Caregivers who are eager to foster early science interest may provide their children with toy microscopes or doctor kits. These toys may lead to imaginative and creative play, and may familiarize children with the kind of equipment scientists use.
But does playing scientist actually help children learn how to think like scientists? Or, do these activities leave children with a narrow understanding of what science is?
Research shows that children who recognize that science involves tool-use are not necessarily better prepared to engage in scientific reasoning. Understanding that science seeks to explain the world may matter more for children’s learning.
While field-testing the Evolving Minds Project, a freely available curriculum designed to improve elementary school children’s understanding of evolution by natural selection, researchers investigated children’s beliefs about science. Children varied in their agreement with more surface-level definitions like “Science is using scientific tools like microscopes” and definitions more aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards like “Science is explaining animals, objects, and the environment”.
These differences are interesting in their own right, especially considering that they may help shape children’s science learning more broadly. Indeed, children who agreed more with “Science is explaining animals, objects, and the environment” developed a more accurate understanding of evolution by natural selection by the end of the curriculum.
Only playing with science toys might give children a narrow view of what it means to do science. Generating explanations, however, is a goal shared by all scientific disciplines. Encouraging children to ask questions and generate answers to others’ curiosities will help them build a strong foundation for scientific reasoning. Explanatory reasoning is also a skillset that children can engage with inside and outside of the classroom.
Caregivers can help children practice explaining through everyday activities. If your child is playing with a doctor kit and uses a stethoscope to examine your heartbeat, ask your child how they think stethoscopes work. If you and your child like to cook or bake together, try asking them to explain how each of the different ingredients help make the dish come together. Think together about questions like “Why does the cake rise in the oven?” or “Why do we put the cover on the pot?”.
Importantly, listen for your child’s questions and curiosities, and use them to spark discussions. For example, if your child asks, “Why do we put the cover on the pot?”, ask them, “What do you think that does to the water?”. You can work together to create and test predictions, which creates an accessible way for your children to learn the scientific method.
Engaging with explanations is a gateway to children’s developing understanding of what science is, and what engaging with science can look like. Rather than limiting children’s science experiences to play tools and doctor kits, engaging with explanations supports children’s learning about what science can look like and in learning how to think like a scientist, too.
