How to Infiltrate Science Education into Children in Collective Teaching

As a special place for children to carry out scientific discovery and inquiry, the science discovery room has been basically popularized since it was established in kindergartens in China in the mid-1980s. However, the actual function of the scientific discovery room is not satisfactory, and the facilities, materials and activities of the scientific discovery room are still far from the expectations of the promoters. Nowadays, how to give full play to the role of scientific discovery room and make it an efficient kindergarten curriculum resource is still an important topic for us to explore.

First, the role of the scientific discovery room

As a special activity room, the Science Discovery Room is different from the Science Corner. It is an expanding scientific activity place centered on children's autonomous learning, and an environment to guide children to make scientific discoveries, explore, gain scientific experience and ability, and cultivate scientific spirit.

1. can meet the needs of children's scientific inquiry in time.

The scientific discovery room is large in space and rich in materials, which can fully satisfy children's desire to explore scientific phenomena. For example, Shenzhen Education Kindergarten supports children's ideas in time by providing materials in the science learning center, which greatly meets the needs of children to carry out scientific exploration activities at any time and protects and stimulates their scientific exploration spirit.

2. It can meet the exploration needs of children of different ages.

As a curriculum resource shared by the whole park, the materials in the Science Discovery Room are provided by mixed ages, not by age. Children of different ages in the park can find materials and tools suitable for their own exploration in the science exploration room. That is to say, in the scientific discovery room, children of different ages can choose materials with different operation difficulties according to their own level, and they can also operate the same materials in different ways according to their own ideas. For example, in Changshu Experimental Primary School Kindergarten, children in both classes can carry out scientific inquiry activities of "light and shadow", but each has its own inquiry content.

3. Children's independence and creativity can be brought into full play.

The science discovery room is a scientific activity place with children's autonomous learning as the core, giving children full autonomy and helping them to maximize their independence and creativity. In the science discovery room, the content, partners, materials and gameplay of the activities are all selected and decided by the children themselves. Children who have the same interest in things will spontaneously form a cooperative group to discuss and complete tasks together. Children gain scientific experience, exert their creativity and truly appreciate the fun of scientific exploration through independent inquiry activities and cooperation and exchanges with their peers.

Second, the guidance of teachers.

The activities of the Science Discovery Room are mainly children's autonomous learning, and teachers mainly guide them in the following ways.

1. Guide children to carry out scientific activities indirectly by providing materials.

In the science discovery room, teachers generally do not directly guide children's scientific inquiry, but indirectly guide children by providing rich materials. In the actual scientific inquiry activities, we find that teachers often have two situations in the scientific discovery room. One is excessive intervention in children's activities, and the other is that the materials provided are finished and high-grade, lacking exploration space and not suitable for children to operate. Therefore, in the scientific discovery room, teachers should try not to impose their wishes on children and interfere with their activities, but should provide low-structure and explorable materials to indirectly guide their exploration. Generally speaking, kindergartens will divide the science discovery room into areas according to the key points of inquiry, and provide corresponding low-structure materials with different operation difficulties in each area, so that children can carry out inquiry activities according to their own level and interests. For example, there are many science learning centers in education kindergartens in Shenzhen, which are rich in materials, mainly low-cost and low-structure materials to help children enrich their scientific experience through exploration.

2. Guide children to carry out scientific activities on the basis of observation.

Because teachers' guidance to children in the science discovery room is mainly achieved by providing materials, it is very important for teachers to observe and understand children. However, observation does not mean simply looking. On the basis of reading, observation means that teachers can selectively judge where children are interested, what materials and phenomena they are interested in, and how children tend to explore, and this information can just be a clue for teachers to provide materials and organize follow-up activities. For example, the theme activities of "skating rink" carried out by Shenzhen Education Kindergarten, without the observation and analysis of teachers, it is difficult to extend activities such as "gyro spinning in water", "gyro spinning in sand pool" and "gyro spinning on board".

