Elandriel

My biggest challenge around inquiry in the early childhood classroom is persuading teachers to give it a try, and to understand what it really is (not just asking a bunch of questions).  Early childhood education is at it's best when it's inquiry-based.  However, many ECE teachers have limited education and experience in this model, and tend to rely heavily on how they were taught themselves (direct instruction).  They lean heavily on scripted curriculum.  Given that most EC teachers don't get any prep time, and work very long days, this isn't terribly surprising.  I've been working with our teachers around what types of questions they should use as a springboard to deeper inquiry work.  I am hoping to use the resources and ideas from this retreat to create lessons for my teachers that have some of the benefits of a scripted curriculum, in that they don't have to do too much planning, but allows for the students to guide the work.  That's the goal anyway.

Oh wow! I need to check this out for myself!  We are huge fans of bees in my family and this would be fun!

In our program we encourage lots of open-ended, hands-on experiences/explorations and the use of open-ended/higher-order questions.  We're a big fan of loose parts, providing random common objects (rocks, sticks, bottle caps, etc.) to allow the children to make their own narratives rather than just participating in proscribed activities.  I also encourage my teachers to turn questions back on the students by asking them "what do you think?" rather than just always giving them the answer.  I try to encourage them to focus on the process of exploration and curiosity than the finished product.

I love that concept of "when a thing is named the learning stops."  thanks for sharing!

I want to explore project squirrel as well, we have many in our backyard.

I think educators can be catalysts for students to observe and wonder by allowing space for open-ended exploration of areas and materials.  Modeling curiosity with "I wonder" and open ended questions is also important. One of my favorite practices in early childhood is the practice of providing provocations to children to help determine the next course of study.  In doing this, the teacher provides many objects and potential experiences to students and encourages their open explorations of what has been provided.  In watching and recording student questions, explorations, and time spent in play with certain items or experiences, the teacher then knows what activities will best engage their student's curiosity and wonder as they go about learning their literacy, math, etc. standards.

I agree, giving children opportunities to experience things outside their normal day-to-day (and sadly being outdoors isn't normal for a lot of kids) is important to build knowledge and curiosity.

In creating my soundmap I am reminded how many natural sounds there are around us, particularly birds, even though we live in the city.  I like April's thoughts on using this activity as a mindfulness exercise for her students.  I first discovered sound maps in Joseph Cornell's books.  April, there are other minful-type nature activities in his works if you're interested.

I think "attend to the unexpected" is the one I'd like to focus on the most in the early childhood space, though the other 2 definitely have their place as well.  Positioning inquiry as an activity where we don't always know the answer, including the teachers, creates more space for a-ha moments and pivoting to explore new questions.  Often with young children adults can assume that they definitely know more than the child about a topic.  If we leave space for uncertainty and be willing to capitalize on a child's discovery we can create more excitement and encourage further study.  I also loved how they mentioned creating space for failure.  When we start children young in understanding that science exploration is about learning something more rather than getting something right, and that mistakes and failures help us learn more, we are setting them up for incredible success in many areas in their future.

Early childhood inquiry activities can be any of the 4 levels, even though this will look different than it does for upper age groups.  In a Reggio or Montessori-type program, inquiry activities often tend to start as more of an open inquiry.  The teachers are looking for what students are interested in the most, and then will design other inquiry-based activities that support learning goals through the subject of interest. While students at this age aren't designing their own experiments as formally as older students would, they still engage in investigating their own questions about objects provided as provocations.  In early childhood inquiry, scientific language is still encouraged though the depth of the investigation is limited.  For example, we may discuss the terms "momentum," "mass," and "slope" in an activity around balls but we're really just looking at a basic understanding of those concepts and how they relate to each other rather than any mathematical understanding. Older students (4 and up) can also participate well in Structured and Guided Inquiry that focuses on basic knowledge and exploration.  It's common to hear questions such as, "What do you think will happen if..." and "How can we figure out..." in a good early childhood classroom.