages, Instead, the goal isto support the development of young children at thelr present levet uf ‘operation. this was! they have the richness of exper ‘ences to take with them when the next level of develop- meat naturally occurs. When teaching concepts that are too abstract for chil dren to fully understand, try to focus on aspects of the ‘concept that ean be understood. This type of awareness fan be enhanced by the use of visual depictions, obser ing, drawing. and diseussion, Although some aspects of weather might remain ‘a mystery, understanding can be developed by recon! ing the types of weather that occur in a month. Con struct a large calendar and pat it on the wall. Every day, have a student draw a picture that represents the ‘weather for the day. Wher the month is completed. cut the calendar into individual days. Then, glue the days that show similar weather In columns 10 create a bar Concept Development in Mathematics and Selence 1ER RECORD me | Suny Rainy rudy Windy Snowy Foggy ow many clove days wer raph, Ask the children to form conclusions about the ‘month's weather from the graph. In this way, children can relate to weatler patterns and visualize that these patterns change from day to day (Figure 6-2) Ina similar way, childeen will be better prepared for later studies of nutrition if they have some ander standing of theit own food intake. Graphing favorite foedsisa way for children to visually compare and orga- nize what they eat. On poster board. make five columns rn! mount pictures from the baste food groups at the hottom of cach columa, Discuss to which food group euch child's favorite foo! belongs. Have the children ‘write their initials of altach a picture of themselves in the appropriate food column oF draw a picture of theit favorite food. Ask, "What do most of us lke co eat?” Dise cuss healthy foods, and make a new chart at the end of the week, Is there difference in choices? (Figure 6-3 To enhance awareness and to be effective, obser vations should be one in 10 minutes or less, conductee ‘with & purpose, and brought together by discussions Unconnected observations do not aid in concept forma: tion, For exemple, fa purpose isnot given for observingFAVORITE FOODS ind your favorite feds ‘wwoflickering different-sized candles, then children will jose interest within minutes, Instead of telling children to “go look” at two burning candles, ask them to look and to nd the difference between the cundles. Children will become excited with the discovery that she candles ‘arenot the same size (Figure 6-4), Discussions that follow observations heighten child’s awareness of that observation. A group of chil- dren observing a fs tank to see where the fish spends ‘most of its time will be prepared to share what they saw Inthe tank. However. there may not Differences of opinion about abservations stima- late interest and promote discussion. The children are likely to return to the tank to see for themselves what others say they saw: This would peobably not happen without the focusing effect of discussion Dranving can provide excellent opportuntties for observation and discussion, An ellective use of drawing. toenhance concept development would be to have chil «tren draw a tiger from memory before going to the 200. Strategies lke this usually reveal that more information is needed to construct an accurate picture, After vis ing the zoo, have the children draw a tiger and compare ‘tc with the one dranwn before the field trip. Discussion should focus on the similarities and differences between the two drawings. Children will be eager to observe de- tails that they might not otherwise aotice about the ti: ers inthe 200 (Figure 6-5), UNIT ow Young Scientists Use Concepts 98 CChildcer notice thatthe candles are not the Robin Robin's drawing of tiger alter visit to the 200 Children need time toreflectand absorb ideasbefore they fully understand a concept. Misconceptions can occur at any stage, Be sure to give them plenty of time to manip- tlate and explore. For example, when a teacher mixes yellow and blue paints to create green, childzen might94 SECTION 1 think the result is teacher magic. However, if given the Paints and the opportunity to discover green, they might Femomber that yellow and blue mixed together make sgreen. Because children cannot eaery out most opera tions mentally. they need te maniplate materials in or der to develop concepls. Teachers can entrance a chil’ understanding By making comments or asking ques tions that draw attention toa particularevent. Using the previous color example. @ teacher might ask, "Why do you think that happened?” ar “Hove did you do that? Misconceptions can occur at any stage of develop ment. Some children in the primacy grates may be in a transitional stage or have moved into the concrete ap- eration stage of development, Although these students will be able