Are you a Director, Assistant Director or the Administrator of your Early Childhood Program?

Take the PreschoolFirst NAEYC 2009 Pre-Presentation Survey

The PreschoolFirst Staff at THE SOURCE FOR LEARNING would like to know what you feel are your greatest challenges in these tough economic times.

Just follow this link and take 2 minutes to share your concerns!

Administrator Survey: Challenges to Your Early Childhood Program

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=zP_2fGfV62xWwMPQCh9Fg4qQ_3d_3d

Feel free to forward this to other Directors and Administrators! We'll share information gathered from the survey during the NAEYC Presentation:

"Time for a check-up? Assessing your center's capacity to meet the challenges of change and economic stability"

Date & Time: 11/19/09 at 10-11:30 am

Presenters: Cheryl Roberts, Ph.D., and Mari Blaustein

Location: Washington Convention Center, Rm.145 A

PreschoolFirst is always happy to answer all your questions. Call us weekdays at 1-866-584-2900.

Thank you! Mari & Cheryl

The Challenge of Observing the Very Youngest

At this year's NAEYC Annual Conference in Washington, DC, our SFL staff members Kamna Seth and Mari Blaustein will present on the challenges of observing infants and toddlers. “I don’t know what to do!” Overcoming the challenges of infant/toddler assessment is scheduled on Saturday 21, 2009 at 2:00PM-3:30PM.

PreschoolFirst would love to hear your thoughts on this hot topic--especially from care teachers and administrators who face this challenge daily.

Do you do any screening of the infants and toddlers in your care? If not, why?

Are you expected to do any kind of "careful" observation or record what a child does when?

If so, what is your biggest challenge? Staff expertise, too few staff, time, parent resistance? Others?

Please share your thoughts!

Head Start Can Take the Lead

At the National Head Start Leadership Institute last week, we were pleased with both the quality of speakers and timely topics related to the ARRA funds and the Early Learning Challnge grants. During the Institute several key topics were brought up that have implications for the children and families served by Head Start.

Our belief is that we are at another critical juncture in the field of early childhood. After years of apathy and lack of funding, the presidential administration has placed renewed attention on the immense impact the first years of a child’s life have on his or her future success. This success has both long range academic and social benefits for the individual, our local communities, and our nation. These issues reach well beyond the public school systems or the Head Start community.

The current influx of new funds may bring a shift as to which organizations and educational entities are responsible for the oversight, education and care of young children. National, state or local appointed policymakers with only rudimentary understanding or experience in early childhood development, learning environments and disadvantaged communities may become the overnight decision makers for how early childhood programs must be structured, and how outcomes and measures should be implemented.

We may also see pedagogical shifts in learning environments that must support the development of our nation’s most vulnerable young children. For example, proponents of the skill & drill, testing environment currently favored in public education to collect data may believe that collecting data in the same manner for early childhood outcomes will justify the allocation of financial resources. So long as the data can be interpreted to show the outcomes that they hope to achieve, the end justifies the means. If the current system of “local state control” of public education remains as is—with the added responsibility of proving early childhood funding “works,” we may see an unintended consequence. This “means to an end” philosophy could create an inhospitable climate that does not support what early childhood educators know about developmentally appropriate practices, healthy child development, and educational expectations.

Evaluating outcomes in early childhood and implementing best practices under intense levels of scrutiny is not new to the Head Start community. Their insight and experience with this challenge could serve as a guide to help bridge the schism in public programs between the world of data outcomes and meaningful learning experiences using developmentally appropriate practices. We hope various public program and associations seek the valuable input of the Head Start community. The dedicated educators from the Head Start community are an inspiration.

Let's Talk About the Swine Flu and Young Children

Young children will hear something about the Swine Flu from parents and older siblings, or accidentally on television. To young children this information can very confusing or even frightening.

Here are some resources from the Children's National Medical Center you can visit to help the young children better understand what the virus is and how to stay healthy.

