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For this assignment you will be required to read the article and write a summary.Your summary should be about 3/4 -1 page in length and should show that you understood the reading. article_ramps_and_pathways__1_.pdf Unformatted Attachment Preview Learning through Experience Ramps and Pathways Developmentally Appropriate, Intellectually Rigorous, and Fun Physical Science Jackson and Luis, two preschoolers, stand across from one another at a table on which are placed a few ramp segments (one-foot lengths of cove molding), several dry sponges of differing sizes, a few clear containers, and some marbles. Jackson creates an incline by stacking some sponges and placing one end of a segment on top. He places a container at the lower end, releases the marble at the top of the incline, and watches the marble roll down and into the container. Luis also creates an incline, but he places the high end on the edge of the upright container and the lower end on two sponges, so his marble rolls in another direction. After a few unsuccessful tries to get the marble to roll into the container, Luis picks up the ramp segment and rotates it 180 degrees (so that the end that was lower is now propped on the edge of the container). He places the marble on the track and watches as it still rolls away from the container. Finally, Luis places three more sponges under the low end, raising it higher than the end propped on the container. He tests his incline again, and when the marble rolls into the container, Luis giggles. Betty Zan, PhD, is associate professor of curriculum and instruction and director of the Regents Center for Early Developmental Education and the Center for Early Education in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics at the University of Northern Iowa, in Cedar Falls. betty.zan@uni.edu Rosemary Geiken, MAE, is faculty at the University of Northern Iowa, in Cedar Falls, and has worked with teachers in implementing the Ramps and Pathways curriculum in their classrooms. rosemary.geiken@uni.edu The authors’ work developing Ramps and Pathways activities is supported by a grant (ESI-0628082) from the National Science Foundation. Photos courtesy of the Freeburg Early Childhood Program in Waterloo, Iowa. This article is available in an online archive at www.naeyc. org/yc/pastissues. ® 12 2, 3 Betty Zan and Rosemary Geiken W e have spent many years providing professional development in the area of science education, working alongside teachers and observing children in the classroom. These experiences have convinced us that activities involving inclined planes are possibly the best science activities we have ever encountered. We call our collection of classroom activities involving inclined planes Ramps and Pathways. These activities engage children in investigations involving force and motion, foster the development of important science inquiry skills, and provide numerous opportunities for integration across curricular domains. And they are great fun! In this article, we share our enthusiasm and our experiences supporting children in Ramps and Pathways investigations, and we seek to inspire teachers to implement similar activities in their classrooms. The young boys in the opening story are not simply playing with the incline and marble; in each boy’s quest to figure out how to get the marble to do what he wants, he is investigating, trying out different ideas, and varying his actions. This is what scientists do. It is called inquiry. And it is one of the primary goals of science education. We hope that our experiences will arouse in teachers the same curiosity and eagerness to learn that we see in children when they encounter these activities. For several years we have offered early childhood physical science workshops for early childhood teachers across Iowa and across the country. Our experience with Ramps and Pathways began in a university-run laboratory school in Waterloo, Iowa, serving primarily children from minority cultures whose families have low incomes. We also tested the project activities with pre-K through second grade teachers and children in a variety of settings. Reprinted from Young Children • January 2010 One of the beauties of ramp building in the classroom is its simplicity. When we started out using ramps, we simply introduced wooden cove molding and marbles to the block center. Over the years, we have explored variations, some of which we will describe here, but the basic ingredients remain unchanged: cove molding, marbles, and unit blocks. We have used these materials successfully with children of diverse backgrounds and abilities, with typically developing children and children with disabilities, and with Englishspeaking children and dual language learners. The ramp materials offer interesting challenges for children of all ages and levels of development. Setting up the classroom In our work with teachers, we have learned about creating environments that inspire active investigation and invite children to try out their ideas. The following paragraphs describe the materials, space, and time needs for implementing Ramps and Pathways. The ramp Materials Space Space can be an issue. Once children start building ramps, they want to build them bigger and bigger! For younger children especially, this often means longer ramps. We’ve seen classrooms with ramp sections propped on every chair and desk. Of course, not every classroom has the luxury of dedicating that kind of space, but we’ve found that children can be very creative in using small spaces. Teachers also use hallways, lunchrooms, and open conference rooms, or they take the ramps outdoors. materials offer interesting challenges for children of all ages and levels of development. Wood cove molding can be found in most building supply stores. We have had the best luck with molding that is 1¾ inches wide (marbles wobble too much on wider widths). Sections of varying lengths (1-, 2-, 3-, and 4-foot lengths) are best, but if the classroom is small, the 4-foot lengths can be omitted. Most classrooms need at least 18 of each length. Reprinted from Young Children • January 2010 Marbles of different sizes move easily down the cove molding ramps. Variations in size allow children to compare the movement of large and small marbles. Other variations include steel marbles, blocks or other objects that do not roll, and items that roll differently (such as spools, eggshaped objects, spheres with bumps). Divided organizers, often found in hobby stores, can serve as storage containers for the marbles and other objects. The best place for the ramps is in the block center. Children use wood unit blocks to build elaborate ramp structures. They also can use large hollow wood blocks, large interlocking blocks, or large cardboard blocks. If ramps are being used on tables, as in the opening vignette, large sponges make great supports. Some teachers cut openings in cardboard boxes that can be used for propping up the ramp sections. However, if all of the blocks are being used, children can use whatever else is available—shelves, chairs, tables, or other items. 