Fostering and Assessing Preschool Children's Science Learning

Kimberly Brenneman, PhD, Rutgers University

Developmental studies reveal that young children have foundational competence in science domains before they begin formal schooling. Such findings can inform the design of learning interventions that leverage children's early competence and promote further understanding. In this talk, I review efforts to: 1) describe preschoolers' range of knowledge and skill in particular areas of science, and 2) design learning experiences that support children's progress along science learning pathways. Data from studies that both assess and support children's understanding of senses as tools for observation, life cycles and parent-offspring relations, form and function of artifacts, and early scientific reasoning will be presented.