H1N1 (Swine Flu) - What You and Your Family Need to Know

Talking with Children about H1N1 (Swine Flu)

Print this out from the CDC website and post it right above every sink! Clean Hands Save Lives!

Click here to access H1N1 from CDC resources in other languages
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PreschoolFirst hand washing tip!

Doctors report the best way to avoid the flu is to wash your hands often! Researchers suggest that adults and children soap up their hands for 30 seconds and rinse them thoroughly. So how long is 30 seconds to a young child who cannot yet tell time or count to 30?

Make regular hand washing a playful experience by asking children to sing songs while they take a turn lathering at the faucet. Try these ideas to keep things fresh:

• Hum the tune to "Happy Birthday to You," and help children to chant and count from 1 to 10 AND count backwards from 10 to 1 as they lather up between each finger, and then to rinse well.
• Sing the alphabet song with each child as they lather, then rinse. For the ones who already know the alphabet well, help them learn to say it backwards!
• Sing an original version of an old favorite such as "This is the Way!"

For example:

This is the way (Child's name) squirts the soap, squirts the soap, squirts the soap.
This is the way (Child's name) squirts the soap, to keep the flu from spreading.

This is the way he lathers the soap, lathers the soap, lathers the soap.
This is the way he lathers the soap, to keep the flu from spreading.

This is the way he scrubs between fingers, scrubs between fingers, scrubs between fingers.
This is the way he scrubs between fingers, to keep the flu from spreading.

This is the way he rinses his hands, rinses his hands, rinses his hands.
This is the way he rinses his hands, to keep the flu from spreading.

This is the way (Child's name) washes his hands, washes his hands, washes his hands.
This is the way (Child's name) washes his hands, to keep the flu from spreading.

Do you have other ideas about ways to engage young children in hand washing? Please share them with us!

PreschoolFirst Congratulates Bemis Farms Preschool on achieving their NAEYC re-accreditation!

Interview with the Director, Genevieve Thompson:

PF Staff: What it means to be a director of a NAEYC Accredited child care program?

GT: Being a director of an NAEYC accredited center means that I have committed my self, staff, community, and families to a higher level of daily excellence. The program I run is constantly re-evaluating it's program to make sure it is meeting the needs of the individual families, children and the community we serve. Our program understands what is developmentally appropriate for the children we serve, and we will only provide a program that helps each child reach their individual full potential. We strive for personal best in all that we do in our program, and understand that the field we work in is constantly evolving and growing and that we must also in order to not become stagnant and dull in what we do. Being the director means that I must constantly challenge my staff to question their beliefs in the classroom, and guide them to continue t o educate themselves so that they can provide the best program available.

PF Staff: Why did your program plan to pursue NAEYC re-accreditation?

GT: This was not a decision we made in haste. We took the facts and expectations of NAEYC to the staff, and families and asked them for their opinions and support in this process. In order to complete the re-accreditation process it was important that everyone be involved and willing or it would not have worked. Having the NAEYC accreditation lets newly enrolled families, and the community be assured that you are committed to providing only the highest quality of care for the children you serve. It says that you are not willing to only obtain those standards given by the state you live in but you are willing to obtain much higher standards, and that you are not afraid to involve the families in the process.

PF Staff: Was PreschoolFirst instrumental during the NAEYC accreditation process? If yes, please describe how?

GT: We used PreschoolFirst in many ways.

First we showed how involved the families were in their child's assessment process from day one. Starting with the new family questionnaires, we are able to assess where the parent thinks the child is. We were also able to show through the activities that the families can do at home that we are able to keep the school-home learning connection. The activities also help our families learn about what is developmentally appropriate for their child.

Secondly, the teachers were able to use PreschoolFirst for their portfolios to show that they are doing individually appropriate assessment on the children, and that this continues as the children switch to new classrooms. We were able to show that the assessment was done through observation and that the teachers could tailor the assessment to meet the individual needs of the children they work with. The teachers could show how they used the data they collected to help with continual planning and also how they used this information in parent-teacher conferences to show the continual growth of the child to the families.

