See What Children Know
A teacher can focus children’s thoughts via her questions, as you will observe in this five-minute video. The children are rolling toy cars down a ramp. A bell on a string hangs from a tunnel through which the ramp passes. The larger car reliably makes the bell ring as it rolls through the tunnel. The smaller car often rolls to one side without contact with the suspended bell. In general, the teacher can ask about effects (“What will happen if I use this (larger) car?) or she can ask about causes (“Why does this car work better?”).
There are inherent problems with both of these questions. To the question about effects the child might correctly state, “It will make the bell ring.” But does the child identify the car by its color as the one that made the bell ring a few minutes ago, or does the child understand that it is the width of the car that makes it work? We only know that the child remembers which car works, not why it works.
While the second question seems more answerable than the first, young children find such questions very difficult. They first have to think about the physical dimensions and then select the one that is relevant. Not only that, they need to match different values of that dimension to success and failure. And the dimension could be the force they used to push the car as well as differences in the car’s wheels, weight, or size of the car. Which difference makes the difference? And as you will see in this video young children often reinterpret a question about cause into a question about effects. They “answer” your why question with a demonstration of the effect. So when the teacher asks the children, “Why does this car work better?” the children show her that it works better.
They reenact the effect that the teacher has already mentioned, somewhat because effects are visible and causes are inferences about relevant dimensions, but also because, even if they are thinking about causes, at this age they are more likely to think about their own action as the cause in question, the force of their push, not the width of the car.
The teacher understands the difficulty that the children have in thinking of relevant differences between the two cars. So, she deliberately shifts to what she calls “comparison.” While this relation between car size and bell ring might seem obvious, think about the format of the conversation as you watch the video. The teacher encourages the children to move beyond thinking about one car’s success or failure. She has shifted the thinking from cars to dimensions (number, weight, and size). She also encourages the children to find the value within the dimension that created the effect while a different value of that same dimension failed (big = yes, little = no). It is this sort of reflection that supports young children’s scientific thinking. As John Dewey said many years ago, “It is not experience that is the best teacher, it is reflection on experience that teaches.”
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Notes from the Field
We continue to look for great resources that use web video to help us understand children and the teaching process. During a recent Google-search we came across Larry Edelman’s video clips that range from home visits to playing with puzzles. These clips are posted on the a Colorado Department of Education website called “Results Matter Video Library.” Quoting from this website: “These videos have been produced to help providers better understand ways to use observation, documentation, and assessment to inform practice. You can watch the clips online or download QuickTime versions of the videos for use in educational and professional development activities.” Take a look. The one titled “Caul Plays with a Puzzle” is delightful. If you have a moment, tell us what you find interesting about Caul’s work. Do you think that the way he animates the pieces as little people effects how he orients the pieces before he tries to fit them in the form board? Does his narrative mode support his spatial mode?
