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Six two-year-olds and their teacher, experiment with mixing food coloring in water. Notice how the teacher works to increase the children’s understanding by asking them to plan ahead: “Tyler, do you have an idea of how many drops of blue we should put in?” Observe what strategies the teacher uses to maintain the children’s interest and encourage their participation. Carefully study how the children respond when food coloring is added and learn what their comments and actions indicate about their knowledge of color mixing. Using the details of their interaction, think about ways to encourage the children to better relate the addition of color (cause) to the change in the water (effect). Consider what materials you would choose to provoke a color mixing experience in your own classroom.

Keywords: Twos, Teaching, Children-Teacher, Cause/Effect, Counting, Environments

Length of stand-alone master video clip: 4 minutes 17 seconds