practices that capture the minds of  young kids in their quest to interact with the environment

 practices that capture the minds of  young kids in their quest to interact with the environment

Teaching science to young minds does not need to follow the traditional path of delivering scientific content necessarily. Which is usually coming up with a hypothesis, assembling materials for conducting research, then experiment, make an observation, and either reject or fail to reject the hypothesis. Instead, these toddlers have a flexible mind that can be modeled with the daily happenings of their environments. In the interest of pupils in grades K-12, majority states in Columbia have adopted Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) – which is rooting for a competency-based curriculum rather than knowledge-based teaching. It is the skills that matter at the end of the day!

In the spirit of scientific competency, teachers need to use learner-centered teaching methods that aim at exploring their cognitive abilities in developing their know-how. For example, “how do these children analyze and interpret data when they compare the sizes and shapes of their shadows at different times of the day?” They need not be right, but observation can do. Furthermore, how do these kids mine the rich knowledge which is readily available in the environment? Here, the focus is on eight practices that capture the minds of these young kids in their quest to interact with the environment. However, these practices differ the children’s development skills significantly and should not be confused.

This article is arguably one of the most exceptional references in matters of toddlers’ scientific teaching. It resonates with the thoughts of Bradford, by linking the teaching practices to scientific habits of the mind. It is often said that it is how that matters when giving out any content to developing minds like in the case of children (2017). Even though it is controversial to credit proper mindset development to STEM solely, they carry a significant percentage of it because it is from these practices that a child can obtain analytical skills and gain confidence in their ideas. It is never wrong to say that its science that deeply informs how the kids view and take their environments. They begin to be innovative in their little ways and develop some sense of curiosity.

Nevertheless, the 21^st Century teaching methodologies and pedagogies are essential in informing the habits of the children than any other items of mind development (Bradford 2017). It is needless to say that it is teachers who matter at the center of disseminating the cognitive skills to their classes. Bradford argues that children in the early stages can grab concepts quickly, comprehend and apply those skills as needed, given the opportunity (2017).

Vividly, children can engage in scientific learning processes without necessarily knowing the importance of their actions. Maybe, if the ambiguity is reduced in their learning courses, they can feel safe, comfortable to air their findings without necessarily following the normal way of unearthing scientific discoveries. For example, in a set up where children are given assignment of measuring the length and width of their dining tables and present their findings in a class the following day. It nurtures the practical skills and boosts the self-esteem of the pupils because all the answers they’ll provide are right. The measurements of such kind can never be uniform! For sure, the scientific practices inform the daily attitudes of our toddlers in the development stages in this 21^st Century.

References

Bradford, A., 2017. What Is Science? Live Science. August 4.www. livescience.com/20896-sciencescientific-method.html