[net-gold] Science and Mathematics Learning in Early Childhood
- From: "David P. Dillard" <jwne@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Temple University Net-Gold Archive <net-gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Temple Gold Discussion Group <TEMPLE-GOLD@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Net-Gold <net-gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Educator Gold <Educator-Gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Educator Gold <Educator-Gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, K12AdminLIFE <K12AdminLIFE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Net-Platinum <net-platinum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, NetGold <netgold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "Net-Gold @ Nabble" <ml-node+3172864-337556105@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, K-12ADMINLIFE <K12ADMIN@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, net-gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2010 23:16:41 -0500 (EST)
.
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2010 14:45:10 -0800
From: Richard Hake <rrhake@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Reply-To: Net-Gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: PHYSLRNR@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: AERA-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Net-Gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [Net-Gold] Science and Mathematics Learning in Early Childhood
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ABSTRACT: A recent Education Week article "Experts Urge Earlier Start
to Teaching Science" [Viadero (2010)] may be of interest. Viadero's
three main points were (paraphrasing):
(1) "Duschl et al. (2007) in 'Taking Science to School: Learning and
Teaching Science in Grades K-8,' advised introducing scientific study
even before the start of formal schooling, with children as young as
4. The commonly held view that young children are concrete and
simplistic thinkers, the report said, 'is outmoded.' Refuted, some
experts added, by decades of research in cognitive science and
developmental psychology."
2. "Gelman et al. (2009) in 'Preschool Pathways to Science:
Facilitating Scientific Ways of Thinking, Talking, Doing, and
Understanding' reinforce the advice of Duschl et al. to introduce
science to pre-school children and present what they call
'research-based ways to teach young children about scientific
concepts.' "
3. "Researchers at the 'Education Development Center' (EDC) in
Newton, Mass. have crafted a 'Young Scientist' curriculum series with
support from the National Science Foundation and field-tested it with
50 Massachusetts teachers working in Head Start, finding 'dramatic'
learning gains for teachers, coupled with 'promising' improvements
for their young students.' Now, with funding from the U.S. Department
of Education's Institute of Education Sciences, EDC is engaged in a
larger study testing the curriculum's efficacy in . . . . dozens of
other New York Head Start classrooms in Westchester County and on
Long Island."
Since science and mathematics education pose similar challenges to
early childhood education, the recent book "Mathematics Learning in
Early Childhood: Paths Toward Excellence and Equity" [Cross et al.
(2009)] may also be of interest.
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Some subscribers may be interested in a recent Education Week article
"Experts Urge Earlier Start to Teaching Science" [Viadero (2010)] .
Viadero wrote [bracketed by lines "VVVVVV. . . . ."; my insert at ".
. . .[[insert]]. . . . ."]:
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
. . . . .Three years ago, when a task force of the congressionally
chartered National Research Council issued influential
recommendations for improving K-8 science education. . . .
.[[evidently referring to Duschl et al. (2007)]]. . . ., it also made
a pitch for introducing scientific study even before the start of
formal schooling, with children as young as 4.
"The commonly held view that young children are concrete and
simplistic thinkers," the report said, "is outmoded." Refuted, some
experts added, by decades of research in cognitive science and
developmental psychology. . . . . . . . .
Ms. Clark-Chiarelli and her colleagues . . . .[[at the Education
Development Center <http://cse.edc.org/> in Newton, Mass.]]. . .
sought to improve preschool science teaching by crafting a "Young
Scientist" curriculum series with support from the National Science
Foundation.. . . .[[click on "The Young Scientist Series" at
<http://cse.edc.org/curriculum/default.asp>]]. . . . The guides
focus on teaching children about the natural world and developing
their knowledge of physical science through building structures and
water play. . . . . .The EDC researchers field-tested the program
with 50 Massachusetts teachers working in Head Start, the federal
preschool program for disadvantaged children, and found "dramatic"
learning gains for teachers, coupled with "promising" improvements
for their young students in two of the three science content areas on
which the guides focus. Now, with funding from the U.S. Department of
Education's Institute of Education Sciences, the researchers are
engaged in a larger study testing the curriculum's efficacy in . . .
