Science for Young Children: A New Frontier for Science Education

Abstract

Research in science education is becoming increasingly cognizant of the possibility that significant science education can begin as early as kindergarten and should be given much more attention in elementary school than it receives at present. This is manifest in the growing of number of articles in the science education literature as well as in many national educational reforms worldwide. However, while voices for early childhood education increase, one should also bear in mind that still there are those who object to the view that science should start so early in life. I cannot forget the comments I received from one reviewer on a recent grant proposal for the Israeli Science Foundation concerning science education in kindergarten. It was clear that in the reviewer’s eyes science in kindergarten should be limited only to causal observations of nature and the cultivation of an enjoyment of it. As far as I could see, the reviewer saw no place in kindergarten for developing the kinds of thinking and skills necessary for scientific inquiry. Unfortunately, this reviewer still represents a common opinion about early childhood science education. The danger of that view is that it opens the door to science education’s becoming marginalized in the schools. Indeed, there are a more than a few schools in which there is little science in the early grades and none at all in the kindergarten. Even where science is taught in kindergarten and the earliest grades of school, it is too often a caricature of science that is presented to the children. I of course agree that young children should observe nature and learn to enjoy it; however, it seems to me terribly wrong to think that science education in the early years should be limited to this. On the contrary, my experience in working with children in kindergarten and primary school as well as with their teachers has persuaded me that science education can go beyond observation in nature—much beyond! My own experience and research concurs with Metz’s conclusion that young children have well-enough developed cognitive machinery to benefit from activities geared towards significant scientific inquiry. Moreover, it may be that by ignoring the development of inquiry skills and reasoning at this age we are missing an important window of opportunity for expanding young children’s scientific thinking. Accordingly, this special issue explores the possibilities and benefits of teaching science in a significant way to children in their early school years. I hope, in the end, it will show that starting science as early as kindergarten will be viewed not only as possible but as essential. For me, this special issue is a natural continuation of the positions described in my book, Scientific Literacy in Primary Schools and Preschools (Eshach 2006) and broadens its horizons. The papers included in the special issue not only consolidate the positions in my book but also show, much more than I could in 2006, the variety of learning environments possible for K-6 science education and explore much more expansively the actual experiences of children and teachers vis-a-vis science education. For this reason, the special issue is divided into two parts: Innovative learning environments for K-6, and Children and Teachers’ Perspectives. In choosing the papers for this special issue, my hope was that taken together they would influence the science education community in the following ways: H. Eshach (&) The Department of Science and Technology Education, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel e-mail: heshach@bgu.ac.il