This learning opportunity fostered conceptual understanding and a sense of curiosity in understanding a complex topic like the ‘life cycle of a butterfly’. They were curious, reflective and knowledgeable. I was amazed to see the attributes of the learner profile developing in my students. Whenever we see a Common Crow flitting around the flowers the children ask me, “is this is our butterfly?” We showed it proudly to all the children in the school and left it amidst the marigold flowers in the school garden. How did such a big butterfly come out from such a small pupa? “Ma’am, the butterfly has come out!” It was a beautiful sight indeed to see the butterfly – the Common Crow, black with white spots. One morning I was greeted with shrieks of delight when I entered my class: “I wonder how the caterpillar, which was soft, became a hard pupa!” “When the caterpillar was small, how could it breathe?” They watched the pupa every day and asked me why it did not need leaves anymore so many queries, so many doubts: One day it stopped eating leaves, became brownish and then curved its body like a ‘C ’just before it became a pupa. The young scientists watched the caterpillar become bigger and fatter day by day. In this process they understood that once the food is digested, the undigested food comes out as droppings. The greatest interest and excitement was when they saw the droppings. Children became responsible and collected fresh curry leaves every morning and watched the caterpillar devouring them. We had several discussions on where caterpillars are found, what they eat, etc. Every few minutes you would see excited faces kneeling down and looking at it. I told them it was a caterpillar and after the initial excitement we found a safe spot to place it. It all started with the day the caterpillar came visiting…Īll the children of my grade were agog with excitement when they saw me bringing something to class: “Ma’am, what is it? Show me, show me…!” excited, curious and eager, they swarmed around me. Developing scientific skills in the early years will allow children to understand how the world works and how we share the planet with other living beings, and eventually allows them to develop refined understanding. Their day starts with asking how, why, where, who and what. Curiosity has a major role in many scientific processes young children have a natural proclivity towards the world they live in. Scientific skills are very important as they promote observation and curiosity. How a visitor-a caterpillar-to an early years classroom changed the dynamics of thinking in students and became a major instrument in developing scientific thinking among them.Īs a PYP educator, I always wondered how we could develop scientific skills in the young learners’ minds. Young children are often called natural scientists. Mahalakshmi, early years educator, Silver Oaks International School Bangalore, India
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