Building Young Learners’ Scientific Curiosity

By Sherese Mitchell and Marcella Mandracchia

Providing young children the opportunity to engage in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), more specifically hands-on science, is beneficial because it allows them to build and foster critical and creative thinking skills (Hapgood, Magnusson, & Sullivan Palincsar, 2009). At home, infants can begin to connect to hands-on science through simple tasks like the presentation of measuring cups, cooking utensils, and varying containers with water. The innate curiosity of young learners fosters their natural desire to engage in hands-on learning. Beginning hands-on learning at a young age can provide a foundation for later acquisition and interest (Klahr, Zimmerman, & Jirout, 2011). Even as far back as 1984, Harty and Beall mentioned that students taking part in experiments builds their curiosity and interest in the scientific fields.

To engage young learners in hands-on science, Professors Marcella Mandracchia and Sherese Mitchell united to outline activities  suitable for young learners in grades kindergarten through fifth grade. Mandracchia and Mitchell of Hostos Community College partnered with The New York City Montessori Charter School. The New York City Montessori Charter School is the first and only Montessori public school in New York City –offering educational services to pre-K through fifth grade students in Community School District 7 of the Bronx. NYCMCS is designed to empower children to be critical thinkers and creative problem solvers with strong social skills so they can succeed and pursue higher education and prepare for careers needed in the 21st century. The school fosters values such as kindness, respect, appreciation, trust, communication, patience, perseverance, integrity, cooperation, individuality, creativity, and care for the planet. Hostos Community College/City University of New York (CUNY), was created by an act of the Board of Higher Education on April 22, 1968. In September of 1970, the college admitted a charter class of 623 students at 475 Grand Concourse, a five-story building on the southwest corner of East 149th Street and the Grand Concourse that was once a tire factory. Additionally, in 1970, the State Legislature acted to ease an increasing space shortage by passing a special bill to acquire the 500 Building across from the original site. Furthermore, in the same year, Hostos was granted full and unconditional accreditation following a highly favorable evaluation by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. Enrollment currently stands at almost 7,000 students.

Thus, it became obvious with the congruent views on the education of students of congruent institutions that “Science Day” needed to occur. The students in NYCMCS needed to have the opportunity to take part in science exploration that was made easy. All the age-appropriate activities that were chosen are easy to replicate in both home and school settings. The age-appropriate activities that were decided upon are as follows:

Each grade band had access to Obleck (a substance that took on the form of a liquid and solid) and the Rubber Egg (an egg that was left in vinegar for two weeks that became transparent and of a rubbery consistency). Students rotated in for 20-minute time intervals in two areas designated to each grade band by class to participate in the activities with the help of their teachers and Hostos’ student volunteers and professors. Hostos students promoted critical thinking by prompting students with engaging questions. Many of these prompts included, “ Why do you think this happened? or What would happen if?” NYCMCS students were involved in each activity and there was plentiful scholarly dialogue during and after the activities. Additionally, the activities will be compiled to produce a resource for students to continue to engage at home and in their school. Approximately thirty student volunteers from Hostos Community College participated in either preparing materials and/or assisting with the 150 NYCMCS students. Immediately following the activities, students completed an exit slip where they explained which was their favorite activity and why. This data will be used to build on this year’s Science Day by incorporating student favorites and including new activities for students to enjoy.

To produce a solid foundation, Mandracchia and Mitchell established an outline for future use. Student feedback from NYCMCS and Hostos students after the activity has enabled the professors to build upon this year’s event. The students were afforded the opportunity to see a model of the expectations of STEM activities that will aid them in their current or future classrooms. Scaffolding was employed during the first annual Science Day at the NYCMCS, and next year the Hostos students will step up and take more of a lead on the selection of activities, follow-up analysis, and school-home connection aspect. Based on this year’s results it is definitely possible and Hostos professors are quite excited to see their students take the lead to make next year’s event even more of a success!

References:

Harty, H. & Beall, D. (1984). Toward the development of a children’s science curiosity measure. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 21(4), 425-436.

Hapgood, S., Magnusson, S.J., & Sullivan Palincsar, A. (2009). Teacher, text, and experience: A Case of young children’s scientific inquiry. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 13(4), 455- 505.

Klahr, D., Zimmerman, C., & Jirout, J. (2011). Educational interventions to advance children’s scientific thinking. Science, 6045 (333), 971-975.