Benefits of Learning Science in Early Childhood

Most people when thinking of science, imagine the picture of frogs, heats, and planets and for most of them, it is just an extension of their daily life activities. With the help of science, one is taught how to explore and wonder about the things surrounding them. It is the natural behavior of a human. Science is a subject that matches the ideal natural curiosity of students. This is the major reason children need to learn science from an early age because of its numerous benefits.

Children ask questions like ‘Why is the sky blue?’, ‘Where do colors come from?’ and more. With an understanding of science, all their questions can be answered. An additional benefit is that it can be fun if presented in the right manner to them. For teachers, this is an opportunity that they can take to build up a strong impact of science in students’ lives to shape their opinions and thoughts from an early age. According to research, students have already formed their opinions about science by the age they reach seven. As the emphasis on STEM is increasing in education, it is important to include science teaching at the early age of students’ education. The impact and influence of early childhood teachers bring out the potential of students to pursue a career in science or technology at any other grade level.

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What are the benefits of learning science in early childhood?

Let us explore some of the reasons why science education is important in early childhood and what are its effects on children:

• Foster A LIie-Long Love For Science: Children start exploring and experimenting with the things around them from the beginning, even as babies. As mentioned above and found in research that students can accumulate a positive or negative image and opinions about science by the age of seven, it is important to tap into their early predispositions during this phase to develop, nurture and establish a positive approach towards science that will stay with them in the future. The positive approach towards science can help them to explore their love for scientific fields in the future and help them to pursue a career that they love.
   
• Basic Grounding Of Scientific Concepts And Scientific Thinking: Every activity includes some sort of scientific concept. Dwelling the children in activities with scientific concepts from early childhood can make them think about the concepts as well as stimulate scientific thinking in them. Science education provides a strong base in the way it is learned and how it is learned. It will help the children to be a step ahead and understand the working mechanism of their surroundings. Answering their curiosity and making them aware of scientific vocabulary in their early years may help them to make sense of the world around them. Also, children will gain knowledge about how things work.
   
• Supports The Development Of Other Skills And Attributes: Scientific Education opens the door to learn and practice many other skills and attributes. These skills can be communication skills, collaborative skills, teamwork, perseverance, analytical skills, reasoning skills, problem-solving skills, and many more. Teachers should try to make them familiarize themselves with the scientific terms that are easy in their age group. Also, with their increasing age, they should be encouraged to expand their scientific knowledge with the help of vocabulary, numeracy, related literacy, and other creative activities that will help them to understand science and develop new skills.
   
• Prepared For Higher Grades: Learning starts from a tender age. Starting to make the children familiarize with scientific concepts and terms can make them value the importance of science in their life. As they prepare for higher grades, they might already know some of the terms and concepts from their early age. This knowledge will help them to be prepared for their high education.

Approach For Early Science Education:

When it comes to scientific learning, the most important factor is its approach. Here are some key points that need to be in mind while teaching children science from an early age:

• The Right Process: It is important and valuable for children to gain some scientific knowledge but simultaneously finding their answers in the right way is more important and should be the top-most objective of the educator.
   
• Open To Child-Led Realizations: Educators should create and set-up some scientific activities that the child enjoys along with finding an everyday activity that has some scientific concepts led by the children. This way the children will always be encouraged to ask questions to satisfy their curiosity.