A Head Start on Science: Encouraging a Sense of Wonder

Imagine what fun it could be for 3- to 7-year-olds to engage in a game of Prism Play or Magnetic Scavenger Hunt or Where Did the Shadows Go? Then imagine how convenient it would be for you if such activities came with the connections, standards, and assessments today’s early childhood educators need most. Your dream resource comes to life in this revised and expanded edition of A Head Start on Science: Encouraging a Sense of Wonder. It builds on children’s innate curiosity through 89 developmentally appropriate, teacher-tested activities in life, Earth, and physical science. Like A Head Start on Life Science, this book emphasizes child-centered development of science practices and skills. Children can explore the natural world as they take advantage of lively opportunities for science learning. But here’s what sets this book apart: It’s an all-in-one resource for caregivers and teachers from preK to grade 2. Each lesson includes a follow-up activity, connections to centers and children’s literature, assessment guides, and bonus activities written in Spanish and English that let families continue the fun―and the learning―at home. Each activity also supports both the 2015 Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework and the Next Generation Science Standards. Whether your young scientists are building bird nests or making bubbles, A Head Start on Science, Second Edition will enrich what the editors call “your noble and indispensable work―providing children with opportunities to follow their own curiosity as they joyfully explore the natural world.”

William C. Ritz, professor emeritus of science education at California State University Long Beach (CSULB), has been involved in science teaching and science teacher education all his professional life. Bill’s career began in the public schools of western New York state, where he taught junior high science and biology for many years. Then, four years as an elementary science consultant with the Eastern Regional Institute for Education took him into classrooms throughout New York and Pennsylvania; during this time he completed doctoral studies in science education at The State University of New York at Buffalo. In 1970, Bill joined the science education faculty of Syracuse University, where he also directed the university’s Environmental Studies Institute. Since moving to California in 1977, he has taught both elementary and secondary science education courses at CSULB. Bill was elected to the Board of Directors of the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) as its teacher education director in 1983. He returned to the NSTA Board in 1988–1989 as president of the Association for the Education of Teachers in Science (AETS) and again in 1996–1998, as director for District XVI. Author of more than 20 publications in science education, he has directed a number of funded projects at CSULB. Perhaps most important, in 1996 Bill developed the A Head Start on Science project that strives to provide quality science resources and professional development for early childhood educators.

William Straits is a professor of science education at California State University, Long Beach. He earned a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from the University of California at Irvine (1991); master’s degrees in biology from California State University Fullerton (1995) and in curriculum and instruction from the University of Texas at Austin (1997); and a PhD in science education also from the University of Texas at Austin (2001). Throughout his career, as a science teacher and as a teacher educator, he has emphasized the natural and important connections between science and language literacies. He currently serves as director of the National Center for Science in Early Childhood and focuses much of his scholarly work on early childhood science education. He is continually amazed by the loving and tireless work of teachers of young children and humbly hopes that this book, in some small way, aids them in their efforts—helping children to heighten and expand their joyful “sense of wonder” about the natural world.