Young children know more about the world around them than you think. They are naturally competent with the basic concepts of math and science even before they are taught these subjects at school! Babies and toddlers, for example, can’t help but run into situations where maths and science come into play and due to their rapidly growing minds, they absorb information fast. However, they might not necessarily know that what they’re experiencing or partaking of are the products or concepts of math and science. Consider for a moment if math and science education were to be taken a tad deliberately at the early ages…. Wouldn’t it make full use of this window of time where learning is easier for children?

The super absorbent ages

The generally engaging and encouraging climate in enrichment centers for mathematics are structured to cater for children’s early encounters with the subject. Their confidence in their ability to understand and use mathematics is boosted, and at the right time too. These positive experiences help children to develop dispositions such as curiosity, imagination, flexibility, inventiveness, and persistence, which contribute to their future success in and out of school.

The qualified educators at these centers work to introduce mathematical concepts, methods, and language through a variety of appropriate experiences and research-based teaching strategies. They also strive to guide children in seeing connections of ideas within mathematics and guide their mathematical knowledge throughout their day to day experiences too. These teachers are trained to encourage children to communicate as they interact with important mathematics in deeper and more sustained ways.

Recognizing the Limits

Mathematics have concepts at many different levels of abstraction and at times, even the lowest levels of abstraction are beyond the abilities of young children’s understanding. For example, Algebra. This component of maths requires the learner to have acquired formal operations, operations that enable them to deal with second symbol systems. Very young children are unlikely to comprehend second symbol systems.

Why are science and mathematics are so important for kids?

Science teaches kids about logic. Why does an object fall to the grown when you let go of it? Why is the sky blue? Why do we need plants on earth?

Curiosity naturally runs in children, so fun and exciting lessons will give them more things to ponder about and also occupy them with activities such as appropriate science experiments. This will allow them to become more creative, curious and help them come to logical conclusions.

Children that are exposed to mathematics and science in the early years will also learn how to apply it in daily life. In kindergarten, children will have their first experience of dealing with money. When they buy stuff from the book shop or canteen, they have a hands-on experience on how buying transaction really works. They will inevitably also start learning how to budget their money and even think prudently before buying anything.

This firm grasp of knowledge on science and math in their early days will allow them to be better equipped to absorb more complicated areas of study and go further in their academic life.

Parent’s guide to choosing maths and/or science books for their pre-schooler

When shopping for maths or science books for your young child, remember that the book or books should:

• Feature current, factual content;
• Have clear and simple explanations;
• Feature beautifully presented illustrations and narrative;
• Allow children to answer questions and/or explore concepts effectively.