Spring 1995 - Lock Haven University

Using science to deve lop a ch ildls curios ity
oday's children may be doing some pretty fun things in school. .. activities that Mom and
Dad may find to be a little out of the ordinary. Children under the age of eight may be
having so much fun cutting things out of paper, mixing odd solutions and counting in
strange ways that all they can talk about at day's end is the fun they that they had in
school. And Mom and Dad are worried-- their child is not memorizing facts or repeating lists or even sitting
quietly at a desk. They begin to wonder. .. what is really going on at my child's schoo!?!
"Children are innately curious people. They are curious in our closets and in our pots and pans. They find
presents we wrap and hide. They ask questions for which we have no answers," explains Dr. Susan Ashley,
associate professor of education.
Ashley is one of many educators throughout the country who wants
to work with that natural curiosity in children under the age of
eight. Concerned that the United States is los ing ground in sc ience
"If natural curiosity is not fostered, they will lose that capacity."
and math and in preparing children for the challenges of the subjects
in later grades, they see the value of introducing young children to a
non-discipline based science curriculum. Through experimentation,
children become familiar with causes and effects and build a base
line of knowledge to which they can refer as they learn theories and
concepts later in their schooling.
"Science is about asking excellent questions, and letting children enj oy discovering their own answers,"
A shley says. "At this age the teacher is not telling the child the facts about science, but rather, challenging
the students to construct their own questions and ideas. "
As children work with hands-on experimentation, they are building
assist them in their math and sc ience pursuits. Since oral language
and the symbolic representation of our language (i.e. reading
spontaneously but requires instruction, educators see the
directly with science experiments and voicing their
a foundation that will not only
skills come naturally to a child,
and writing) does not occur
value of having students work
thoughts about the processes .
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