A HEAD START ON SCIENCE DEMONSTRATION PROJECT
at California State University, Long Beach
 
Encouraging a Sense of Wonder
 
 
 
 

I wonder why I wonder why. 
I wonder why I wonder. 
I wonder why I wonder why 
I wonder why I wonder! 

                                                             Richard Feynman, Ph.D. 
Nobel Laureate in Physics, 1965 
 
 
 
    In her delightful book of 1956, Rachel Carson, of Silent Spring fame, described adventures she shared with her young nephew Roger, as they explored the natural world about them in Maine.  Her advice to us was:  If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder...he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in.  The Head Start on Science Project at California State University, Long Beach has adopted Carson's "Sense of Wonder"  as the project theme.  What we seek to do is to encourage that sense of wonder in children while simultaneously rekindling that same spirit in the adults who are their parents and teachers.
 
 
  OVERVIEW OF THE PROJECT

 The Department of Science Education of California State University, Long Beach, in cooperation with the Head Start Program of the Long Beach Unified School District, is conducting a project entitled "A Head Start on Science"  to demonstrate, evaluate, and replicate a summer institute prototype for Head Start teachers, teacher assistants, and home visitors.  The overarching goal is to create a lifelong interest in science for the project participants and the children and families with whom they work.  To do so requires that Head Start professionals become more capable, comfortable, confident, and enthusiastic about increasing their own and their clients'  "sense of wonder" about the world.

 During Summer 1996, project staff developed plans and materials for the first summer institute.  Participants in the pilot institute included the entire teaching staff of the Head Start centers in Long Beach, CA.  Focusing the initial effort on the immediate area enables the project to carry out an intensive follow-up program involving on-site visitations and interaction, as well as several more formal Saturday sessions.  This also enables the outside evaluator to provide the project with formative evaluation data to be used to refine the institute plans and materials for replication in Long Beach and elsewhere.  Products to assist in sharing the prototype institute with others include a Teachers Guide and a Manual for those planning to establish science institutes.  During the institutes, teachers learn how to work successfully with children and parents to heighten and nurture in them an enhanced sense of wonder.

 A second university (Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY) was recruited to conduct a Summer 1997 institute with the support of their West Coast partners.  The refined and enhanced institute plan, taking into account what was learned from the pilot summer 1996 effort, served as the basis for both the East Coast institute and a concurrent Summer 1997 program on the CSULB campus in Long Beach.  Since the follow-up program of visitations and sessions are integral to the project, such efforts are continuing at both sites during the 1997-98 school year, as is assessment of the project.  Participants are able to earn university credit for their work in the summer and during the follow-up activities.

 Overall guidance for the project is being provided by a National Advisory Board comprised of experts in the Head Start program, science education, and early childhood education.  At each institute, day-to-day efforts of the project are also guided by persons with expertise in these same fields.  Project staff are making strong efforts to share what is being learned with Head Start and other relevant audiences.  In addition, an ongoing effort is being made to make the Long Beach institute and its counterpart self-sustaining once the project comes to a close.
 
 

                          © 1997  All rights reserved.
                                 "A HEAD START ON SCIENCE" DEMONSTRATION PROJECT
                                California State University, Long Beach, Department of Science Education
 

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