t0 do much logical thinking, the concepts, they work with must still be tied to conerete objects that they can manipulate. Piesthand experiences with mate rials continue tobe essential for learning. the child in this developmental stage no longer looks at the world through “magical eyes.” Explana- tions for natural events are influenced by other natural ‘objects and events. For example. a child may now say, The rain comes from the sky” rather than "It rains to help farmers.” This inking of physical abject will fst ‘appear in the early eoncrete development stages. Do not be misled by an apparent new awareness, The major factor in concept development is sill eontingent spon children’s need (9 manipulate, observe, discuss, and visually depict things to understand what is new and diferent about them, Tals is true in all of the Piagetian developmental stages discussed in this book, Have you ever seen someone plunge a turkey skewer through a balloon? Did you expect the balloon to burst? What was your reaction when it stayed intact? Your curiosity was probably piqued—jou wanted to know why the balloon did not burst. Actually. you had just witmessed a a ‘and entered the process of This is when your brain responds to eracttons between you and your environment, Gal igher and Reid (1981) describe selfregulation as the active mental process of forming concepls. Knowing Concept Development Mathematics wad Science litte bit about how the bratn functions in concept devel- ‘opment will help to explain this process. Visualize the human mind as thousands of concepts stored in vat ‘ous sections of the brain—naueh like a complex system ‘of mentol pigeonholes, a postal sorting system, oa fi ing cabine|illed with individual file folders. As children ‘move through the world and encounter now objects atx phenomens. they assimilate and accommodate new i formation and store it in the correctly labeled mental ‘category in their minds, Lind (2005) describes the brain as like a postal worker. naturally classifying and storing in formation in the appropriate pigeonholes (Figure 6-6). Now information is always store close 1o ll of the re= lated information thar has heen previously store This grouping of closely related facts and phenomena that is related to « particular concept is known as a ‘or schema. In other words. all we know lahout the color red is stored in the same area of the brain. Our cognitive structure of red 1s developed fur- ther cach time we have a color-related experience, The wort red becomes a symbol for what we understand and perceive as the color red. The bain functions ke a postal workerOur understanding of the world Is Imperfect be- ‘sause, sooner or later, there is Some point at which true understanding ends and misconceptions exist but 20 unquestioned, This is because incorrect interpretations ofthe world are stored alongside correct ones, Continuing the postal worker analogy: If the in- mation doesn’t quite fit into an existing pigeonhole ion another pigeonhole must be made. A point can also be reached where new informa: on conllits with older information stoved in a given cognitive structure, When children realize that they io not understand something they previously thought wey understood, they are said to be in what Piaget calls a state of ‘This s where you were when the balloon did not burst The balloon did not be- have as you expected, and things no longer fit neatly her. This is the teachable moment. Whea childeen are perplexed, their minds will nt rest until they ean find some way to make the new information fit. Because ex- ‘sting structures are inadequate to accommodate all of the existing information, they must continually modify cor replace it with new cognitive structures. When in this state, children actively seek out additional informa- tion tocreate the new structure. They ask probing ques- tions, observe closely, and Ingulre Independently slbout ‘the materials at hand. In ths state, they are highly mo= tivated and receptive to learning. When clldren have ihered enough information to satisfy thele curlosity and to create 2 new cognitive structure that explains most or all of the facts, they return (9 a state of where everything appears to Nit together. As Jldren move from disequilibrium to equilibrium, to mental activities take place, When confronted swith something they do not understand, clldzen fit it into a scheme, something they already know, If this does aot ‘works for them, they modify the scheme or make a new ‘one. Thisis called and accommodation work together to help students learn concepts (Figure 6-7) ‘To make use of the process of self-regulation in your classroom, find out at what pont your students ‘misunderstand or are unfamiliar with the topic you are teaching, Finding out what children know can be done in a number of ways. In addition to referring t© the assessment units in this