The JK students have been devising ‘experiments’ with food items and bringing ice into their classroom. They have put all of their ‘experiments’ into a Ziploc bag, attached them to one of their ‘twig blinds’ and have tracked the ‘changes’ through observation, drawings of their discoveries in their journals, and much deep discussion.

During one of their Morning Meetings, the JK children were asked, “What is an experiment?” They had much to share about their theories and findings thus far:

Most significantly, the children’s words were very striking. Gabriel shared that ‘An experiment turns’, trying to verbalize that changes occur and that an original item turns into something else with time. Other words such as, ‘finding’, ‘looking’, something ‘new’ were remarkable insights into the JK’s thoughts about experiments.

Giving the children many opportunities to create experiments, to theorize, to do something by trial and error over and over again, to explore their findings and to share their thoughts has lead us to believe and know, that young children know much about ‘experiments’ and ‘how they work.’