The Learning of Science in the Foundation Stage - Essay Example

How Can Play Promote the Learning of Science in the Foundation Stage Module No:EM0W03 Assessment Literature Review Assessment Glena Baptiste Course Director: Carole Share Student: Asia Khatun "To know something and to be able to relate and use that knowledge is the beginning of learning to think." - Caroline Pratt (Wolfe, J. 2002:12) In the area of knowledge and understanding of the world, exploration and investigation are quite spontaneous propensities in small children. The role of the practitioner is mostly to set the stage for diligent learning and to pose stimulating and relevant questions that guide children into those moments of recognition and meaning that will intrigue them to make sense of the world by going on to explore and make further inquiries on their own initiative. The outdoor environment especially offers a wide and unrestrained range of possibilities to kindle children's inherent inquisitiveness. As the word foundation implies the foundation stage, as a statutory phase of the national curriculum for the United Kingdom, is vitally invested in the process of creating a solid basis for later learning skills as it operates to foster in children an enthusiastic commitment to the entire learning process. The heart of educational success is to inculcate in the child the lasting incentive for really wanting to listen, to figure out, to reflect, to go on questioning, and to work constructively and respectfully with peers. Carefully designed and engaging activity affords the best occasion for learning, whether indoors or outdoors (Hurst, V. 1997:76). For children to have rich and stimulating experiences, the learning environment must be well-planned and well-ordered. The curriculum suggests the ideal framework within which children are drawn to explore, test, devise, question, and reach decisions for themselves, enabling them to authentically learn, grow and expand their horizons. (Curriculum Guidance 2000:12) A competent practitioner understands how to design fully adaptable resources and settings that arouse children's inquisitiveness and then make the most of each child's individual show of interest by asking challenging questions, stimulating reflection and fostering investigation. Young children can be guided to quite thoroughly explore the natural world by making broad use of their fives senses, smelling things, feeling textures, listening to and identifying sounds, noting shapes and materials, and talking about and sharing their discoveries, as well as asking more questions and recording or illustrating their findings using a variety of skills (Wood, E. and Attfield, J. 1996:104). Well-thought-out play can be a strategic means by which children catch on delightedly and engage in the learning process with enthusiasm. The foundation stage also proposes to develop a sound early basis for future reading, writing, and math proficiency in preparation for key stage one of the national curriculum (Curriculum Guidance 2000:8-9) Some experienced practitioners are inclined to feel that, often enough, precious little play can be incorporated into early years settings when an undue amount of attention must be invested in the task of introducing and nurturing basic reading, writing and math skills (Wood, E. and Attfield, J. 1996:11). In extensive studies of early years practice, a number of educators have put forward serious concerns that the premature initiation of very young children to basic skills is not only liable to, but actually does, disaffect slower learners who find themselves struggling mightily with the effort. In fact, some practitioners assert that such undue demands on certain susceptible youngsters may result in significant harm to their self-esteem and future incentives to learn at all (Fisher, J. 1996:37). Ultimately, the actual mastery of required basics must depend not only on the practitioner's success in awakening children's interest in learning but in the added competence of being able to make each subject accessible with respect to a multiplicity of learning styles and individual levels of readiness to learn. Rousseau felt that a child would "only learn what they feel to be of actual and present advantage, either because they like it or because it is of use to them."(Wolfe, J. 2002:46). Besides being able to prepare lessons that awaken children's natural inquisitiveness and being skilled enough to make the most of the teachable moments in the learning process, practitioners will often find it an even greater challenge to teach in such a multifaceted array of learning styles that each individual child can really grasp the material genuinely enough to share the knowledge with other classmates in his or her own particular way (Bennet, N., Wood, L. & Rogers, S.1997:131). Children's informal play normally materializes in the settings over which children have some level of influence and discretion: in the familial security of a playroom, during recreation free of the direct involvement of adults, or with youngsters in the neighborhood in the evening hours. Uninhibited play emerges in the interim beyond the restrictive confines