Engaging children in science and engineering long before high school is important. It needs to start at much younger ages. But how can educators make that happen? And how can CLASS help?

Today, you’ll hear from Dr. Daryl Greenfield, a professor of Psychology and Pediatrics at the University of Miami, and Veronica Fernandez, Teachstone Senior Director of Social Impact. They’ll discuss their research into science and engineering at the preschool and elementary ages, how CLASS supports science learning, and how to make science more accessible to ECE teachers so they can better engage students.

This episode was previously shared as the director's cut. Today, enjoy the full, extended edition of this conversation!

Topics Discussed in This Episode

7:58 Gaps in the research about science education and what their report found

10:25 How research relates to CLASS

12:30 Understanding how we got here

15:12 Science needs to be an active process

16:20 What makes up science

19:17 The presence of Instructional Support

20:00 Making science accessible for ECE educators

24:00 Goal-directed learning

29:15 How infants observe the world

33:10 What researchers observed

34:20 Veronica’s experience of helping educators make teaching science easier

36:10 Engaging with children's questions about science and the world

38:00 Parallel process and educator curiosity

40:00 Making it clear that science is part of family routines

43:00 Why the research paper was published and how it relates to equity and justice

48:42 There is more than one way to do science

50:12 The importance of meeting both children and educators where they are with science

Resources

Marnetta Larrimer

Dr. Daryl Greenfield

Veronica Fernandez