book, listen to chiens re- UNIT 6 o HHow Young Sclentiss Use Concepts 95 sponses 10a lesson or question, or simply ask them to describe their understanding of a concept. For example, before teaching a lesson on animals, ask, “Whit dacs an animal look like?" You'd be surprised at the umber of young children who think that a lfeform must have legs to be considered an animal. Using this process will llow you to present infor ‘mation contrary to or beyond your students’ existing cognitive structure and thus put them in a state of d equilibrium, where learning occurs, A diserepant event puts students in disequilibrium and prepares them for learning. They are curious and want to find out what is happening. Its recommended that vou take advantage of the natural learning process to teach children what you want them to understand, The following scenes might give you some ideas for dis crepant events that might imprave lessons you plan 10 teach, Mr. Wang’s second-grade class is stulying the senses His students are aware ofthe function of the five senses, but they may not know that the sense of smell plays as large a role in appreciating food as docs the sense af taste, His students work in pairs with one child blindfolded. The blindfolded students are asked to pinch their noses shut and taste several foods such as bread, raw potatoes, or apples to see if hey can identify them. Students witch roles and try the same Investigation with various juices such as apple forange, tomato, and so on. Most students cannot identify juices. Having experienced this discrepant event, the students will be more aterested in nding out about the structures ofthe nose related to smell. They may be ‘more motivated to conduct an investigation about how the appearance off! alects listaste Mrs. Fox fills two jars with water while her rst= rade class watches. She fils one jar tothe rim and leaves about an inch of space in the other96 SECTION 1 m Concept Development in Mathematics und Scence Person encounters new experience (Balloon does not explode) Assimilation information adequate to cxminin 74 aeatal activity ‘Sxperience? fe seinforeed No, information le (ind in DISEQUTLEBRATION) ot aoquate Reasoning fo modified to accommodate Giscquilibretion Accommodation Ke Ts modification yey Mental activi | edoquate? > teretaforeed” (Ges tre (eaind teat oop the Sone balloon from exploding) ee EQUILIBRATION Lo . ‘he seltregulation process. (Courtesy ofthe Council for Elementary Selene lterntional.) jar. She puts a lid on each jar and places it on tray in tho school yard on cold winter day Her students return later in the day and find that boil have frozen but that the completely led jar has burst. Students are eager to find out why, Kindergarten students Ann and Vanesss have been instructed to place two ie cubes in a glass and then flit to the beim with water. The ice cubes float on the water and extend : Ann and Vanessa check thelr predictions about halfan inch above the edge ofthe glass. Ms. Hebert asks them what will happen when the Ice cubes will contract when they melt the ice cubes melt, Vanessa thinks the water They watch in puzzlement as they realize that will overflow because there will be more water the water level stays the same as the eubes melt Ann thinks the water level will drop because (Figure 6-8).‘You cam assist your students in creating new cognitive suructures by designing learning experiences in & man- nner congruent with how children learn naturally. One popular approach is the application of the learning cycle. The learning cycle described in Unit 1, ts based upon the cycle of equilibration originally described by Piaget. The learning cycle, which is used extensively in iementary science edication, combines aspects of nat rial, and structured activity: methods— 1 this book—into a method of vrais, tn saggested elsewhere presenting a lesson. As you have learned, the discrepant event is an ef lective device for motivating students and placing thet in disequilibrium. The learning cycle can be a useful approach to learning for many of the same reasons, [earning begins with a period of free exploration. Dur UNIT m How Young SclentstvUse Concepts 97 ing the ion plnase, the children's prior knowl ‘edge can be assessed. Teachers can assess Inquiry skills tnd gain clues to what the children know ubout a sci- cence concept as they explore the materials. Refer to the ‘Srategies That Encourage Inquiry” section in this unit for more information on assessing inguiry. Ad ditionally, any misconceptions the children may have are often revealed during this phase. Exploration can be as simple as giving students the materials to be used in a day's activity at the beginming ofa lesson s they can play with them for a few minutes. Minimal or no instructions should be given other than those relate! to safety, breaking the materials, or loglsties in. get