of grown-up time and place (James, A., Jenks, C., & Prout, A.1998:88). In this vein, educators tend to mistrust the importance of play as a learning device. Children are regularly pressed, not only to learn a lot and to learn early, but to do real work in the early years through the establishment of a diluted elementary curriculum for small children. Adults aim for children to achieve competence and fluency earlier and earlier, without thought to Rousseau's clear concern to let children be children, and to simply make the most of the natural curiosity and wonder of childhood in its true educational meaning. (Wolfe, J. 2002:46) Often enough, harried educators run into further practical difficulties in the effort to find time for appraising children's growth through play. The pressures of the daily classroom routine tend to center more and more inescapably on supervision and control rather than to afford favorable opportunities for quality evaluation. Early years teachers face a quandary in the tension between models of play and concrete practice. Yet the ability to assess the artless interaction of children at play will certainly serve to reveal invaluable insights into each child's way of learning and each youngster's level of progress (Bennet, N., Wood, L. & Rogers, S.1997:47). Seasoned educators will usually have to discern when to step in to children's play, how best to adjust new directives to unfolding situations, and what techniques will most successfully work under diverse circumstances. The decisive questions for practitioners to ask themselves in determining appropriate involvement will be: when, and how, and for what purpose should an intervention take place (Wood, E. and Attfield, J. 1996:104). At times the initiative will fall to the adult, and at other times it will be inspired by the young child. Play in a model setting, well-calculated to hold children's interest and designed to inspire children's built-in enthusiasm, will always be vulnerable to certain frustrations and require some adaptation due to a variety of unforeseen dynamics in the classroom setting (Bennet, N., Wood, L. & Rogers, S.1997:127). Educators discreetly intervene in educational play by developing a well-thought-out curriculum and ascertaining explicit objectives for each activity, while making every effort to remain pliant and attentive to teachable moments. In an overly-restrictive setting children may miss out, in the educational process, on facets of ingenuity and imagination in their play. However, from a social-constructivist model children will generally require adult assistance for the ideas and projects and questions to be covered. This is particularly important in constructive play, such as sand and water play, in which children will do best with certain directives for making the most of resources, inventing fresh experiments, and relating results to further investigation.(Wood, E. and Attfield, J.1996:104) Piaget characterizes play as the way a child meaningfully interconnects experience, knowledge and understanding and personally integrates them (Bennet, N., Wood, L. & Rogers, S.1997:127). According to Vygotsky cognition and affection cultivated by play combine to constitute the foremost source of growth in the early years. Vygotsky perceives play as socially determined by conditions emerging naturally from the setting itself, rather than artificially devised in advance.(Fisher, J. 1996:97). Vygotsky believes that learning promotes growth through a socio-cultural process. Piaget perceives learning more from an individual perspective, with the child acting as a solitary researcher piecing together knowledge by interconnecting with resources, while Vygotsky focuses mainly on the group process of social interaction between peers as indispensable to children's acquiring insight, forming connotations, and sharing culture in a common context (Wood, E. and Attfield, J.1996:55). Through resourceful play children are actively drawn into a learning context that brings to light meaningful perspectives that motivate children to take the initiative, to investigate, and to learn further. Rather than glorify play, Vygotsky invests it with weighty implications for children's real progress, observing that through role play children tend to revise their interaction with the real world and, paradoxically, come closer to its core reality. Vygotsky's theories describe play as revolutionary, since the imaginary settings which children construct by make-believe activities are typically quite ingenious and original. Overly narrow academic justifications for play in terms of the National Curriculum may run the risk of missing this open-ended requirement for children's affective development. Vygotsky cautions against a pedantic intellectualization of play in which children's emotional requirements are held too lightly. (Wood, E. and Attfield, J.1996:73). Vygotsky's thought characterizes learning as a stair-step educational progression that is scaffolded beyond the native resources of the child through a series of more experienced mentors. As Vygotsky studied children's interaction, he noted that youngsters worked very well in small clusters on