Yesterday, my first package of goodies came in the mail. It is a book I ordered off Amazon called "Building Structures with Young Children" from The Young Scientist Series. Here is how it starts:
"Children's curiosity about the natural world, their 'inborn sense of wonder,' is a powerful catalyst for their work and play. With this curiosity and the need to make sense of the world, children are motivated to ask questions, explore how things work, and look closely at the natural world around them.
But in today's world, children's experiences and their opportunities to do science are often limited--confined to frequently to the passive and secondhand experience of the television or video game. Modern technology also has hidden from view some of the basic ways in which things work. Our food comes from stores and few children have seen or engaged in growing and processing it. Toys that were once pushed and pulled or rolled now have hidden motors and batteries to drive them and a switch to turn them on and off." pg 2
The issues mentioned in the paragraph above have been going on for some time now. Even in my own childhood, I remember it being this way, except for the last point. I found the biggest learning environment was while I camped in the wilderness every summer for a few weeks with my family, frequent trail walking, and visits to the nearby marsh. I also remember learning a lot from the magic school bus. Was it easier to learn science in my parents generation? What about my grandparents time?
This reminds me of the movie "Babies" which came out a few years ago and showed the living conditions of four different babies growing up in four different countries and parts of the world. When I looked at the lack of nature I saw in the clips with the American baby, I was surprised and felt adverse to it. How do we bring back nature into the young child's experience? How do we teach them about life and science?
"Children's curiosity about the natural world, their 'inborn sense of wonder,' is a powerful catalyst for their work and play. With this curiosity and the need to make sense of the world, children are motivated to ask questions, explore how things work, and look closely at the natural world around them.
But in today's world, children's experiences and their opportunities to do science are often limited--confined to frequently to the passive and secondhand experience of the television or video game. Modern technology also has hidden from view some of the basic ways in which things work. Our food comes from stores and few children have seen or engaged in growing and processing it. Toys that were once pushed and pulled or rolled now have hidden motors and batteries to drive them and a switch to turn them on and off." pg 2
The issues mentioned in the paragraph above have been going on for some time now. Even in my own childhood, I remember it being this way, except for the last point. I found the biggest learning environment was while I camped in the wilderness every summer for a few weeks with my family, frequent trail walking, and visits to the nearby marsh. I also remember learning a lot from the magic school bus. Was it easier to learn science in my parents generation? What about my grandparents time?
This reminds me of the movie "Babies" which came out a few years ago and showed the living conditions of four different babies growing up in four different countries and parts of the world. When I looked at the lack of nature I saw in the clips with the American baby, I was surprised and felt adverse to it. How do we bring back nature into the young child's experience? How do we teach them about life and science?
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