Exploration Station: Doing Science with Preschoolers

Here is the setting: There are around 250 children's librarians. And me...

But this was a real good program. The Cuyahoga County Library in PA (by reputation one of the best libraries in the country) did this program. The speakers were engaging, dynamic (and wore wireless headsets so they were able to roam around and still be heard). The title of the program gave a good idea of what this program was about, and it lived up to its title.

The Library worked on the premise that the child *and* parent need to be engaged in the learning experience. This experience should be hands on. This experience should ultimately point back to their book collection. And at the end of the day, the child (and parent) should reinforce this experience by taking something home, whether it is a craft, book, or hopefully both. (Gosh, this sounds familiar...)

What this Library did was create 20 different kits that address curriculum standards. Subjects ranged from science (i.e. light, color, what things will float, etc) to math to music. These kits (just stuff in a cardboard box) were not very complex, and relatively low cost.

Here is example of how the "what things will float" kit worked: All this kit consisted of was a small plastic tub, a little water, a piece of aluminum foil and some pennies (or could use rocks). The parent and child are given basic instructions on what to do, in this case put foil on the water and see if it floats. Then start putting pennies on the foil to see if it will still float. At the point, the parent should start facilitating the learning experience. There is the concept of floating. Plus counting (adding one penny at a time). And eventually why something will no longer float. Very simple but at the same time, an interactive learning experience. Accompanying each of these learning kits is a laminated card that explains the learning activity plus the curriculum standards it addresses.

This Library does this program once a week per library. (It rotates the kits around their system). They use a decidated space to set up the program. The way the program works is first there is a 10 minute storytime, then around 40 minutes to "play" with kits, then a 5 minute "clean up" activity (I liked this idea!) and then a 5 minute wrap up.

All in all, very interesting. The audience loved this program and thought it was very innovative. But this is what I took away: Yes, it was innovative, but we are taking this same concept (interactivity, facilitated learning with parent and child, purposeful play, taking something away at the end of the experience) and instead of having stuff in cardboard boxes, we will have our PALs. I personally think that if a huge room full of children's librarians were impressed with these Exploration Stations, they will be blown away by the PALs!