Science and Children: A Natural Fit

Speaker: 
Karen Worth
 
04 Apr 2011
 
7:00 PM
 
Reiman Ballroom South, Alumni Center

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Karen Worth is a faculty member at Wheelock College, where she teaches early childhood and elementary education with a focus on science education. For many years, she directed Wheelock's Boston Public School Collaborative Programs. She has also served as an advisor to the PBS programs Curious George and The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That. Worth worked for twenty-five years as a senior research scientist at the Education Development Center, where she was the principal investigator for a range of programs focused on curriculum development, professional development, and systemic reform. They included Tool Kit for Early Childhood Science Education and the NSF-funded Connecting Science and Literacy Program. She earned her BS in biology from Radcliffe and a Master's degree from Bank Street College of Education in New York City. The Barbara E. (Mound) Hansen Lecture Series

Children are naturally curious and full of questions about the world around them. They explore and investigate events and materials in their lives in ways that resemble those of the scientist. As teachers we are providing experiences that lay the foundation for future learning. This is important in a world in which science plays a greater and greater role in our lives and the decisions we must make. This talk will focus on how we can take advantage of children's interest and bring science into the classroom. We will look at what science in the classroom looks like and what it should be. We will explore what content is appropriate and examine the role of the teacher in guiding and facilitating children's work. We also will look at how science can provide an exciting context in which children use and develop their literacy and mathematical skills and knowledge. Science is a collaborative venture and we will see how it can support children's social development as well. Finally, we will look at what children can actually do and the reality that we often underestimate the power of their thinking.