With his increased confidence as a result of settling more into the Toddler Room, Lucas has recently expressed greater interest in participating in group experiences. He thoroughly enjoyed the egg experiment we recently conducted as a class exploring the role salt has on an object and its density in water. When I (Anna) invited the children to come join me at the round table to begin the experiment, Lucas was one of the first to express interest. He curiously came over to the table, pulled out a chair and sat down.
“Oh?” he said with surprise upon seeing the different objects on the table. There was a transparent measuring cup, a bag of salt, an egg, and a spoon.
“Egg!” he said with excitement.
“Yes, that’s right Lucas. It is an egg”. I said, smiling.
I explained to Lucas and the rest of the children what each object was and its purpose in the experiment. The children were encouraged to feel each object and communicate any interesting points about it.
“Ooh funny. Like sand” one toddler commented upon dipping his finger in the bag of salt.
Like the other children, Lucas was encouraged to hold the egg in a cupped hand. With the emphasis on ‘gentle hands’, Lucas tried his best not to apply too much pressure around the delicate object. The concentration was visible on his face as he took on the job with a sense of responsibility. I decided to go one step further and designated Lucas with the role of holding the egg while I filled the measuring cup with plain water.
The children were quiet as they watched the measuring cup get filled until it reached the three-quarter level. I asked Lucas to gently drop the egg into the water. He looked at me as I said this, glanced at the egg, and then returned to look at me. With his left hand gripped around the handle of the measuring cup, he slowly released the egg into the water with his right.
“Oh?” Lucas said, pointing to the bottom of the measuring where the egg was now sitting.
“Where’s the egg? It’s at the bottom of the cup, isn’t it?” I asked the children.
“Yeahh..” some of the Toddlers answered.
Lucas hunched his shoulders as he tried to get a closer look at the cup.
“This is our control in the experiment” I explained to the children. “Next, we’re going to add the salt.”
I dipped my hand into the measuring cup, scooped it out, and passed the egg back to Lucas.
Not a sound could be heard as the children watched me intently as I poured approximately half a cup of salt pour into the water. Using a spoon, I stirred the salt until it completely mixed through.
“Lucas, can you please drop the egg into the cup again” I requested.
With the same degree of care as before, Lucas slowly released the egg into the water. This time, the egg behaved differently. I decided to stay quiet until the children noticed for themselves the effect added salt had on the egg in the water.
“Ohhh! Look!” one of the Toddlers said in shock.
“Annnna, egg!” Lucas said, surprised.
The egg that had previously drifted to the bottom of the egg in the plain water was bobbing up and down now in the salt water. It then floated to the surface where half of it was submerged, and the other half was exposed.
Lucas was clearly fascinated by the egg’s behaviour, and he attempted to push it back down by using his index finger.
“Up! Up!” Lucas commented.
As educators we always encourage children in their development of dispositions for learning such as curiosity, persistence, and confidence. It was wonderful to see Lucas confidently following through with his educator’s instructions. Lucas increasingly appears to enjoy being assigned a task and the sense of responsibility that comes with it. When Lucas demonstrated that he understood the importance in being gentle when handling the egg, I chose to give extend his role in the experiment.
As educators, we praise children for their efforts and in doing so, aim to help develop their confidence skills so they are more willing to try the unfamiliar and the challenging in a safe, secured, and supported environment. We will continue to support Lucas’s communication skills so he is able to verbalise his observations, inferences, and ideas. In the Toddler Room, we will increasingly introduce appropriate tools, technologies and media that will enhance Lucas’s learning. Giving Lucas the opportunities to assist in science experiments will encourage his problem solving, enquiry, and hypothesising skills.
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