13 Time Big ideas for early childhood physical science The National Science Education Standards stress that “building scientific understanding takes time on a daily The following six suggestions can guide the implementabasis and over the long term” (NRC 1996, tion of any high-quality physical science 44). An effective learning environment curriculum. We offer these “big ideas” provides ample time for children to in the spirit of sharing with teachengage with materials. Children need ers what we have learned over the Young children are highly time to revisit ideas, reflect on what years about implementing Ramps and capable of devoting long they have done, and revise their thinkPathways and other physical science ing. When we speak of time, we mean periods of attention to activities. time both during the day and time something that captures 1. Teachers need experiences with across the days, weeks, months— and engages their interclassroom materials to understand even years. In the laboratory school est and purpose. the possibilities for learning. where we developed the Ramps and Pathways program activities, the It is critical for teachers themselves materials were available in the block to investigate the ramp materials center every day and in every classbefore putting them out for children. To room, preschool through grade 2. Some children worked be able to support young children’s development of scienwith ramps for five years, and they never grew tired of them tific knowledge and reasoning, teachers must have some or ran out of ideas. understanding of how inclined planes work. They need to experiment with the materials and figure out (among other things) how to move a marble without touching it and how to make a marble go up a ramp section or turn a corner. They need to think about their thinking as they investigate the materials. By investing time in exploring the materials, teachers can see the possibilities and be better prepared to facilitate children’s work with the ramps. An important aspect of the learning in Ramps and Pathways is the connections made between actions and reactions. For example, marbles travel faster if you put four blocks rather than two under the high end of a ramp. This understanding offers the possibility of constructing a relationship between the degree of incline and the speed of the marble. As teachers work further with the materials, they identify many more connections or relationships that children can make. 2. Effective learning environments inspire interests and ideas and allow children to try out their ideas. According to Benchmarks for Science Literacy (AAAS 1993), children should be actively involved in exploring phenomena that interest them. The importance of interest in young children’s learning cannot be overstated. Piaget ([1954]1981) said interest is the fuel that drives the motor of mental activity, much like gasoline powers an engine. Unlike adults, who can often force themselves to pay attention, 14 Reprinted from Young Children • January 2010 most young children lack the self-regulation to pay attention when they are not interested in something. However, young children do not necessarily have short attention spans. They are highly capable of devoting long periods of attention to something that captures and engages their interest and purpose. We have seen this repeatedly when children engage in activities that support experimentation, as Ramps and Pathways does. The opening vignette illustrates how young children approach the ramp materials: they try to figure out what they can do with them. They have ideas, and they try out their ideas to see what will happen. For this reason, it is very important to set up a classroom environment in which children feel safe trying their ideas, without fear of failure. Unfortunately, for far too many children, school is not a place where it is safe to actively experiment and try out ideas; they learn, even at a young age, that there are right answers and wrong answers, and that wrong answers are to be avoided. When working with ramps, teachers should refrain from correcting children or giving them right answers. Instead, the teacher’s role is to support continued inquiry by intervening with questions or comments that inspire further experimentation. L R RE S O E S C HO CH P Reprinted from Young Children • January 2010 Music Together goes beyond the once-a-week music model, making music an essential and engaging part of your core curriculum for teachers, parents, and students. Call us to discover how you can bring the power of music to your early childhood learning community. P Close observation is the only way teachers can learn how children are thinking and design appropriate interventions and variations. However, observation is more than simply watching children. It must be accompanied by knowledge about what is being observed, how the children’s actions demonstrate their thinking, and how the event connects to learning goals and objectives. If one observes closely, one can see in the story at the beginning of this article several demonstrations of a young child’s competence. First, Luis persists in his own purpose—getting the marble to roll into the container— until he is successful. Second, he tries different strategies—some of them HAPPy cHiLDRen . conneCteD PARents. musiCAl coMMunity. OO L 3. To accurately understand and assess children’s reasoning, teachers must observe children closely. illogical from an adult perspective—before he is successful. And finally, he experiences the satisfaction of solving a problem on his own, without adult intervention. These three elements are included, in one form or another, in early childhood learning standards across the country, often under headings such as “Approaches to Learning,” “Initiative,” or “Problem Solving.” (800) 728-2692 X353 • MUSICTOGETHER.COM/NAEYc ad size: 4.265”wide by 7.375” high 15 to the process of scientific inquiry. They require an environment in which children are free to collaborate and take risks. We have seen teachers use many strategies to foster communication between young learners during Ramps and Pathways activities. They encourage children to work in groups and to help each other by sharing ideas. They provide materials so children can draw and write about their ramp structures. Photos of children’s ramp structures provide excellent writing prompts and can be used to stimulate discussions. During group time, teachers can invite children to reflect on what they have done in the ramps center. 