Presentation for CHD 120 at Tidewater Community College.

1. Nature/Science
Learning Center

2. What do we need to make a GREAT
science center?

3. Every science center requires 5
categories. Within those 5 categories, 3-5
different materials must be available to
children at all times.
Required Science Categories:
- Nature Collections
- Living Things
- Science Games
- Activities
- Factual Books & Pictures

4. Nature Collections – (Ex. Rocks, Leaves, Flowers,
Shells, Pinecones, Bugs, Birds’ Nests and any other
collectable natural material)
Living Things – (Ex. Fish, Butterflies, Plants, Bird
Feeders, Ant or Worm Farm and any other living thing
that is developmentally appropriate for students to
observe and interact with.)

5. Science Games – (Ex. Nature matching game, Nature
sequence cards, Body part matching cards, and any
other fact based science games.)
Factual Books & Pictures – Books, pictures or audio visual/video
resources that are factual and correlate with what children are
learning about. (Ex. Zoo animal books, real weather photos etc.)

6. Activities – (Ex. Magnets, Scales, Magnifying
glasses, Racing cars down slopes, Sink/float,
or any other tools for investigation)
*Some other activities that require more teacher input are filling out
a weather chart, using a rain gauge, planting flowers or a garden,
cooking food etc.

7. I/T Toys and Activities need to be more
developmentally appropriate.
 Examples:
 Realistic plastic or rubber zoo animals, farm animals, insects etc.
(All About ITERS pg.280)
 Puzzles with realistic nature or science content (All About ITERS
pg. 280)
 Realistic plastic vegetables and fruit (All About ITERS pg. 280)
 Mobile with realistic birds or butterflies that infants can play with
(All About ITERS pg.280)
 Large magnets that a toddler can experiment with and safe things
for magnets to attract. (All About ITERS pg. 280)

8. Diversity in Science!

9. To restore America’s competitiveness, we
must recruit a new generation of science and
technology leaders by investing in diversity.
-Barack Obama

10. Diversity in Science
Here are some ways to insure you have a diverse
science center:
- Grow plants from different parts of the country and
world.
- Make recipes from different areas or countries.
- Learning about our body and the differences we have
that make us unique.
- Include multiple types of materials to ensure every
student is able to learn and experience science.
It is important that every child of any age, race, religion or culture
be exposed to the natural world around them!

11. What did we learn?

12. When children have access to the materials and interactions in
the Science Center they will develop new skills and abilities
which include:
 When a teachers discusses everyday events with children,
they start to learn about the many wonders of
nature/science that are part of their everyday world. (All
About ECERS-R pg 260).
 Providing nature/science materials and activities, as well
as ample outdoor time, gives children a wider base from
which to develop and learn to understand basic concepts.
(All About ECERS-R pg 253).
 Science/nature center exposure provides opportunities to
enjoy the world, beginning what can be a lifelong interest
in and concern for our environment (All About ECERS-R pg
253).

13. With all of this fun learning happening,
what is the teacher supposed to do?
Teachers must provide safe hands-on opportunities to explore and
experiment with the natural world.
Some examples could be:
- Encouraging students to finish an experiment or recipe.
- Going outside to collect natural materials together.
- Fill out a weather chart every day to track weather.
- Have a class bird feeder right outside of the window and see what
types of birds visit each day.
- Have a Recycling basket in the room and teach the children about
how to Reuse, Reduce and Recycle different things used in the
classroom or for meals.

14. Domain: Approaches to Learning
Strand 2 Initiative and Curiosity
B11 – Grow in eagerness to learn about and discuss a growing
range of topics, ideas and tasks (pg 9)
Strategies:
- Expose children to multiple examples of Science such as
weather, class pet and exploring nature.
- Encourage children to explore nature on their own.
- Engage is discussion with children about experiments or nature
around them.

15. Domain: Cognition and General Knowledge
Strand 2: Learning About the World
Sub-Strand A: Scientific Knowledge
A11: Expand knowledge of and respect for their environment, living
creatures and plant life.(Pg. 28)
A6: Explore characteristics, basic needs and life cycles of living
things.(Pg. 28)
A7: Discover and describe naturally occurring patterns. (e.g. weather
phenomenon, shells etc.) (Pg. 28)
Strategies:
- Teach children about how to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.
Establish items in daily life that can be Recycled into other
useful items.
- Have a class pet such as a butterfly or plant a garden to
demonstrate life cycle.
- Fill out a weather chart and talk about different types of
weather.

16. Domain: Cognition and General Knowledge
Strand 2: Learning about the world
Sub strand B: Scientific Inquiry and Exploration
B9: Expect specific results when playing with toys and other
materials. (Pg. 28)
Strategies:
- Have magnet wands and a collection of magnetic and non
magnetic items available for children to experiment with.
- Allow children to use magnifying glasses to investigate
pictures of snowflakes and compare differences.
- Allow children to play with safe materials they can use
without adult guidance so they may discover
independently or with peers.

17. As teachers, it is our
responsibility to encourage
children to be curious about
the world around them. Today
it might be answering a
question about the weather,
tomorrow it will be answering
a question about what makes
us all unique. Show them the
world, the world that is
SCIENCE!