Preschoolers learn through personal experience. They form rich mental representations from their experiences and can then use these representations as the basis for thinking and talking.

Preschoolers are still learning language, so they are not yet skilled at learning from language. However, in a rich linguistic environment they can simultaneously improve their language skills and learn from the talk around them.

Preschoolers are highly motivated to learn about the everyday world, so they are immediately engaged by the content of the ScienceStart! curriculum. ScienceStart! meets preschoolers' need for hands on, sensory experience.

The Role of Personal Experience

Personal Experience is the key to learning in early childhood. Research suggests that children form strong mental representations of personal experiences.

At the same time, preschoolers are still in the process of acquiring the language skills that will later make it possible to learn by 'being told' or by 'reading.' This means they cannot learn simply by listening to an adult talk about something.

Hands-on activities accompanied by adult language help children learn content and also help them learn language.

The Role Of Repetition

Repetition plays an important part in children's learning. They like to repeat the same activity several times or listen to an adult read the same book over and over. Research suggests that repetition allows the child to deal with the information at increasingly complex cognitive levels. For example, the first time they hear a book read aloud, they are forming an initial understanding of the story. Later they will be able to predict what is coming next, to use context to figure out the meaning of an unfamiliar word, and so forth.

Teachers have told us that by repeating an activity, children develop a deeper understanding than if they simply experience the event once. For example, during the ScienceStart! module on Color and Light, children mix colors using play dough, colored water, and ice cubes made of colored water. One teacher commented that children found the first experience 'like magic' then began to understand that the phenomenon could be replicated during the second experience, then could make plausible predictions prior to the third experience.

The Role Of Adults

Early guidelines by the National Association for the Education of Young Children focused on the child's need to explore the world independently, and urged caregivers to arrange interesting environments for children. This recommendation was in response to concern that many preschool teachers were using worksheets and attempting to directly teach academic content.

The more recent guidelines issued by NAEYC recognize that adults play an important role in children's development.

Social interaction is key to learning. Children must learn about their culture from adults, older children, and peers. They must be part of language exchanges with adults in order to develop fluency with language.

Adults who care for young children have a responsibility to create a language rich environment and to guide children's experiences.

The Role Of Structure

Young children learn best when they are in environments with a predictable schedule and structure.

Once they have the security of knowing 'what is expected of them now' and 'what happens next' they can focus on whatever is novel about the current activity.

For example, storytime is flexible in that different books are read, or the same book is read in different ways, but storytime is structured in that it is part of a predictable routine of the day, with a particular format (for example, children sitting in a circle; the teacher asking questions to prepare the children for the book's content, and so forth.) The predictable aspects provide a structure within which children can focus on the book being read.

The Role Of Play

It is sometimes said that 'play is the work of children.' Play is a critically important part of childhood and of any early childhood program.

However, play is not the only way that children learn. They learn a great deal by having ordinary experiences in the everyday world, such as going to the grocery store. They learn a great deal by participating in developmentally appropriate activities designed and lead by adults.

The ScienceStart! classroom has time for play, but also time for learning from activities that are planned and guided by adults.

How Preschoolers Don't Learn

Preschoolers' learning is very context bound. They do not easily learn isolated pieces of information, whether this information is about the climate in Europe or the names of letters. They do not easily learn from listening to someone else talk.

Preschoolers learn through personal experience, and they learn things that they find personally meaningful.

If caregivers want to teach early literacy skills to preschoolers, then these skills must be embedded in activities that are meaningful and engaging for the children.

Preschoolers learn many things from their peers. However, learning from the adults in their lives is also central to their learning and development.