ting the materials. By letting students manipulate the matcrials they will explore and very likely discover: ther something they did not know before or something other than what they expected. The fllowing example, “Making the Bulb Light.” utilizes all three steps of the learning eycle Exploration Phase Mr. Wang placed a wire, a Nashlight bulb, and a sie-D battery on a tray. Bach group of thaee students was alven fray of materials and told to try to figure out a to make the bulb light, As each group successfully lit the bulb, he asked them if they could find anoth trrangement of materials that would make the bulbs Tight. ter about 10 minutes, most groups had found atleast one other way to light the bulb, Concept introduction Phase ‘Aller playing with the wires. batteries, and bulbs. Me, ‘Wang hed the students bring thelr rays and form a ceucle on the floor. He asked the students If they had found out anything interesting about the materials Jason showed the elass one arrangement that worked to light the bulb, To introduce the class tothe terms ‘opm, elesed, and short circuit, Mir. Wang explained to the class that un arrangement that lights is called a closed cicull. Ann showed the class an arrangement hat she thought would wer bat did not. Mr. Wang, explained that this isan open circult, Chad showed the class an arrangemont that did not light the bulb but made the wire and battery very warm. Mr, Wang said this was « shoetcizcuit, Then be drew a example ‘of each of the three types of elcuit om the boar and Jabeled them, Phase Concept Application Next, Mr. Wang showed the class @ vrorishect with drawings of various arsangements of batteries and bulbs. He asked the children to predict which arcange: ‘ments would not light an form an open circuit; which would forim a closed eircult by Uighting: and whic would heat up the battery and wire, forming a short circuit. Aller recording their predictions independently, the children returned to thelr small groups to test cael (continued98 SECTION 1 ofthe arrangements. They recorded the actual answers beside thelr predictions Figure 6-8). Aer the students completed the task, Mr. Wang called them together. They discussed the results ofthe on. sharing which arrangements of batter jes, wite, and bulbs they predicted correctly and in correctly Then Mir. Wang reviewed the terms learned ‘during the lesson and asked the studeatsto read short section oftheir sclence text that talked about fre and clecirical salety. The reading discussed the dangers of putting metal objects in wall sockets or fingers tn ight sockets and susuested preciutlans when ying kites near powerlines Alter reading the section aloud, Mr. Wang asked the class if they could see any relationship between the reading and the day's activity, Chad responded that dying a kive into an electrical powerline or stick. ing a dinner fork in a wall socket were similar to what he did when he created a short cireuit with the battery and wire Other students found similar re lationships between the reading activity and their lives. Inthe preceding activity, ou have seen function- Ing model of Piaget's theory of cognitive development implemented in the elasseoom. The exploration phase Invites assimilation and disequilibrium: the concept development phase provides for accommodation: the expands the concept; and isfor retaining the new concept are provided, strate Although a formal investigation using the learning cycle is an excellent way to present lessons to chikien, teaching all lessons in this manner is not desirable. At times. exploration and observation might be the fll les son. Giving students an opportunity to peaetice their skills of observation soften sufficient for them to learn, ‘a great deal about unfamiliar objects or phenomena, In ‘Concept Development in Mathematis and Science Battery prediction sheet. the following scenarios, teachers made use of explarae {lon observations to create lessons, Mr. Brown constructed a small bin feeder and placed itoutskle the window of his prekindergarten room, One cold winter his efforts were rewarded, Students noticed ‘and called attention to the fact that there were several kinds of birds atthe feeder, Brad said that they all looked the same to him. Leroy pointed out different characteristics ofthe birds toBrad. Diana and Cindy noted that the blue jay constantly chased other birds away from the Feeder and that a big cardinal moved away from the feeder as soon as any other bird approached Students wondered why the blue jay seemed to scare all the other birds and why the cardinal seemed tobe afraid of even the small birds, They spent several minutes discussing the possibilities‘On Richard's birthday. his preschool teacher, Miss Collins, decided thatthe class shoul make ‘a microwave cake to celebrate the occasion. ‘The students helped Miss Collins mix the ingredients land