the resolution of questions. In working out difficulties, the youngsters talked each other through to solutions. By clarifying issues with their peers they cooperatively resolved problems more resourcefully than they might have by working alone. Vygotsky calls the process negotiated meaning. As children further personalize ways of learning, they go on to make the most of the acquired competence for their own independent objectives (Wood, E. and Attfield, J.1996:74). In accord with Piaget, J.S. Bruner recognizes the key role which activity and problem-solving assume in the learning process. Children engage in purposeful action in order to make sense of their experience of the world, and then go on to internalize their discoveries in the formation of concepts (Wood, D. 1998:21). However, further than Piaget and more closely resembling Vygotsky, Bruner identifies outside intervention as indispensable to the course of human growth. For Bruner the processes that inspire investigative and critical thinking are not proclivities possessed solely by children. Learning aptitudes are most effectively passed on in resourceful ways from more advanced learners to those newly initiated (Wood, D. 1998:10). Francis Bacon introduced the scientific method as a systematic way of investigating the world in view of the fact that common observations are easily contaminated by personal bias, by inexact ideas, and by the influence of existing thought. To avoid error science demands a process of research that suspends judgment on unproven assumptions in order to remain open to all possibilities. Science increases children's awareness of the mysteries of the world around them, and encourages them to observe and ask questions in order to better grasp, evaluate, organize, talk about, and share what they learn. Scientists practice their profession by observing, classifying, questioning, conjecturing, carrying out experiments, and publishing their research.An accurate grasp of the scientific method means learning to explore the natural world in a manner similar to the way a scientist would go about it (Rilero, P. 2004:6). Inquisitiveness, imagination and openness to discovery are valuable dispositions for a scientist, and well-nigh intuitive characteristics in a small child. Science exploration and investigation expand a child's native sense of wonder to increase their attentiveness to the mysteries of the world around them in an effort to better understand, compare, classify, communicate, and share what they learn. For sand and water play children learn successfully by manipulating and experiencing the materials they work with in the process, and discover the properties of a range of materials in their experiments, for example wet and dry sand. Construction play allows children to investigate construction principles, to identify tools that can be used for different purposes, and use a variety of resources and techniques appropriately in the building process (Curriculum Guidance 2000:25). From a final perspective this paper will explore some concrete examples of how the early years curriculum might best promote knowledge and understanding of the world through the lively outdoor adventures of a mini-beast hunt or a nature walk. Outdoor explorative play, more than a simple means to let off steam, affords children the chance to become immersed in a whole array of energetic learning opportunities, as well as offering an all-around occasion to improve physical health. As an integral aspect of educating the complete child, the physical component should not take second place to the development of the mind and the emotions (Fisher, J. 1996:100). In fact, the most basic early learning theory holds that the best learning emerges from children's natural interaction with people, places and things that connect profoundly with their young lives. Active has the immediate sense of being the opposite of passive, since children move in an persistent cycle of energetically applying their current grasp of reality in the appraisal of new experiences (Fisher, J. 1996:9). The resources needed for the outdoor activity will be first nature bags which must be large enough to hold four envelopes and a magic listening orb, which is actually a large marble. The children carry the bags around their necks on the walk. Since the bag should open easily, it might be suitable to use calico for the bags, with Velcro for the opening. These bags will be useful for any field trip. The children will be told that the magic listening orb will only work when everyone is very quiet. The youngsters will be encouraged to listen for the sounds around them and thoroughly inspect everything they see. The first envelope contains a word like slippery, rough, smooth, etc., and the children are expected to find something outdoors that fits that description. The second envelope has a coloured circle and the children are requested to match the colour with something else that they find on their walk. The third envelope contains a patch of material which can be rough, smooth, ribbed, etc. The children must look for something outdoors which feels the same as the material. The fourth envelope boasts a