Development of Infants & Young Children/week 3 discussion 1 and 2

CASE STUDY

Ms. Serrano, a preschool teacher of 2- to 4 year-olds, took her class on a field trip to a nearby

conservation park to explore nature. Yao, a 4-year-old, excitedly ran up to Ms. Serrano, showing her a

bug she found on a tree. A number of other children came up to see what all of the excitement was about.

Yao had all types of questions about the bug, as did the other children. They were curious about what

kind of bug it was, where its mommy and daddy were, what it ate, did it sleep, how big would it grow and

many more. Then Stephen joined the group holding up a multi-colored rock he found in a creek. The

children wanted to know if it was gold, , was it worth any money, and where it came from.

At first, Ms. Serrano thought the children did not know much about bugs or rocks. She thought she had

considerable work ahead to teach them about science. However, she quickly realized they already knew a

lot about both. Their questions suggested they understood that as a living thing, bugs had many of the

characteristics of others living things, such as needing food and rest, whereas rocks did not share those

same properties. The children needed specific details to fill in the gaps of their knowledge.

Ms. Serrano decided to take this opportunity to help her students learn more about biology. She held up

the bug and asked, “who knows what kind of bug this is?” Soon the air was filled with children shouting

out their answers. When she asked about the rock, Joshua wanted to know how big it would grow. Ms.

Serrano then recognized that while children had a correct understanding of some concepts, they also had

a number of misconceptions as well. There were many challenges ahead and she could not wait to get

started.