commented on thesequence ofevents as the cake cooked for seven minutesin the microwave Richard was the first to observe how bubbles started to form n small patches. Then George ‘commented that the whole cake was bubbling and getting bigger. Afterremoving the cake from the microwave, many children noticed how the cake shrank, got glossy. then lostits gloss asit cooled, Some lessons can be improved by having ch «iren do more than just observing and exploring. These exploration lessons include dea cu as an ine Siructional focus. Data collection and interpretation are portant to real science and real problem solving, Al- hough firsthand observation will always be Important, vost breakthroughs in science are made by analyzing ted data. Scientists usually spend much nore ime arching through stacks of data than peering, ‘own the batrel of a microscope or through a telescope. Data collection for young childcen is somewhat ‘more sistract than firsthand observation, Therefore 41 is important that students have sufficient practice a making predictions, speculations, and guesses with irsthand observations before they begin to collect and Interpret data. Nevertheless, young students can ber ‘it from early experience in data collection and inter pretation. Initial data collections are usually pictorial in form, Long-term patterns and changes that children cannot easily observe in one setting are excellent begin for data collection, carefully cl ‘Weather records such as those discussed previously can expose children to patterns during any time ofthe year. Aller charting the Weather with drawings or attaching pictures that ‘represent changing conditions, have children Xdecide which clothing is most appropriate for «particular kind of weather. Drawing cloud, ‘sun, ran, lightning, snow, and so on that correspond to the daily weather and relating that information to what is worn can give students sense of why data collection is use UNITS ® How Young Sckntists se Concepts 99 Growing plants provides excellent opportunities for early data collection. Mrs. Fox's first-grade class charted the progress of bean plants growing 3m paper cups on the classroom windovisil Bach day studertscut a stip of paper the same length as the height oftheir plant and glued the Strips toa large sheet of newsprint. Over a period of weeks, students could see how thelr plants grew continuously even though they noticed fev diferences by just watehing them. er pondering the plant data, Dean asked hrs. Fox ithe students could measure themselves with & strip of paper and chart theic growth for the rest ofthe year. Thereafter, Mrs. Fox measured each student once a month. Her students were amazed to see how much they had grown daring the year. Another technique for designing science lessons is to allow students to have input into the process of prob- {em solving and designing investigations. This might be called a concept introduction lesson because it utilizes the of the learning eyele fas the basis fora lesson, Although initial investigation ‘and problem-solving experiences may be designed by ‘the teacher, students eventually will be able to contrib ate to planning their own investigations, Most students probably will not be able to choose atopic anu plan the centie investigation independently until they reach the Intermediate grades, but thelr input into the process of planning gives them some ownership of the esson and Increases (heir confidence to explore ideas more fully When solving real problems identifying the problem is olfen more critical than the skills of attacking it, Stu dlonts nced practice in both aspects of problem solving. The following examples depict students giving in- put into the problem to be solved and then helping to ‘design how the problem should be approached, Mr, Wang's second-grade class had some previous experience in charting the growth of plants, He told bis class, “I'd like us to design fn investigation abou how fast plants grow, What things do you think could affect how fast «plant grows?" Mr, Wang used the chalkboard tolist his students’ suggestions, which included such factors asthe amount of water. fertilizer100. SECTION 1 & Concept Development in Mathematics and Science sunshine, and temperature as wel as the type of seed. how much the plants are talked to, ‘whether they are stepped on, and so forth, Students came up with possibilities that had never occurred to Mr. Wang, Next, he divided the class into small groups and told each group that it could have several paper cups. seeds ‘and some potting soll. Each group was asked to choose factor from the list that It woul like to Investigate. Then, Mr. Wang helped each group plan its investigation Derrick and Brent decided to study the ellect of light on thete plant. Mr Wang asked them hew they would control the amount of ight theic plants receive, Brent suggested that they