Inspiring Curiosity and Critical Thinking in Pre-K

Project-based learning (PBL) allows students to take on the important roles of decision makers and thinkers, which inspires and deepens their learning. Is PBL, then, too sophisticated or complex for younger children? Absolutely not—preschool children are actually more than ready to make decisions as they study a topic and to use scientific thinking to solve a problem.

How do we know that a well-planned implementation of PBL engages children’s learning, interests, and attention? First from the research, but we also found this to be true based on our work developing Children Discovering Their World (CDW). In fact, CDW is the culmination of our lifelong careers in early childhood education. Between us, we’ve had roles in teacher preparation, research, professional development, and teaching, sharing a common commitment to improving access to high-quality curriculum, increasing school readiness outcomes, and promoting family and community engagement.

CDW is a series of evidence-based, standards-driven PBL digital curricula for pre-K to 3 and pre-K to 4, currently implemented in 300 classrooms. The lessons we’ll share stem from the partnership between the University of Maryland Center for Early Childhood Education and Intervention and dedicated preschool teachers willing to take risks and allow children to have a voice and choice in their various activities as entomologists, gardeners, engineers, and other real-world roles.  

Project-based learning in action

First, let’s look at CDW’s study of building and engineering. Children’s early exploration of block play helps them develop the essential skills needed to design and build structures. When they hold, carry, and stack blocks, children learn about the properties of weight, shape, and size. These early math concepts help them decide how to build and rebuild structures that stay upright and steady against the forces of gravity. Each time young children repeat the cyclical process of building with blocks, knocking them down, and starting over again, they become better at finding solutions and planning new strategies.

Another example is CDW’s study of animal families. Once young children grasp the concept of big and little, they wonder how the bigger people in their lives took care of them when they were little babies. As children mature, their curiosity about other types of babies, such as animal babies, becomes more apparent. If they see a puppy or duckling in the park, they often want to get closer, try to touch it, and even pet it. Their wonder about how animals are like people is expressed in questions like Where does the animal live? Does it have a family? Who takes care of them? During this study, children think like zoologists by observing how animal parents care for their young and how baby animals eat, communicate, move, and stay safe.

Both projects center around children taking on the perspective of a real-world role: as a builder constructing a sturdy structure or as a zoologist observing the parenting behaviors of ducks. We can stretch children’s thinking by asking “Why?” “How?” “What if?” and other wonder-provoking questions: How can we follow a plan to build a structure? or Why do baby birds make different chirp sounds?

Deepening Student Understanding

To further students’ understanding, teachers can guide them to investigate questions using experiential resources. This can include a field trip or a virtual interview with an expert in the field. It is important to display children’s work throughout the project to capture their learning.

Ask questions about their work to help them recognize how they explored a concept and reflect on their prior learning experiences. This form of review can inspire them to build on their ideas or try something new. Since children naturally enjoy making observations, they can use this skill to compare the different ways that ducklings and puppies thrive and learn from their animal parents.

Providing Support And Challenging Students

During PBL, we have seen educators take a number of effective steps to provide children with appropriate levels of support and challenge: 

• Respect and promote all children’s strengths by including their own ideas and experiences so they can make personal connections to the project and embrace their cultural and linguistic diversity.
• Reinforce the concept of what it means to be part of a community by providing children with opportunities to work side-by-side with a community partner—prior to engaging with community members, spend time helping children develop questions and record their ideas.
• Plan high-quality feedback by asking cause-and-effect questions, slowing down to let children make their own learning connections, and using mirror talk to reflect what they’re thinking or doing.
• Capture valuable formative assessment data while listening to children’s comments and reflecting with them as they review their work. For example, ask children to describe what they constructed or decide if they want to change or add to their ideas. Place drawing and writing materials nearby to encourage children to record their reflective thoughts and questions.
• Create flexible groups to promote children’s collaborative learning as they work within their Zone of Proximal Development. To decide the size and makeup of each group, refer to the lesson’s learning objective or early learning standard and your formative assessment data for each child. Remember, grouping arrangements are temporary: Plan to have children work together for one lesson or for a few weeks based on their growing needs, strengths, and interests.
• Have key vocabulary words with photos that children can use to prompt recall and reinforce new concepts.
• Use encouraging and positive language. Provide opportunities for children to be active participants in conversations, remembering that not all participation has to be verbal and active.
• Engage families to strengthen home-school connections by providing simple prompts and activities to help children express their thinking at home and by inviting family members who have knowledge about the topic, like building or caring for a pet.
• Toward the end of the project, ask children to decide how to “tell the story” of their learning. Be their guide as they create something new to share with others, such as making a class book detailing their ideas or displaying their work in creative ways. Their imaginations can reach new heights as they connect their classroom learning to real-world exploration by turning their classroom into a construction site or a veterinarian’s office.

Through our CDW curriculum project, we repeatedly see pre-K children making insightful connections between what they’re learning inside the classroom and what they’re discovering outside the classroom—whether it’s from seeing a house being constructed in their neighborhood or taking a family pet to the vet’s office. Learning is relevant to their lives, and their motivation to ask questions and dig deeper becomes second nature, just as it should be.