3. Individually guide children to carry out scientific activities.

The science discovery room is a place where children actively interact with materials and build personal knowledge. Therefore, teachers should not put forward uniform requirements for children, nor should they set specific goals for each child. Instead, they should give personalized guidance to children on the basis of providing materials and observing and understanding. However, because some teachers don't know much about the science discovery room, they sometimes use the methods of explanation and discussion commonly used in collective teaching to guide children's scientific inquiry activities, and turn the science discovery room that respects individual differences and emphasizes children's independent learning into another collective teaching place. Teachers should try to avoid this kind of collective teaching explanation and discussion when giving specific guidance.

4. Guide children to carry out scientific activities in a relaxed and free atmosphere.

Teachers should give children full freedom of discovery and exploration. First of all, teachers should encourage and support children's behavior and create a safe psychological environment for children; Secondly, teachers should minimize unnecessary behavior control without affecting others. For example, Shenzhen Education Kindergarten allows children to freely enter and leave the science learning center and take things freely, which effectively promotes children's scientific discovery and exploration activities.

5. Home cooperation guides children to carry out scientific activities.

In the science discovery room, children can carry out interesting activities according to their own level, thus leaving a deep impression on the process of activities and having something to say. Teachers should fully grasp the characteristics of children's strong curiosity, thirst for knowledge and love to explore, so that children can tell their parents about their explorations, discoveries and questions in the science discovery room. At the same time, teachers should actively communicate with parents and ask parents to pay attention to and solve the problems encountered in scientific exploration activities with their children. Family cooperation can promote the development of children's scientific inquiry activities. For example, in Shenzhen Education Kindergarten, the activities of the Science Learning Center have become a link between kindergarten and family, which has played an irreplaceable role in promoting the cooperation between family and children and cultivating their spirit of discovery and inquiry.

At present, the science discovery room, as an important curriculum resource in the field of kindergarten science education, has played a certain role in changing the phenomenon of emphasizing knowledge over ability and emphasizing explanation over inquiry in kindergarten science education. But on the whole, the discovery and exploration function of the science discovery room needs to be further improved. Summarizing the exploration of Shenzhen Education Kindergarten and Changshu Experimental Primary School Kindergarten, the author believes that the following four points will help us to enhance the discovery and exploration value of the Science Discovery Room.

First, teachers should have a scientific concept. Idea is the forerunner of behavior. Only with scientific ideas can we guide practice scientifically. Only when teachers understand the basic concept of children's science education, the characteristics of children's learning, the types and ways of children's experience and the value of different types of materials to children's development can they really provide children with opportunities for scientific discovery, exploration of science, acquisition of scientific experience and ability and development of scientific spirit from the aspects of materials, activities and guidance.

Second, teachers should have the spirit of discovery. As a curriculum resource, the science discovery room aims to provide children with opportunities to discover and explore science, focusing on the formation of children's scientific discovery and exploration spirit. If teachers have the spirit of discovery, they can discover children's interests, the characteristics and laws of children's operation, the different values contained in different materials, and the conditions and methods for children to continue to explore, which are precisely the necessary conditions to ensure children's willingness to discover and be good at exploring.

Third, teachers should pay attention to cultivating children's awareness, ability and habit of discovery. Children are the masters of the activities in the science exploration room. If children lack the awareness and ability to discover and are used to accepting and obeying, the scientific discovery room can only become a form and decoration. Therefore, it is very important to cultivate children's awareness, ability and habit of discovery. Teachers should inspire children to question boldly and cultivate their awareness of discovery; Encourage children to master discovery strategies and enhance their discovery ability; Be good at guiding children to care about and explore some scientific phenomena in daily life, and gradually develop the habit of discovery.

Fourthly, teachers should take the science discovery room as a practical way to implement kindergarten curriculum. The science discovery room should be a place where children often carry out scientific inquiry activities, not just a necessary material condition to cope with kindergarten evaluation. On the premise of ensuring that teachers know the basic information such as the significance, conditions and activities of the science discovery room, avoiding formalization, improving the utilization rate of the science discovery room and evaluating the development effect of children will become an urgent task to effectively play the role of the science discovery room.