Learning Science, Mathematics and Technology with Children's Essay

Learning Science, Mathematics and Technology with Children's Engagement in Play - Essay Example It will be learned that Science, Math and Technology concepts and skills are acquired while children engage in play. Math and Science are all around. Children usually see numbers on television channels, telephones, their house numbers, on tag prices, etc. They may also witness their mothers in the kitchen as they cook following recipes that specify the measured ingredients. Science is likewise ever-present as they discover how things work, observe change in things, use their senses in learning about their world. Technology is likewise accessible to them. This is not limited to what most adults know about technology as electronic gadgets or computerized contraptions. Technology includes processes people use to solve a problem deliberately. Adults should respect how young children want to try their hand in working with technology (Mortlock, 2005). It is for the children to discover how technology will work for them and make tasks more convenient such as using cups or buckets in the san dbox to create more defined mounds of sand instead of just a hump they shape out of their hands. The following will discuss how science, math and technology interplay in the messy play of infants, sand play of toddlers and block play of pre-schoolers. These activities come naturally for children that they do not need any specific instructions from adults. Messy But Busy Babies† In the Stages of Cognitive Development of Piaget, children from 0 – 2 years of age belong to the Sensorimotor Stage. This period is characterized by interactions with the environment based on the child’s reception of sensory input and muscular reactions. The task of this period is to develop the concept of object permanence, the idea that objects exist even when they cannot be seen or heard. (Brewer, 2001). Infants are sensorial learners and they are awed by the possibilities of the objects around them. When they engage in messy play, they get to touch things and feel its textures, see the object up close so details may be inspected. They even get to smell or in most cases, taste objects because it is in their nature to learn about things by putting it in their mouths. Science is at work when they notice changes in things, such as when a drop of paint blots on the paper when an object passes on it. They also get to notice tracks or prints of objects such as car wheels or rollers when these make impressions with paint on paper. They learn math when they see the colors and shapes of the toys they play with and get to feel the dimensions of shapes when they touch these with their hands. They would know that circles have no angles and that squares have 4 sides. When they are handed things like sponges or small rubber stamps for printing, they realize that these may serve as technology to leave imprints when dipped in paint. Allowed to explore paints and things during messy play gives them several learning opportunities about how things work in the world and what they can do with these things to cause an effect such as rolling a plastic care over paint and seeing the tracks they can make from it. Curious Tykes in the Sandbox Toddlers continue to enjoy sensorial play and they love playing with open-ended materials such as sand and water. They learn many scientific concepts with sand. Pouring various amounts of water on sand creates different textures and this dictates how firm the sand will mold into the