Asking open ended questions and solving mysteries by looking for evidence or clues becomes everyday practice. We promote inquiry, thinking skills and language by asking questions such as “What makes you say that?” or “How could we find out more?”

Science Week was a great opportunity for us to shine a light on this important area of our program and focus on the concepts of observing, comparing, predicting, inferring and communicating. The Kinder class worked collaboratively with their buddies to explore movement and observe how food dye reacts with detergent and milk. Noticing and discussing how things change is particularly exciting for young children. Anticipating the chemical reactions when building a ‘volcano’, creating new colour combinations by making and mixing playdough and predicting if an item will sink or float after reading Who Sank the Boat? were experiments these girls encountered throughout the week.

One particularly exciting experience was when some of the PrePrep girls discovered a hole in the wooden retaining wall outside that was in the shape of a footprint. The hole had always been there, but on this particular day it was like something magical had occurred overnight. Quite a few of the girls, were convinced it was a footprint from a dinosaur and began to search the playground for further evidence. Upon finding a rock with an interesting pattern (created by the damp weather) the girls confirmed it was definitely a dinosaur. Whilst this experience was full of childhood wonder and imagination, there were also opportunities to practise scientific thinking and explore different processes. There were of course, some girls who loved the idea of a real dinosaur leaving its mark on our playground and some who were more fact and logic driven. The beauty of a play-based program is there is room to extend and develop both approaches.

Bernadette Gioia
Director of Early Learning Centre