Professor Waxley at the University of Texas-Houston asks:
"How are math concepts incorporated into the Young Scientist Series?"

Redleaf Press author Karen Worth responds:
Many concepts of mathematics are natural parts of science—whether the science of four-year-olds or the science of adult scientists. In the Young Scientist Series (YSS), we did not incorporate mathematics ideas in order to teach certain mathematics concepts. Instead, we used mathematical ideas as they naturally emerged from science investigations. Some examples from the three YSS books follow:

Building Structures with Young Children has the most obvious use of math. While investigating the science of building structures, children engage in mathematical experiences related to number, shape, pattern, measurement, and spatial relationships, plus many of the thinking skills common to both domains. We wrote an article titled The Science and Math of Building Structures, published in January 2004 in Science and Children magazine (NSTA). This article speaks to the interweaving of science and mathematics in this book. Once, someone walked out of a workshop we were doing on the building unit, complaining that she thought she was coming to a science workshop not a math one!

While somewhat less obvious, mathematical ideas are also present in the other two YSS books, Discovering Nature with Young Children and Exploring Water with Young Children. As children explore the living world and study plants and small animals in their natural habitats, they count, sort, categorize, measure, and look at shape and size. In Exploring Water with Young Children, children gain experience with: volume, as they work at the water table; size and shape, as they investigate drops on different surfaces; and size, shape, sorting, and categorization, as they explore sinking and floating objects.

In our development work as well as in the YSS teachers' guides, we encourage teachers to work with children on mathematics in science in the ways described above. We do not include "lessons" or "exercises" in mathematics topics. Science is in the foreground. Mathematics and literacy are critical tools children use that teachers can emphasize for collecting data and deepening the understanding of science ideas.

Karen Worth is a senior scientist at Education Development Center (EDC) and is a graduate level instructor in the early childhood education department at Wheelock College.

Have a question about a Redleaf Press book? Want some information from our author experts? E-mail your question to mmiller@redleafpress.org and we'll ask our authors for you. If your question is chosen for use in our e-newsletter, we'll send you a $20.00 Redleaf Press gift certificate.