A few years ago, while playing in the outdoor area, an interesting conversation just happened naturally……


“Look what I found!” shout Isla with excitement. A little friend showed me a small, white feather in her palm. “A small feather!” Her eyes were wide open as if she had found the most valuable treasure. “Yes, it is a white feather, ” I said with a smile. '`Do you know if I let it go, it fly away?” she said. “Yes, but do you know why?” I asked. “Because the wind blows it away, ” said another boy. Then, I kept asking “How about if I drop a rock, where would it go?” “I know, it goes down, ” said the boy, “and it is gravity!” I picked up a rock and asked them what would happen if I toss it and both of them said it would fall down and it was gravity. 


The conversations did not last for too long and I had no intentions to turn it into a big lesson at that moment. However, it was such a wonderful moment to catch their interest and engage them in some scientific discussions. When the little ones make inquiries, as a teacher, it is one of our jobs to respond to them no matter if we know the answer or not. We grow their minds full of curiosities so they are willing to explore the unknown world. 


However, I did keep this topic in mind. When we had a theme about transportation, we tried to run down a toy car from the top of a ramp.In order to nurture their curiosity and encourage them to look for the answer, we talked about what made the car move and slide down the slope, which brought in the word of “gravity.” We also expanded this activity to see if the height of the ramp affects the speed of the car and learned more about it. It is crucial to build little scientific minds with real-world experiences and hand-on activities. Later in the day, I saw my little friends recreate the experiments we made during the station-play time. I know, the tiny seed of learning has started growing.


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