bring ‘light bulb to place near the plants so that they could leave te fight on all day. Derrek said that hhe would put the plants in a cardboard box for the hours they were not supposed to receive light ‘Mr. Wang asked them to think about how many’ plants they should use. They decided to use three: one plant would receive light all day, one plant would receive no light, and one plant would receive onty six hours of ight URAGE INQUIR’ Te fundamental abilities and concepts that underlie the “science as inquiry” content standard of the Na- tional Science Edwation Standards establish geound. work for developing and integrating strategies that encourage inguiry. Young children should experience science in a form that engages them in the active con- struction of ileus nd explanations and that enhances their opportunities to develop the skills of doing science. In the carly years, when children investigate materials and properties of common objects, they can focus on. the process of doing investigations and develop the abil- lty to ask questions. The National Science Education Stan- dads suggest the following strategies to engage students, Inthe active earch for knowledge. Ask a question about objects, organisms, and events in the enviranment. Children shoule be encouraged to answer their questions by seeking, information from their own observations and Investigations and irom reliable sources of information. When possible, children's answers can be compared with what scientists already know about the world Plan and conduct a stmple investigation. When children are in thelr earliest years, investigations are based on systematic observation. As hilciren develop, they may desiga and conduct simple investigations to answer questions. (However. the fair fests nevessary for experimentation may ‘not be possible until the foarth grade.) Types of Investigations that are appropriate for younger children include describing objects, events. and organisms: classfving them: and sharing what ‘they know with others Employ simp equipment and tots to gather deta and extend the sense, Simple skills such as how to observe, measure, cut, connect, switch, turn onfoft, pour, hold, and hook—together with simple instruments such as rulers. thermometers, rmagnlfers, anu microscopes—should be used in he early years, Children can use simple equipment and can gather data by, for example observing and recording attributes of the daily sweather, They can also develop skillsin the use of computers and calculators. data iconstruet a reasonable explanation. In Inquiry, students’ thinking ts emphasized as they tse data to focmulite explanations, Even at the cearliost grade levels, students can Jeaen what counts as evidence and ean judge the merits of the date and explanations, Communic investigations and explanations ‘Students should begin developing the abilities to communicate. critique, and analyze their work and the work ofother students, This communication could be spoken or drawn as well as written, ‘The natural inguiry of young children can be seen as they observe, group, sort, and order objects. By incorporating familiar teaching strategies, such as pro viding a variety of objects for children to manipulate and talking to children as they go about what they are can help children to learn doing with objects, teach‘more about thelr world, Chilkren also ean Tear about thelr word through observations and discussions about those observations. When opportunities are provided for children to work individually at constructing their ‘own knowledge. they will gain experiences in organs ing data and understanding processes. A variety of ac- tities that let children use al of thelr senses should be oiled. In this way. children may explore at their own pace and selfregulate their experiences, Observation is vital for the teacher as she assesses chil dren’s progress, It is essential that the teacher watch carefully as the children group and order materials. Are te materials ordered in a certain way? Do the objects in the group have similar attributes? Are the children cre- ting a random design. or are they making a pattern? Clues to children’s thinking can be gained by watching, what children do and having them explain what they are doing to each other or to you. In the following ex UNITS ® How Young Scientisis Use Concepts 10% ‘ample, te teacher assesses the students’ abilities to do Scientific inquiry by making use of an activity that In- vites children to manipulate objects. Mrs. Raymond's classroom contalns a variety of objects with a number of characteristics (size. color, texture, and sliape) for children to group and sort. She i enough seis of keys, buttons, beans, as and bolts, brie swatches, and wooden shapes for each ebild to ‘work alone, To expose children to science content, she also has sets of leaves, nuts, bar, twigs, seeds, and other