Science in the Early Years
Building Firm Foundations from Birth to Five
- Pat Brunton - Educational Consultant
- Linda Thornton - The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA
Linking theory to good early years practice, the emphasis throughout the book is on recognizing young children as competent, creative thinkers and building on their ideas. The reader is encouraged to think carefully about the role of the adult in supporting child-initiated learning and discovery by providing open ended resources, asking productive questions and observing carefully.
The authors provide essential background information for all the key areas of scientific knowledge supported by practical ideas suitable for babies, toddlers and children aged 3 to 5 years. For each of these ideas, practice and theory are linked by highlighting the skills, attitudes and dispositions to observe and the questions to ask to challenge young children's thinking and plan for the next stages in their learning.
Chapters cover:
- the place of science in early years curricula in the UK
- the processes of science and the role of the adult in supporting young children's scientific learning
- using open ended resources to create a science-rich environment
- essential background knowledge, covering all areas of early years science
- ideas to use as starting points for exploration and investigation, indoors and outdoors
- pointers for observational assessment and planning
- suppliers of resources and equipment
By making clear links to practice, and providing ideas to use with babies and toddlers as well as with 3-5 year old children, this book enables the reader to fully exploit the potential for exploration and investigation in any early years setting.
Pat Brunton and Linda Thornton are both Education Consultants based in Cheltenham. They run their own training and consultancy company alc associates, and edit Early Years Update.
This book looks very useful and will be used in our additional reading lists to supplement existing texts. It provides practical activities as examples to use with young children.
This is an ideal text for students who are planning to work with children in their Early Years. It supports teachers and practitioners in their understanding of why science is important to young children and in their own understanding of the relevant scientific concepts. There are many practical suggestions of how teachers and practitioners can get started and develop creative activities that will stimulate young children's thinking and understanding.
Clearly laid out accessible ideas that link theory and practice.
A usuful initial tool for ITE
Very useful for Early Years practitioners and students
Clear and concise. This book is easy to read. It provides good background knowledge with clear links to how each area of science can be approached within the setting. It is great to see the development of babies also considered. Observation points are also included, offering a useful focus for assessment. Highly recommended for early years practitioners.
This will be a very useful text for our Early Years students who are often forgotten about in Primary Science textbooks. The book has lots of ideas and activities which are relevant and engaging and the relevant knowledge and understanding is included too. I shall certainly recommend this book to our Early years trainees.
This text has been added to our reading list and copies are being purchased for the library.
A really good supplementary text - practical ideas and just the right anount amount of 'theory'.
excellent resource, well written and an excellent practical resource for early years professionals
Written clearly for student level with particularly supportive consideration of theoretical perspectives at the beginning
This text has great ideas to introduce science to young children. An essential text for students & providers
