Sandbox Scientist: Real Science Activities for Little Kids
For my parents Bill and Jeanne Ross for encouraging exploration and for my son Nick for sharing his wonder
Foreword LEE Like scientists children make their discoveries through creative activity They do not record just what they see They experiment This basic principle has been transformed into the developmentally appropriate practice approach and constructivism as recommended by the National Association for the Education of Young Children This book Sandbox Scientist is a major contribu tion to the field of early childhood education because it provides practices and activities that reflect the best thinking of the early childhood profession Michael Ross now adds Wondering is one of the professional missions of childhood Life is far richer when we accept the wonder of kids As kids explore they bump into the boundaries of big ideas The materials and activities presented in this book are familiar to most of us They are indeed child cen tered The author shows how the experience that comes from the activities is more important than the activity itself Some teachers will be shocked to learn
that hands on science alone can be boring and destructive The point is that activities must be pre sented from a constructivist perspective which acknowledges that children and adults need to form their own hypotheses and keep trying them out through mental action physical manipulations and social interaction In young children this process most often resembles what we call play The sensitivity with which the author describes the activities in this book aptly exemplifies the process of the cycle of learning from awareness and exploration to inquiry and utilization for meaningful learning to take place In each of the opportunities for learning offered in Sandbox Scientist it is easy to imagine how the stages of learning could happen for any child in a natural and growth producing way This book is special because it describes scads of topics related to science explains the events from a scientific point of view tells how to set up the activi ties relates actual anecdotes that the author observed as children interacted with the scientific experiences This remarkable and unique assemblage of information represents several years of Michael Ross's real life data collection particularly his count less hours of dedicated kid watching Children teachers and parents can be grateful for this valuable presentation of how to practice good pedagogy Furthermore the extensive annotated reading lists that close each chapter and the