Lastly, as the director I was able to use PreschoolFirst to show the assessor during the site visit, how I was actively involved in assessment process. I showed her how I could view all the assessments being done, and could see if a child had red flag behavior that I needed to further explore. I also showed how I could communicate with the teachers, and parents, through PreschoolFirst. Lastly I showed how I could use the developmental handouts on PreschoolFirst to help new staff better understand the age group they were working with.

PF Staff: Do you think your families benefit from the PreschoolFirst system?

GT: I do think that families benefit from the program but they have to fully understand how the program works. To make sure that our families understand the benefits of PreschoolFirst I have a curriculum night that I host every other year where I have a section devoted to PreschoolFirst and how it is used in the classroom, and then how families can use this program at home. I explain what parents will see at parent-teacher conferences, and how we hope they will implement this program at their home. This program works well for the families we are currently enrolling who are from the Generation X and Generation Y group. These families are very comfortable with technology and like when things can be accomplished through email and the Internet. I think PreschoolFirst because it is on the Internet seems more of an updated and viable assessment process to them. I think the families also benefit because PreschoolFirst gives them developmentally appropriate activities in many different genres. Many families get very caught up on cognitive development, but forgot about how important gross, fine motor and social-emotional skills are.

PF Staff: Is there anything that you would like to see in PreschoolFirst system improve so that it would help providers a lot more during the NAEYC accreditation process?

GT: Not at this time.

PF Staff: Would you like to share your experiences and be a part of PreschoolFirst support group in future to assist other programs pursuing NAEYC accreditation process?

GT: I would be happy to help any program going through the NAEYC accreditation process.

If your program is planning to pursue NAEYC accreditation -- check out the Scholarship Awards NAEYC has to offer!

Whole Child Education: Is it new again?

A recent blog posted on the The Whole Child web pages hosted by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) addresses the ongoing questions educators face when they must consider evaluating "student achievement" vs. "whole child development."

In our current climate of test data obsession, the ASCD points out that "Kids simply won't achieve if we don't ensure they are healthy and safe, consider their social and emotional needs, tap into their interests, and demonstrate real-world application of the knowledge and skills we want them to acquire." This is a simple fact that early childhood educators have known for decades and that the NAEYC has supported in various position statements over the years.

Whole child education through intentional teaching supported by best practices - whether it be in a toddler group or a high school history class - looks very similar in all learning environments. Early childhood programs who gather meaningful information using a comprehensive asessment and curriculum system- such as Preschoolfirst - can actually use data to inform and guide whole child practices....and thereby improve learning outcomes.

The ASCD has committed to promoting Whole child educational practices as part of a focus on healthy school communities. PreschoolFirst has a few questions:

• Is your early childhood program a partner in the your community?
• Do you meet with the public and private elementary schools in your area to support a whole child–centered education system?
• What, if any, are the educational practices on which you agree? Are there any on which you disagree?
• Do you have a system that helps your program collect observations that prove "play" and supporting whole child development works?

To read the full ASCD blog visit In Defense of Whole Child Education!

New for Families—GrowUpLearning

PreschoolFirst's parent company, The Source for Learning, Inc. (SFL), is delighted to announce GrowUpLearning—its new web service for the parents of young children. Developed by the same team of early childhood experts who created PreschoolFirst, GrowUpLearning helps busy parents (and grandparents) help their child learn through play during everyday life. GrowUpLearning is an easy-to-use site that offers "family friendly" activities and more with the same quality you've come to expect from PreschoolFirst. Click here to learn more about GrowUpLearning! Families can begin their free one-year subscription by registering on the GrowUpLearning site, using the special promotional code PF906.

PreschoolFirst Reader Shares Infant & Toddler Project Joy

We recently received the following email from a PreschoolFirst reader after she tried the Mother's day project included in the May edition of the PreschoolFirst monthly Newsletter.

