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...the development of process-oriented inquiry teaching skills with our preservice early childhood education students, and argue that the validity of children's conclusions is more important than right or wrong answers.
Introduction
Children are natural-born scientists. They are naturally inquisitive and begin doing science from the moment of birth by observing and sorting out their world--perhaps even earlier. They play with their hands and feet and with their fingers and toes, with blankets and toys, and with just about anything near them. They look; they manipulate; they move things this way and that; they throw; and they chase. Their eyes go wide with excitement when they encounter something new. They exhibit natural curiosity about almost everything--what things are, how things work, and how things are related to each other. The teacher of early childhood science has wonderfully rich palate with which to work.
Science education capitalizes on this natural curiosity of children. It encourages children to construct information in ways that are meaningful to them. It focuses on experiences children do themselves--on doing rather than acquiring. The competent teacher of early childhood science encourages children to wonder, to ask questions, to explore possible answers to these questions, and to construct their own conclusions.
Teachers tend to teach the way they were taught. Many preservice teachers were taught science in a didactic manner and were required--unsuccessfully--to learn scientific facts, concepts, and theories through texts and worksheets. They perceive the job of the science teacher to be the skillful impartation of scientific facts and concepts to children, perhaps bolstered by an activity or two designed to demonstrate the truths of the material they are presenting. They believe the teacher's manual provides all the needed information. Children are discouraged from "actively making meaningful connections to their existing knowledge" (Ulerick, 1989, p. 2). As Penner (2001) writes, "Science education in school typically focuses on accumulating facts.... Scientific activity is often restricted to prepackaged experiments that are little more than demonstrations of the state of current scientific knowledge. The tacit goal in these experiments is to reproduce a known effect" (p. 1).
Many preservice teachers believe they do not know enough science to be able to teach it. Without a different model, they will tend to teach science to their students in the same didactic manner they were taught, if they teach it at all. It is critical for professors of early childhood science education to model a better way of teaching science--one that encourages students to inquire and form conclusions that are meaningful and understandable to them.
One of the primary goals of science education is to teach children how to do science through applying the processes of science in individual inquiries (Bruner, 1965; National Research Council [NRC], 1996; Rutherford & Ahlgren, 1990). In this paper, we describe a constructivist model we use to help early childhood teachers develop confidence and skill in teaching children how to do science. We call it process-oriented inquiry. We discuss the nature of this methodology, and we provide some examples appropriate for teachers of early childhood science. The best way for teachers to become comfortable in teaching science is to explore for themselves some activities intended for the children they teach. In our classes, students carry out activities and then construct ways they can implement them in actual classrooms. By doing the activities themselves, they gain familiarity with them and their use through first-hand experience. First, they conduct the activities in class in small groups. Next, they reflect on what they have learned and on their feelings about being encouraged to construct their own conceptualizations through their own explorations. Then, they develop lessons for young children which use the process-oriented inquiry activities from class as well as other activities that promote inquiry. The lesson plan format we suggest for use by preservice early childhood teachers is shown in Figure 1.
Scientific Processes
The processes of science are actions people take when they do science. Twelve processes make up the scientific endeavor and can be divided into the basic and the integrated processes. They are as follows:
Basic Processes 1. Observing 2. Classifying 3. Communicating 4. Measuring 5. Predicting 6. Inferring Integrated Processes 7. Identifying and controlling variables 8. Formulating and testing hypotheses 9. Interpreting data 10. Defining operationally 11. Experimenting 12. Constructing models
Scientific inquiry is based on the application of these twelve processes. In our work, we help teachers become familiar with these scientific processes and explore ways in which they are utilized so they can help children learn to use them. Many activities our students do in class are described in the following paragraphs. Although many of these activities are explained in textbooks, we require students to do them so they will have the experiences that will enable them to facilitate the inquiries of the children they will be teaching.
Basic Processes
The basic processes form the foundation for scientific investigation. They embody the primary skills that underlie all scientific investigation and, therefore, comprise the chief focus of the early childhood science program.
Observation is the first and most important of the processes. We must observe if we are to have anything to investigate. Observing includes not only seeing, but also hearing, smelling, tasting, feeling (temperatures, textures, etc.), hefting weights, and a number of other observations using our senses. In our classes, we create environments designed to have students see, feel, smell, and so on, in order to foster...
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