Spotlight on Young Children: Exploring Science

Although I look forward each month to Young Children and SECA’s tri-annual Dimensions of Early Childhood, sometimes I like to get my science in one big serving. Several members of the NAEYC Early Childhood Science Interest Forum (ECSIF) contributed to the new Spotlight on Young Children: Exploring Science published by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. (Full disclosure, some of my photos are included and I helped a bit with the introduction.) Many of my favorite articles from recent issues of Young Children are included as an expanded version.

This volume, along with Worms, Shadows and Whirlpools by Karen Worth and Sharon Grollman, can be the foundation for deepening or expanding your science program. The views into classroom practices offer guidance in developing science inquiry in preK to grade 2 programs, with recommended resources for further learning.

Read the piece on science standards by Linda Froschauer, ECSIF member, author and longtime science educator who is the editor of the National Science Teachers Association journal, Science and Children, to find out how national science standards are based on research into how children learn. Individuals, program administrators or science team leaders can use the questions and follow-up activities to lead groups in exploring, discussing and reflecting on, the articles on teaching science inquiry. Whether you are comfortable teaching science or wish someone else would do it, whether you like life science or physics best, and even if you are not yet a teacher, Spotlight on Young Children: ExploringScience will be enjoyable, enlightening reading.

Peggy Ashbrook