"Currently I'm caring for 7 children; they range in age from 5 months to 2 years 5 months. Only 2 of them are 2+ and one of these 2 is with me just 2 days a week (all others are full time). Most of the preschool material I've seen and the web based sites containing themed materials are almost always geared for children age 3 years and up.

I'm not sure what your background is, but you probably know the age group I have is somewhat challenging, regarding their attention spans and their ability to communicate. While all of my little guys definitely tell me, in one way or another, many things during the day, it's been hard to find projects to do with them, given their disparate abilities.

That's why I was THRILLED to get the Mother's Day project - I had to make some modifications (as I would expect all providers who used it had to do), but I made sure I made a bottle of fragrant and colored bath salts with EACH child, including the babies; probably the most meaningful for each mom was the pictures I included of us doing the project! - Lucy in CA

At PreschoolFirst we believe that in the early years...ART is all about the process! Our team of early childhood development specialists brainstorm to develop curriculum and project ideas that focus NOT just on whether the project looks "pretty" when finished. We try to create projects that the child can complete mostly on his own, in which learning can take place while he explores the materials and the "process" a child uses to actually "do" the project is meaningful for him.

As every adult knows -- it is not easy to find appropriate art or science projects for infants & toddlers! We recommend that care-teachers of infants and toddlers seek out projects that focus on the way the materials feel, smell, and change during the Process NOT on how the project looks on Mom's refrigerator! One way to help parents understand this is to share what the child actually learned and experienced during the activity. When you subscribe to PreschoolFirst, you can do this easily because our learning behaviors are right at the top of every activity page -- and you always attach the child's photo to the project too!

We'll keep developing special newsletter ideas just for the youngest learners!

Observing Play?

The Why, What and How of PLAY

Young children explore the world through play. Early childhood educators know that play is actually a young child's job. Play is the natural place to observe a child's abilities because it allows you to see what the child already knows and how he/she uses that knowledge. Most importantly, however, a child is internally wired and motivated to play. As all parents know, young children are naturally active and have short attention spans. Most young children are unable to sit still for even fifteen minutes at a time. This inability to sit still makes direct instruction, such as that typically used to teach 1st grade and above, an ineffective way to observe the growth of young children and teach new skills.

Young children learn best by imitating a new task and practicing it in a fun, non-judgmental setting. Teachers and parents can see a child's typical abilities or “behaviors” when they observe play. PreschoolFirst provides home activities with stories, games, materials and suggestions for you to enjoy with your child. These play activities help you create different play experiences that focus on one particular age-appropriate behavior. During play, children use previous knowledge in new ways, discover new information about the world, and practice new skills. All you need to do is set out the right materials, ask a few key questions, share some fun, and watch.

Why is showing GROWTH and DEVELOPMENT important?

PreschoolFirst was designed to help young children develop learning in real everyday situations – not in a skills test environment. Our program does not focus exclusively on your child’s performance in one instance, but rather, on your child’s growing abilities. Young children learn new knowledge and skills in a progressive cycle: first a child becomes aware of new information, then he/she explores it by watching and trying to use it, next a child will examine and compare the new information to what he/she already knows about the world, and finally a child will show he/she completely understands the new information and can apply it to new situations. Obviously this learning takes time. In order for any assessment system to fairly represent your child’s progress, it must demonstrate what he/she can do and is in the process of learning. PreschoolFirst helps create a portrait of your child’s growth rather than pressure him/her to do something he/she may or may not be ready to do independently. PreschoolFirst presents many non-threatening play opportunities in which your child can watch, explore, examine, and use new information. This learning environment supports your child’s developing self-esteem and does not undermine his/her confidence to learn new skills or try challenging activities.