6. Ramp activities offer multiple opportunities to integrate other curriculum areas. One of the most valuable aspects of a ramp project is the ease with which it addresses other areas of the curriculum. Mathematics is everywhere: children engage in spatial reasoning as they decide where to position blocks or how to align the 4. Support children’s investigations and conceptual ramp sections; they experiment to figure out how to use development with interventions that focus on reasoning angles so marbles will turn corners; they count blocks to rather than right answers. compare heights and predict how many more blocks they Young children’s investigations often lead to common will need—the list of math concepts could go on and on. erroneous ideas, or what the science education commuLiteracy possibilities include using digital photos as writing nity refers to as preconceptions. For example, even after prompts. Teachers tell us that even reluctant writers are seeing a marble roll down an elevated incline and fly off eager to write about their ramp structures. Some teachers the end, many children will still predict that a marble will help ramp makers create class books (one second grade drop straight down into a container when it reaches the class made an alphabet book of ramps). For social studies, end of a ramp (demonstrated by placing a container to children can consider the importance of ramps in catch the marble directly under the end of the the workplace or to persons with disabiliramp). Preconceptions are common—often ties. An art teacher steeped in the Reggio persisting well into adulthood—and are Emilia approach explained to us how the highly resistant to change. Teachers expeExperimenting and children’s ramp structures integrate art rienced in supporting inquiry know how making errors are and architecture. to encourage experimentation so that children can correct their preconceptions through acting on objects and observing the results of their actions. vital to the process of scientific inquiry. 5. Sharing experiences and the results of investigations strengthens science learning as well as the development of communication. In a reassessment of current science instruction, Metz (1995, 117) stresses that “the development of scientific knowledge is, in many aspects, a social activity.” Scientists don’t work alone; they rely on frequent communication with other researchers. Experimenting and making errors are vital 16 Pathways to success Teachers tell us powerful stories about using ramps for science learning in their classrooms. One kindergarten teacher had never thought of herself as a “science person.” But now, through the Ramps and Pathways project, she says, “I have learned that this science approach is completely doable.” A preschool teacher, who says she was “scared” to teach science, boasts that now “we are actually doing science every day and have a sci- Reprinted from Young Children • January 2010 ence center going daily.” Another preschool teacher says, “I do a lot more thinking about science and spend more time on science in the room with the children. I have science on the brain.” Teachers also report that ramp building decreases behavior problems in their classrooms. For example, a first grade teacher says, “At the beginning of the year, I was told that Reggie had behavior issues . . . But we found an area that Reggie excels in. I think that Reggie’s ability to build ramps has positively affected his behavior. I don’t have anymore trouble with Reggie’s behavior in class.” These reports and our own observations confirm what we have witnessed from the beginning of our project: Ramps and Pathways is one of the best science activities for engaging both young children and their teachers in inquiry learning. And it is great fun! References AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science). 1993. Benchmarks for science literacy. Washington, DC: Author. Metz, K. 1995. Reassessment of developmental constraints on children’s science instruction. Review of Educational Research 65 (2): 93–127. NRC (National Research Council). 1996. National Science Education Standards: Observe, interact, change, learn. Washington, DC: National Academies Press. www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=4962 Piaget, J. [1954]1981. Intelligence and affectivity: Their relationship during child development, eds. & trans. T.A. Brown & C.E. Kaegi; conslt. ed. M.R. Rosenzweig. Palo Alto, CA: Annual Reviews. Copyright © 2010 by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. See Permissions and Reprints online at www.naeyc.org/yc/permissions. Young Children Cluster Topics for 2011 We are pleased to announce the following cluster topics for 2011. The Notes column provides suggested content and other information. Please refer to the Manuscript Guidelines on the NAEYC Web site at www.naeyc.org/publications/forauthors/writeyc to read about the due dates and submission process for cluster proposals and articles. Issue Date and Topic January 2011: Supporting the Many Ways Children Communicate Notes How young children communicate their feelings, needs, ideas, and interests through language, writing, art, music, dance, and behavior. March 2011: Emotional Intelligence: A 21st Century Skill Open, by invitation, to presenters from the June for Children and Adults 2010 National Institute for Early Childhood Professional Development. May 2011: Preparing and Supporting Teachers: Innovative Approaches Supporting dual language learners; preparing culturally appropriate teachers; the role of coaches, mentors, directors, and principals; using technology and distance learning. July 2011: Behaviors That Still Challenge Children and Adults The reasons for children’s behavior; creating program environments, schedules, routines, and curriculum that prevent problem behaviors; building relationships with individual children; partnering with families. What works and why? What doesn’t work and why? September 2011: Fostering Critical Thinking and ProblemSolving Skills Building children’s skills across the curriculum and at all ages; addressing critical thinking and problem solving for adults through teacher education, staff development, and supervision. November 2011: Early Childhood Trends and Initiatives Successful public-private partnerships; innovative ... Purchase answer to see full attachment