Hi Michail

I would suggest that so much of the foundations of science knowledge are developed while children are engaged in understanding and making sense of their world. As adults the foundations of science knowledge that we should help to nurture in children are encouraging a sense of "wonder", by encouraging them to "hypothesise", to "predict" and then to support them in testing these predictions and moving towards solving a problem or investigating. This can be done from a very early age of 3-4 years of age and involves adults supporting children in projects that often take time ....lots of wonderful time to investigate, ponder, test theories ...... Unfortunately due to the often "hurried curriculum" these skills are rushed. Of course the best scientists are toddlers and our youngest children who bring to the world the most important foundational skills of all .....the skill of "curiosity" and asking the question "Why?" :)

Cheers, Alice

I believe you are correct about the basic skills. A colleague is doing a student of early literacy in infants and she has found that basic terms such as charter and plot can be taught before age 1. I believe the same sort of fundamentals of scientific understanding could be taught early, perhaps not in infancy but definitely in toddlers and preschool age children. Sorry I do not have any empirical evidence upon which to structure my hypothesis.

From my previous experience in the school environment, I would suggest to teachers in schools to direct their work towards a enactive didactic (cfr. Varela) enhancing an active protagonist of students through informal experiences lived in the socio-environmental context as a place of learning by facilitating the foundations of scientific knowledge.

An effective methodology used by me was the peer education.

I enclose also a learning experience and research on children with disabilities.

This is just my humble thought and practice applied.

Beyond the methodics of science, I think it is relevant to show students there are hardly any absolute truth, and that there's much to learn from research. Any matter is subject to research. In linear or "Aristotelic" logics, everything can and should be tested by rational means. But it is also important to teach there a diversity of logical systems, and that certain aspects of everyday living are subject also to ethical thinking.

I think that is is important to focus from understanding common knowledge to developing new knowledge through "learning by doing” activities. Is is essential the introduction of ICT that help learners to interact and to think with in knowledge construction.

Hi Michail

I would suggest that so much of the foundations of science knowledge are developed while children are engaged in understanding and making sense of their world. As adults the foundations of science knowledge that we should help to nurture in children are encouraging a sense of "wonder", by encouraging them to "hypothesise", to "predict" and then to support them in testing these predictions and moving towards solving a problem or investigating. This can be done from a very early age of 3-4 years of age and involves adults supporting children in projects that often take time ....lots of wonderful time to investigate, ponder, test theories ...... Unfortunately due to the often "hurried curriculum" these skills are rushed. Of course the best scientists are toddlers and our youngest children who bring to the world the most important foundational skills of all .....the skill of "curiosity" and asking the question "Why?" :)

Cheers, Alice

I wonder how much research has been done on helping pupils to observe better.

Drawing skills are so often linked to art rather than science and I suspect not given the same emphasis and direction and attention to accuracy that they might.

We need to be aware that culture affects the way we see things.