Resources for further reading:

Snow, C. E. and S.B. Van Hemel, eds. 2008. Early Childhood Assessment: Why, What, and How? National Research Council. Committee on Developmental Outcomes and Assessments for Young Children. Board on Children, Youth and Families, Board on Testing and Assessment, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. Online at: http://books.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12446

PreschoolFirst and Developmental Evaluations

Preschoolfirst can be an important resource to help parents who may have questions about their child’s progress and development. Last week one of our PreschoolFirst subscribers shared an experience she had with an upset parent of one of the children for whom she cares. During the 18 month old child’s regular checkup, the pediatrician brought up a concern about the child’s language development and recommended an evaluation. Understandably, the parent became very upset and concerned that her child might not be developing as she should.

The distraught parent shared the pediatrician’s recommendation with her child’s caregiver – a caregiver who is also one of our PreschoolFirst subscribers. This Caregiver enters regular observations for each child in her care and has a full set of behaviors she knows each child can do. She shared the progress reports of this child with the parent and suggested that she make another appointment to ask the pediatrician for more details about his recommendation.

PreschoolFirst is not intended to be used as a “diagnostic tool” – but PreschoolFirst progress reports can help a parent ask the pedestrian questions as a way to clarify any areas of concern. It is important to remember that a pediatrician is trained to look objectively at your child’s development and should he or she recommend an evaluation, it is essential for a parent to follow through. This may rule out any suspected delays or it may help begin early intervention services that are in the best interest of the child.

Parents can share the observations from the child’s caregiver with a pediatrician as a way to learn if those who know the child best may have missed something. Obviously, those of use who spend time each day with children may learn to understand their unique gestures, pronunciations, and non-verbal ways they communicate. Although typical development can vary greatly from child to child, sometimes an objective observer may be more aware of a child’s differences than one who must learn to meet their needs daily.

PreschoolFirst progress reports can help parents learn more details about why a pediatrician may feel an evaluation is important, we caution that parent or caregiver observations in the progress reports should not be used to justify withholding consent or ignoring a recommended evaluation. In many circumstances the right services at the right time can help children avoid the need for interventions and special services in the future. Early interventions are very effective and can be a gift!

Resources for Further Reading:

American Academy of Pediatrics. 2001. Role of the Pediatrician in Family-Centered Early Intervention Services. Elk Grove Village, IL: American Academy of Pediatrics. Online: http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/reprint/pediatrics;107/5/1155.pdf (Retrieved March 22, 2009).

KidSource Online. 2000. What Is Early Intervention? Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education. Online: http://www.kidsource.com/kidsource/content/early.intervention.htm (Retrieved March 22, 2009).

Zero to Three. 2009. Seven Tips for Surviving Your Child's Developmental Assessment. Washington, DC: Zero to Three. Online: http://www.zerotothree.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ter_screen_tips (Retrieved March 22, 2009).

NAEYC offers Accreditation Scholarship Program!

Check out the NAEYC Accreditation Scholarship Program!

Thinking of raising the bar of your early childhood program by pursuing NAEYC Accreditation but are concerned about how to pay for it? After receiving a question from a reader of the PreschoolFirst blog, we wanted to share this information about financial support with ALL blog readers. Many early childhood programs are already "top notch," but would love to become accredited, too!

The NAEYC is committed to ensuring that funds are available to help those of you who wish to pursue accreditation - but just don’t have the money.

NAEYC policy states: “NAEYC Accreditation shall be accessible by ALL early childhood programs.”

Recognizing that many "top notch" high-quality programs are challenged to pay for the costs and other fees related to the accreditation and re-accredidation process, the NAEYC established the NAEYC Accreditation Scholarship Program. NAEYC Accreditation Scholarships subsidize the fees associated with achieving and maintaining NAEYC Accreditation.

Don’t struggle-alone - we recommend that programs definitely contact the NAEYC to learn the details.

PreschoolFirst would like to personally thank the NAEYC for all the dedication and support they provide to programs and high-quality in early childhood education. Let us know if this information is helpful!

Click here to learn more about the Four Steps of the Accreditation process….