. dozens of other New York Head Start classrooms in Westchester
County and on Long Island. . . . .
In September, meanwhile, a team of researchers led by Rochel Gelman .
. . . .[[ <http://ruccs.rutgers.edu/~rgelman/lab/index.html>]]. . . .
. , a cognitive psychologist from Rutgers University's Busch campus
in Piscataway, N.J., published a book on the subject called
"Preschool Pathways to Science: Facilitating Scientific Ways of
Thinking, Talking, Doing, and Understanding". . . . [[Gelman et al.
(2009)]].
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
A search for "preschool" in "Search this book". . . [[Duschl et al.
(2007)]]. . . . at
<http://books.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11625#toc> yielded 76
hits, most of them consistent with Viadero's statement that Duschl et
al. (2007) "made a pitch for introducing scientific study even before
the start of formal schooling, with children as young as 4."
On page 3, Duschl et al. (2007) wrote [bracketed by lines "DDDDDD. . . . .":
DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
The commonly held view that young children are concrete and
simplistic thinkers is outmoded; research shows that children's
thinking is surprisingly sophisticated. Yet much current science
education is based on the old assumptions and so focuses on what
children cannot do rather than what they can do. Children can use a
wide range of reasoning processes that form the underpinnings of
scientific thinking, even though their experience is variable and
they have much more to learn.
Contrary to conceptions of development held 30 or 40 years ago, YOUNG
CHILDREN CAN THINK BOTH CONCRETELY AND ABSTRACTLY [My CAPS.]. As with
most human characteristics, there is variation across children at a
given age and even variation within an individual child. Development
is not a kind of inevitable unfolding in which one simply waits until
a child is cognitively "ready" for abstract or theory-based forms of
content. Instead, parents and teachers can assist children's
learning, building on their early capacities. Adults play a central
role in promoting children's curiosity and persistence by directing
their attention, structuring their experiences, supporting their
learning attempts, and regulating the complexity and difficulty of
levels of information for them. In the sciences, both teachers and
peers can and must fill these critical roles.
DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
Since pre-school science and mathematics education pose similar
challenges, the recent book "Mathematics Learning in Early Childhood:
Paths Toward Excellence and Equity" [Cross et al. (2009)] may also be
of interest - see e.g., "Mathematics Learning in Early Childhood"
[Hake (2009)]. In that post I commented:
". . . . judging from the end-of-chapter references in Cross et al.,
early childhood mathematics is currently more the province of
psychologists, cognitive scientists, and education specialists than
mathematicians. However, mathematicians might have much to offer,
witness the contributions of physicist Robert Karplus to early
childhood science instruction." See e.g., "A Love of Discovery:
Science Education - The Second Career of Robert Karplus" [Fuller
(2002)], and "College Teaching and the Development of Reasoning"
[Fuller et al. (2009).
.
Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
24245 Hatteras Street, Woodland Hills, CA 91367
Honorary Member, Curmudgeon Lodge of Deventer, The Netherlands.
<rrhake@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake/>
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi/>
<http://HakesEdStuff.blogspot.com/>
<http://iub.academia.edu/RichardHake>
REFERENCES [Tiny URL's courtesy <http://tinyurl.com/create.php>.]
Cross, C.T., T.A. Woods, & H. Schweingruber, eds. 2009. "Mathematics
Learning in Early Childhood: Paths Toward Excellence and Equity,"
Committee on Early Childhood Mathematics; National Academies Press;
online at
<http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12519#toc>
Duschl, R.A. H.A. Schweingruber, & A.W. Shouse, eds. 2007. "Taking
Science to School: Learning and Teaching Science in Grades K-8,"
National Academies Press; online at
<http://books.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11625>. See also Duschl &
Grandy (2008). For a few mild criticisms of Duschl et al. (2007) see
"Re: Natl Academies book" [Hake (2007).
Duschl, R. & R. Grandy, eds. 2008. "Teaching Scientific Inquiry:
Recommendations for Research and Implementation." Sense Publishers;
publisher's information at <http://tinyurl.com/ygxsaal>, including
this description: "What are scientific inquiry practices like today?
