What Can 4-yr-olds Understand About Science?

dr.karl.b asks: "My 3 and a half year old son is in Kindergarten. Here in Germany that includes 3 to 6 year olds. He is supposed to explain what his parents' occupations are. I am a scientist, and despite all the advice I have received saying he can't understand what I do, I am determined to try. I study self-motion perception, from basic-science vestibular processing to the role of real-motion cues in flight simulation. We have several cool labs in my institute, like robot-arm motion simulators and full-immersion virtual reality set-ups. We can easily compete with amusement parks for wow-factor, but I have 2 questions: How can I explain my work to my son? How can I invite his class (3-6 yr olds) to our institute to have them learn AND have fun, rather than ONLY have fun?"

Concrete examples

[Metasquares]

They won't understand vestibular processing, but they will probably understand "that dizzy feeling they get when they spin around". You can then explain why that happens when it does, then talk about manipulating balance for virtual reality (maybe using video games or movies as an example) and the work that your lab does. You just need to find some way to relate it to them while maintaining its "coolness".

I'm guessing not much

[Anonymous Coward]

According to developmental psychologists (starting with Piaget [1]) they don't get a whole load of essential stuff like conservation of volume, trains of events logical connection etc. There's no way that they get statistics, etc. All you could hope would be that they'd have fun exploring the world in a way which facilitates the development of those genetically programmed abilities, so possibly something like a Montessori (AMI, not Froebel or any of that non-tested, hippy touchy-feely stuff) environment would be a good start [2].

I suppose to some extent it depends on what you see science as, but to me it's to do with observation (including recording of observations), and hypothesis forming. According to the above that's going on at a very alarming rate in young brains and absolutely massive conceptual leaps are made. If you can keep that sense of fun and excitement going then likely you get an adult scientist.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Piaget [wikipedia.org]

[2] http://www.montessori-ami.org/ [montessori-ami.org]

Re:be careful

[hyfe]

Wow. You've heard very, very wrong then. That statement is very wrong on many levels.

Either way, soccer has very little to do with physical size, and alot to do with technique, balance and how well you read/understand the play. As far as depth goes, it's the most complicated sport I've ever played (complicated as in doing it, not complicated as in the manager does decisions, or you have to remember xxx formations).

Summary

[CaptainCarrot]

I think it should be easy to get kids to understand that a scientist's job is to find out about how the world works. Beyond that, the best advice you have received here is to 1) Show them in concrete terms what it is you investigate; 2) Avoid jargon, don't try to teach vocabulary, and express ideas in elementary terms; 3) Make it fun so as to engage them.

Re:Math

[tverbeek]

I'm sure your daughter is both smart and adorable, and will grow up to be a great {climatologist/homemaker/supermodel/general}. But I wouldn't assume that all of the behavior you describes reflects conscious analytical thinking. At least some of it can be explained by simple conditioning, and many of the more intelligent non-human mammals - e.g. my family's dog - exhibit similarly complex patterns.

Re:Well...

[Grishnakh]

Don't forget, however, that this guy is in Germany. People there might actually be somewhat knowledgable about science there.

German guy: you really screwed up by asking such a question on Slashdot. Most of the readers here are American (makes sense since it's an English-language site), and the rest of the world should know by now that we Americans know absolutely nothing about science, and most of us believe the earth is 6000 years old and that dinosaur fossils are fakes placed there by God to test our faith.

I suggest asking this question on a German-language site.

Hey, let him have a normal life...

[ponos]

You should only try to satisfy his natural curiosity, to the extent that he is actually interested. I don't think you should force advanced knowledge on a child of his age. Even if he manages to learn he will only have developed "rote" learning and (quite propably) a strong dislike for science, due to the pressure involved. Let him be what he wants to be and gently encourage him.

Re:Hell ... self-motion perception

[pbhj]

He studies

>>> "... self-motion perception, from basic-science vestibular processing to the role of real-motion cues in flight simulation".

So basically he tries to work out "am I moving, am I dizzy, can I see".

I figure he's a professional drunk.

>>> "We can easily compete with amusement parks"

The queue for the water cooler must be horrendous.

Re:4 year olds and science

[adisakp]

OK... let me translate the tongue-in-cheek version you are calling lies and hatred on a phrase-by-phrase basis into a Church-Speak(tm) version and you tell me which part is a distortion of what many believe to be true:

Let us pray to the All-mighty God, creator of the Universe, who came down to us Himself in the form His son Jesus Christ - He who was reborn from the dead, risen so that He may cleanse us of our sins and grant us eternal life. By eating the bread that is the body of Jesus and drinking the wine that is His blood, we pray to Jesus to accept Him as our Savior, whom we worship and none other. We pray that He remove our sins, both those we have committed ourselves and the original sin Of Adam and Eve with which we were born.

I'd say the two are presenting the identical facts, albeit using slightly different terminology and phrasing... and heck, you might actually hear the second one in a church on any given Sunday.