PreschoolFirst supports Collin Community College Child Development Lab school Staff achieve NAEYC Accreditation

Director Janet Galantay and Assistant Director Barbara Batista shared their experience using PreschoolFirst as a resource during their NAEYC reaccreditation at the Collin Community College Child Development Center Lab School in Plano, TX during a phone interview with Kamna Seth, Senior Manager of Educational Services at The Source for Learning, Inc. – the creator of PreschoolFirst.

Kamna: What does achieving NAEYC Accreditation mean to you and your staff?

Janet & Barbara: This was our “re-accreditation.” However, it was our first time going through the process in the new system. It was very grueling. We feel a sense of accomplishment. Our teachers really know what it means to be accredited. We have a sense of pride about it and feel we have moved up many notches. We now also know which areas we have to work further.

Since we are based on a college campus we have students preparing for careers in the early childhood professions who come and observe our teachers, their experiences with us sets a bar for them. Therefore the level of quality required by the NAEYC accreditation sets a high bar.

Kamna: Did you use PreschoolFirst system during the NAEYC re-accreditation process? If you did, then how did you and your staff use the system while pursuing this process?

Janet & Barbara: Absolutely!!! We did use it! The alignment book saved so much time and gave us the evidence that we needed to show the assessor everything was in place. It had documentation for each NAEYC Accreditation standard. PreschoolFirst’s feature to communicate with parents was extremely helpful. When we showed her the program, the NAEYC assessor was amazed and it “blew her socks off!”

We have well-experienced and highly qualified teachers in our lab school - two of whom have Masters Degrees in Child Development. PreschoolFirst makes the job easier even for these “master” teachers, but we also feel that someone with less experience and without a degree can also use PreschoolFirst easily. Any teacher would benefit from PreschoolFirst.

We hired one of our former students as a teacher in our infant room at the same time we started the NAEYC reaccreditation process. As you may imagine, she felt very overwhelmed. PreschoolFirst was her saving grace. She is very thankful to have this system.

These days there is more emphasis on academics, assessments…so when we received word of our reaccredidation success we felt our efforts to maintain our philosophy of Developmentally Appropriate Practices was validated. We use a play-based assessment and curriculum and we have still been able to meet all the requirements. This has been possible by using PreschoolFirst.

Kamna: Any specific feature of PreschoolFirst that you think you couldn’t have done without during this process?

Janet & Barbara: The PreschoolFirst assessment tool! It supports our philosophy of naturalistic observations. We find it beneficial because the PreschoolFirst assessment tool can be used to observe infants, toddlers, and preschoolers… so there is continuity through our program. Without PreschoolFirst it would have been very difficult for us to meet NAEYC Accreditation Standard 4- Assessment of Child Progress.

We would also say that PreschoolFirst has helped us meet NAEYC Accreditation Standard 2- Curriculum. Using PreschoolFirst has helped enhance our curriculum. We are able to meet the needs of an individual child and needs of a whole group. We are thrilled to subscribe to this system.

Kamna: Do you use the PreschoolFirst parent component on a regular basis or did you just use this feature during the NAEYC reaccreditation process?

Janet & Barbara: We do print intake questionnaires to share with our new families. Teachers did train the parents on how to log in and use PreschoolFirst. Some parents use the system, but the majority of them are not using it as we would like to see them use it. Teachers do use the system to send notes to the parents at times.

Our staff prints PreschoolFirst’s conference reports to use during our parent-teacher conferences held twice a year. When we have any suspected special needs or when a parent comes to us with concerns about their child’s development we do use PreschoolFirst assessment tool as a way to reassure the parent or see if there are any red flags and then encourage the parent to go for a formal assessment.

Kamna: Did you think that the alignment document we provided was helpful?

Janet & Barbara: Yes, thank you! Thank you! Thank you! It was very easy to read. The tabs were helpful to find information we needed. We can’t think of anything to make this better.

Kamna: Is there something else PreschoolFirst could have done to help you in this process?

Janet & Barbara: Can’t really think of anything at this time. The alignment book was very helpful!
The feedback we received from the NAEYC told us our program had to work on social studies and science – but we can’t say that this somehow correlates to PreschoolFirst. We are, however, currently working on these areas.

