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ERIC Number: EJ1157157
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2017-Oct
Pages: 7
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0036-8148
EISSN: N/A
Growing Plants and Minds
Presser, Ashley Lewis; Kamdar, Danae; Vidiksis, Regan; Goldstein, Marion; Dominguez, Ximena; Orr, Jillian
Science and Children, v55 n2 p42-47 Oct 2017
Many preschool classrooms explore plant growth. However, because many plants take a long time to grow, it is often hard to facilitate engagement in some practices (i.e., since change is typically not observable from one day to another, children often forget their prior predictions or cannot recall what plants looked like days or weeks earlier). Documentation in journals, using digital or paper versions, enables children to record their observations and predictions and has been found to be a productive learning experience that can support learning from the experimentation process (Brenneman and Louro 2008). This article discusses resources that are part of a larger set of curricular activities that seek to promote young children's science learning. These resources focus on three main areas: (1) "Science Practices," such as asking questions or analyzing/interpreting data; (2) "Science Concepts" focused around big ideas that are present in children's everyday experiences and which capitalize on their natural curiosity; and (3) "Science Discourse" that includes rich science talk and vocabulary that can be guided and modeled by the teacher and allows children to share their ideas, expand upon their thinking, and listen to and reflect on what other classmates are sharing. Throughout these activities, children engage with digital simulations and document experiments that help them consider what plants need to grow.
National Science Teachers Association. 1840 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22201-3000. Tel: 800-722-6782; Fax: 703-243-3924; e-mail: membership@nsta.org; Web site: http://www.nsta.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Preschool Education
Audience: Teachers
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A