How should schools approach inquiry in science education? Teaching
Inquiry Science presents the scholarly papers and practical
conversations that emerged from the exchanges at a two-day conference
of distinctive North American 'science studies' and 'learning
science' scholars. The conference goal: forge consensus views about
images of inquiry that could inform teaching science through inquiry.
The conference outcomes: recommendations for 'Enhanced Scientific
Method', 'Extended Immersion Units of Instruction', and 'Teacher
Professional Development Models'. The edited volume will appeal to
individuals interested in science learning as well as the design of
learning environments. Scholars, policy makers, teacher educators and
teachers will find this volume's recommendations provocative and
insightful. Twentieth century scientific advances with new tools,
technologies, and theories have changed what it means to do science,
to engage in scientific inquiry and to describe science as a way of
knowing. Advances in 'science studies' disciplines are updating views
about the nature of scientific inquiry. Advances in the cognitive and
'learning sciences' are altering understandings about knowledge
acquisition, meaning making, and conditions for school learning. The
conference papers, commentaries and panel reflections advance novel
views about both children's learning and the nature of science."
Amazon.com information at <http://tinyurl.com/yb6uusc>. Note the
"Look Inside" Feature. The Table of Contents lists a chapter
"Identifying Inquiry and Conceptualizing Abilities" by physics
education researchers Hammer et al. (2008).
Fuller, R.G., ed. 2002. "A Love of Discovery: Science Education - The
Second Career of Robert Karplus." Kluwer. This is a valuable resource
containing seminal papers of Karplus and his colleagues. Amazon.com
information at <http://tinyurl.com/ypv275>. Note the "Search Inside"
feature.
Fuller, R.G., T.C. Campbell, D.I. Dykstra, S.M. Stevens, eds. 2009.
"College Teaching and the Development of Reasoning." Information Age
Publishing; publisher's information at <http://tinyurl.com/yjtfoka>.
Amazon.com information at <http://tinyurl.com/yd3klza>.
Gelman, R., K. Brenneman, G., M.A. Gay Macdonald, & M. Roman.
"Preschool Pathways to Science: Facilitating Scientific Ways of
Thinking, Talking, Doing, and Understanding." Brookes. Publisher's
information at
<http://www.brookespublishing.com/store/books/gelman-70441/index.htm>,
wherein the following description appears: "To ensure they're meeting
state early learning guidelines for science, preschool educators need
fun, age-appropriate, and research-based ways to teach young children
about scientific concepts. That's just what they'll get with this
hands-on guidebook! The basis for the PBS KIDS show 'Sid the Science
Kid,' this innovative teaching resource helps children ages 3-5
investigate their everyday world and develop the basics of scientific
thinking-skills they'll apply across subject areas when they enter
school.
Hake, R.R. 2007. "Re: Natl Academies book," PhysLrnR post of 8 Jun
2007 17:45:08-0700; online at <http://tinyurl.com/69xhdr>. To access
this post it's necessary to subscribe to PhysLrnR, but that takes
only a few minutes by clicking on
<http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/physlrnr.html> and then
clicking on "Join or leave the list (or change settings)." If you're
busy, then subscribe using the "NOMAIL" option under "Miscellaneous."
Then, as a subscriber, you may access the archives and/or post
messages at any time, while receiving NO MAIL from the list!
Hake, R.R. 2009. "Mathematics Learning in Early Childhood," online on
the OPEN! AERA-L archives at <http://tinyurl.com/luayng>. Post of 27
Jul 2009 16:02:41-0700 to AERA-L, Math-Teach, Net-Gold, & PhysLnrR.
Hammer, D. 1999. Physics for first-graders? Science Education 83(6):
797-799; a preprint is online at
<http://www2.physics.umd.edu/%7Edavidham/1stgrdrs.html>.
Hammer, D., R. Russ, J. Mikiska, & R. Scherr. 2008. "Identifying
Inquiry and Conceptualizing Abilities." A preprint is online at
<http://www2.physics.umd.edu/%7Edavidham/identifyinginq.pdf> (172
kB). See also Hammer (1999).
Viadero, D. 2010. "Experts Urge Earlier Start to Teaching Science,"
Education Week 29(18), 13 January; currently online at
<http://tinyurl.com/ylju8y6>.
.
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