Science Teacher - Carla Cordeiro - Presentation

On December 5 - 2023, science teacher, Carla Cordeiro, from Marvão School Group - Portugal, gave an online presentation about the importance of science education in early childhood.

Here is a summary of the presentation.

"The need for scientific education from an early age, aimed at forming citizens capable of dealing effectively with the challenges and needs of today's society, is increasingly advocated.

In fact, children's activities are, from a very early age, full of science:

-When a child pulls or pushes an object;

-When kick a ball with more or less force;

- When swinging;

- When slipping off a slide

-When playing in the bathtub with toys that float in the water;

- When filling or emptying containers;

- When playing in the sand;

 The learning that children carry out in these circumstances comes mainly from action, from the manipulation they make of the objects they have at their disposal, being, therefore, the type of cause/effect.

Initially, through play and, later, more systematically when accompanied by an adult, the child builds his curiosity and desire to know more about the world around him. The conditions will be created to take the first steps in small investigations, which are intended to be progressively more complex.

It is during the observations carried out in the actions that the child, accompanied or independently, begins to form his own ideas about the phenomena that surround him, whether natural or induced. For example, the child may wonder why it rains some days and not others, why the moon does not fall to Earth, why such large and heavy boats float in the sea and a rock sink to the bottom.

The teaching of science, from an early age, is of great social importance for three fundamental reasons:

- All children have the right to learn;

- Basic education, including pre-school education, has a social role in the distribution of knowledge and scientific knowledge should be integrated into the curricular contents offered, since it is a constitutive part of socially constructed culture;

- Scientific knowledge is a social value that allows individuals to improve the quality of their interaction with natural reality."

Teacher

Carla Cordeiro