Kamna: If down the road PreschoolFirst has a network of subscribers pursuing NAEYC Accreditation would you and your program like to be a part of it?

Janet & Barbara: Yes, we would love to be a part of it!

When the new standards were released in 2006, 6 local programs got together and the 6 representatives took each section to familiarize themselves with the new standards. We were amongst the first few programs to have achieved accreditation under the new system so there were no brains to pick. We will be glad to be a part of the network.

Kamna: Any final thoughts or suggestions on PreschoolFirst?

Janet & Barbara: Thank you again for the NAEYC alignment document!

One of our Toddler teachers has requested for an easy way to pull self-help skill activities. We know that they are there under different domains but if there is an easy way for teachers to identify these activities that will be great!

Occasionally, we have run into some technical glitches but PreschoolFirst has always resolved them very quickly.

Subscribers who are pursuing NAEYC Accreditation can contact Kamna Seth at kseth@sflinc.org if you are interested in receiving your copy of NAEYC-PreschoolFirst Alignment document.

If you have achieved NAEYC Accreditation we would love to hear from you about your experience!

Arlington Providers Sign Right Up!

It's the start of an all new PreschoolFirst-Arlington Family Child Care Provider Pilot. We'd like to share a few photos of the providers who signed up right at the Interest Meeting hosted by Dr. Cheryl Roberts earlier in February. Dr. Roberts will guide the participants through a one-year training program designed to teach them how to use the PreschoolFirst resource - and in the process - also learn even more about early childhood development.


"We are very excited to see a passion and an enthusiasm for learning in the group of caregivers who attended the meeting," said Margaret Hyer, Educational Services Coordinator at The Source for Learning, Inc. Participants will receive necessary equipment, internet connectivity as well as educational credits for their dedication.

Science Fact: Unstructured Science Activities and “Field Work” Do Pay Off

Information in the newly published 339-page study titled Learning Science in Informal Environments: People, Places, and Pursuits released by the National Research Council, part of the US congress supported National Academies, points to the value of trips to museums, appropriate television shows and other real life activities to see and experience “science in action.” The study concludes that in these unstructured activities children experience science concepts in a fun and natural way – and after such activities children may engage in deeper discussions than in a formal “instructional” environment (National Research Council, 2009). Simply put: informal science experiences build a child’s interest in scientific concepts and his or her motivation to learn more.

Educators may find this interesting information in the current climate of high-stakes testing in which reduced budgets, time contraints, and narrow choices in curriculum force teachers to focus the scope of the content to that which is believed to directly affect the test scores. Yet the study calls on parents, teachers and the educational community to take part in out-of-school or “non-school” science programs as a way to nourish children’s interest in science.

Since scientists know young child learn best when they can do so in a multi-sensory way – through touch, sight, smell, taste, and hearing - a reasonable conclusion is that they will also learn scientific concepts best from hands-on activities that are planned yet unstructured. In the field of early childhood education we have long held the belief that a solid foundation for later learning is built upon real world experience and true deep learning requires a variety of approaches. It is simple human nature for a child who is excited about a concept to be interested in learning more about it. Excitement builds in many ways, free exploration within the learning environment, recognition of accidental “teaching moments,” and new experiences in the real world.

So let’s hear from you!

Do you plan to make any trips to museums, farms, zoos or other age appropriate places in your community? If so where?

Has a tight budget, lack of parent availability, or a high level of “academic” expectations in your early childhood program had a negative impact on the number of visits you can plan this winter or spring?

Resources for further reading:

Cavenagh, Steve. 2009. Students Found to Pick Up Science Outside School. Education Week Published online: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/01/14/18informal.h28.html?tmp=772651085 (Accessed January 20, 2009).

National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences. 2009. Learning Science in Informal Environments: People, Places, and Pursuits. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. Online: http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=12190&page=9 (Accessed January 20, 2009)