FOSTERING CURIOSITY IN EARLY YEARS SCIENCE

What do we want to achieve?

You will see work from one school based on each theme. As you follow through the theme, you will see:

• How the practitioners view the theme
• What it looks like in their classrooms
• How learning emerges and develops
• The roles of language and conversation
• How teachers and children make connections with their learning
• How the learning merges with what they bring to the classroom.

You will see how the practitioners emphasise a ‘child – adult’ relationship.

How you can use it?

The unit works in two ways. You might wish to follow a complete theme - either ‘Exploratory Play’, ‘A Conversational Approach’ or ‘Emergence’. Or you may wish to follow a strand across the three themes, for example, ‘Valuing exploratory play’, ‘Valuing a conversational approach’ and ‘Valuing emergence.’

‘Reflective Journeys’ show how different people have used the ideas in the unit to suit their purposes.

If you want to explore these ideas ‘Developing Your Practice - Making a Difference’ shows ways to start.