objects related to the science content that she Wants to emphasize. As the children group and sort the objects, either by # single characteristic or In some other way. Mrs. Raymond observes them carefully and asks them (0 tell her about the ways they are organising the objects. The teacher moves around nnd listens ta the individual elildren as they make decisions, She mikes notes in the anecdotal records she i keeping and talks with the children: “Can you put the ones that go to- gether in apie?" “How did you decide to put this leaf in the pile?” GENE kaon LESS EMPHASIS ON -Aclvties that demonstate and vty science content livesigatons conned toons class pared Prooaee ellis outa canter Emphasis on Indvitualpracaas sels suchas observation Gotng an answer ‘Science as exploration and experimect Providing answors to questions abou! slanee content Invduals and groups of stents analyzing and synthesizing ‘ata without defending 2 coelsion Doing few incestigaton in dor lave ime to cove age mun of cont Corunna ith he eau of he expen Management of matails and equipment Prvao carnation of sucent eas and conclasions to ‘eacher MORE EWPHASIS ON “Actes that fectisate and analyze srionoe quostone Investigations ove etenod panos of ime Process skis in canton [Using mule process aile—manioviaon, cogniv, procacus Using evidence and srategies for developing or vevsing an Selence as argument and explanation ‘Communica science exsoratons Groups of students ayang end syrtasizing cata aie efendng conclusions Doing mors investigatons in oder o develop undortaning, lly. veluesefingiy, and kronledga of since corte Applying th result ofthe experment 1 stent. arguments onc explanations Management of eas and infrmation Pubic communication of stint aeas and were to ssassiratee ‘Changing emphases to promote inquiry from the National Science Féicaton Standards (National Research Council, 1996),tt _ "2... 402 SECTION Figure 6-10 illustrates the NRC's 1996 National Science Education Standarés recommendations for chang: Ing emphases to promote inqulty For all the preschool and primary grade developmental stages described by Piaget, keep in mind thot children's views of the world und concepts are not tbe same as yours. Their perception of phenomena is from their ‘wn perspestive andl experiences. Misconceptions aris, 0 help them explore the world to expand thinking and ‘alway’ be ready for the next developmental stage. Teach children to observe with all of their senses and (0 clas application Interview children to determine their under: standing of causeandellect relationships ‘Theie answers 10 your questions will provide insight into the perceptions and misconcep- tlonsof young children. Corapure the responses of ilferent clldren Brainstorm at least three strategies for pre- paring children 10 understand such toples as ain lightning, clouds, wountains. and! night Piel topic and prepare learning experience that will prepare challdren tar future concept {development Pretend yuu ate presenting two lessons about ‘stads that grow into plants for a class of fst gradecs, Whit types of learning experiences tril you design for Use students? How will you apply Pinget’s theory of development to this topic In what way would you adapt the planned experlences for @ different develop: ‘mental level Concept Development in Mathematis and lence sily, predict, and communicate so they can discover ‘other viewpoints. There are many possible ways to design science struction for young children. The learning cyele is ‘application of the theory ef cognitive development described by Piaget. The learning cycle ean incorporate ‘a number of techniques into a single lesson. or each of ‘He components of the learning cycle cun be used Inde pendently to develop lessons. Other effective methods for designing lessons include discrepant events, dat callection and analysis. problem solving. and coopera tive planning of Investigations. All of these methods hasize science process skills that are iniportant to the development of concepts in young children, Present dlserepunt event (0 your students ‘Aller discovering how the event was achieved, ‘analyas the process of equilibration that the ‘lass went throuph, Desig a discrepant event thet focuses on senses and that would be effec tive or children in kindergarten. the learning eycle has been peesented as an ceflctive way to build concepts in young cbil- dren. What I your concept of the learning ev- te, and how will you use it with children? Se Tee a concept, ani prepare a learning cycle to teach it Reflect on your own primary grade sience ex pevieuces. What types of learning strategies did you encounter? Were they effective? Why or why not?UNIT 6 ® How Young SelemistsUse Concepts 108 A Describe what ts meant by a disrepant eve Why are discrepant events used in science education? 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