Science: Not Just Elementary, It's Pre-School

Preschoolers are getting a head start on their education by learning more about science, thanks to a $500,000 grant to a professor in the Margaret Warner Graduate School of Education and Human Development.

Lucia French, associate professor, is using the National Science Foundation grant to expand her study of the ScienceStart! Curriculum, an inquiry-based program of learning and teaching that emphasizes science as the key to building knowledge and skills.

"Science meets every child's need to understand the world through active investigation," says French. "With the ScienceStart! Curriculum the daily routine and the classroom layout look like a regular preschool program, but science is the hub around which the teachers' and children's activities are organized."

The three-year NSF grant, awarded in June, will support continued work on the curriculum that French originally developed five years ago. With the new grant, two additional preschools will use the curriculum, allowing French to further test and document ScienceStart!'s effectiveness.

French's focus differs from most early childhood programs that scatter science activities throughout the youngsters' schedule. French's curriculum embraces science --and the cycle of inquiry that advances it--as an essential part of the preschool experience.

The curriculum also includes a strong component of parent involvement. Children take home open-ended activities to complete with their parents in the evening.

Science celebrations are scheduled at school to promote interaction between parents and children as well as family literacy nights designed for reading and working on activities.

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