piece of double-sided sticky tape destined to be used in a variety of ways to collect things. One idea is to have the children collect small pieces of flowers and plants to make a colorful rainbow pattern. (Developing an Outside Classroom for Early Years). Variations for envelope contents could include a small magnet to pick up fine particles of iron ore from the dirt, to search for similar types of leaves with diverse shapes and different edges or different colors, or to find different sizes of seed, such as acorns, and whirly gigs. The children could also carry a small notebook and a pencil or crayola with which to map out their journey or take notes in pictures of things they want to further investigate or discuss. A caterpillar, moth or butterfly lends itself to the magic of metamorphosis, and the science can be talked about, even though some stages of the process may not be readily available outdoors. A mini-beast quest might involve small baby food jars for cages, with punctured lids for air. Earth worms, slugs, snails, mealy bugs, lady birds, ants, crickets, grasshoppers, fireflies, caterpillars, moths, butterflies and such might prove to be safe specimens. Practitioners would have to watch and warn children about beasties that could bite or sting, or otherwise be harmful. The seasons of the year, as well as the locale will also make a difference, as to what options are available. Small lizards, turtles, frogs and even garter snakes must all be treated with some caution, as much for the animals sake as for the children's safety. Children can listen for and identify the sounds in the environs: birds, crickets, squirrels, the rustling of the leaves, or feel the wind or sun on their faces. The capable practitioner gives thoughtful deliberation to the choice of resources and deftly arranges to let the children have a chance at experiencing the eureka moment. The use of carefully framed open-ended questions will help children think things through, model exploratory conduct and encourage initiative: "Do you think", "Tell me about", "What would happen if", "What else should we look for", "What could we use", or "How does it work" (Curriculum Guidelines 2000:84) Children require leadership to benefit thoroughly from learning activities planned by adults, but youngsters also ought to have aspects of the learning process which they can help design, if not initiate themselves. Activities need to plan for adequate time and scheduling for the children to become immersed, work intensely and complete the lesson to the best advantage (Curriculum Guidelines 2000:11). To direct a child's native sense of wonder and interest in the why's and how's and wherefores of the world around them is to lay a strong foundation for the basis of later more serious commitment to scientific exploration. Play that includes first-hand experience filtered through a child's natural curiosity will fairly easily, with sufficient adult guidance, lend itself to exploration, observation, problem-solving, critical-thinking, decision-making and a solid later foundation for knowledge and understanding of the adult world (Curriculum Guidance 2000:3). References Bennet, N., Wood, L. & Rogers, S. (1997) Teaching Through Play: Teacher's Thinking and Classroom Practice. Buckingham: Open University Press. Bruce, T. (2001) Learning Through Play: Babies, Toddlers and the Foundation Years. London:Hodder & Stoughton. Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage. (2000) London: Qualifications and Curriculum Authority Developing an Outside Classroom for Early Years Teacher Net: Growing Schools Available at: http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/growingschools/resources/teachingresources/ Fisher, J.(1996) Starting from the Child: Teaching and Learning from 4 to 8. Buckingham: Open University Press. Foundation Stage Profile Handbook: Early Years Practitioners. (2003). London: Qualifications and Curriculum Authority. Hurst, V. (1997) Planning for Early Learning: Educating Young Children. 2nd Ed London: Paul Chapman Publishing, Ltd. James, A., Jenks, C. and Prout, A.(1998) Theorizing Childhood. Oxford: Polity Press and Blackwell Publishers, Ltd. Keenan, T. (2002) An Introduction to Child Development. London: Sage Publications Lindon, J.(2001) Understanding Children's Play Cheltenham:Nelson Thornes MacNaughton, G. (2003) Shaping Early Childhood: Learners, Curriculum and Contexts. Maidenhead, England: Open University Press. Moyles, J. (1994) The Excellence of Play. 2nd Ed. London: Open University Press. Moyles, J. R. (1989) Just playing:The Role and Status of Play in Early Childhood Education. Milton Keynes :Open University Press. Rillero, P.(2004) ed. Time for Learning Science. Lincolnwood: Publications International Ltd. Wolfe, J. (2002) Learning from the Past: Historical Voices in Early Childhood Education. 2nd Ed. Mayerthorpe, Alberta: Piney Branch Press. Wood, D. (1998) How Children Think and Learn: The Social Contexts of Cognitive Development 2nd Ed. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Ltd. Wood, E. and Attfield, J. (1996) Play, Learning and the Early Childhood Curriculum. London: Paul Chapman Publishing, Ltd. Read More