Of all the visitors to the Australian Museum each year, which one is likely to have a brain altering experience as a result of their visit? A school child on their annual excursion? A tourists keen to get a better understanding of what Australia has to offer? An adults with a lifelong passion for a particular topic? Or a toddler, still a little unsteady on her feet?
Go for the toddler every time! The brain development of a child is quite remarkable. When a baby is born, their brain weighs just 25% of its final adult weight. The newborn's brain already has all the brain cells, or neurons, that will be needed for life. However the connections between the neurons, called the synapses, are yet to fully develop. This happens at a staggering rate in response to the child's experiences and. By the age of three the child's brain will have about twice as many synapses as an adult's brain. After the first ten years the synapses gradually reduce to the final adult level. The brain is designed to grow and learn at a particularly fast rate in the early years, and it grows in direct relationship with the child's external environment. "Evolution has equipped our species with an 'ecological brain', dependent throughout its life on environmental input". (Shore, 1997)
So, a child's awe at standing next to a huge dinosaur skeleton, or delight and fascination at a display of colourful butterflies can actually lead to changes occurring in their brain, to new synapses being formed. What an exciting challenge for an early childhood program! How rewarding to think that the experiences provided at the Museum can have such a profound effect on a child's development.
It is with this hope that the Australian Museum's early childhood program is being developed, under the guidance of the program coordinator Sarah Main. The huge success of Kidspace since its opening in May 1999 has simply reinforced the realisation that the Museum has a lot to offer young visitors.
In fact the Museum has catered for young children in different ways for many years. In 1990 the new Discovery Space featured an area for 5s and under, the opening of More Than Dinosaurs in 1995 included the 'Sea Caves' for this age group. The Biodiversity exhibition opened in 1998 complete with four areas designed for young learners. One area on sustainability had been designed collaboratively with a group of 9-10 year olds. During this period young children were also remembered in temporary exhibitions such as Gargantuans from the Garden, Shark! and Frogs.
Science learning for young children is receiving increasing attention. In Washington D.C. in 1998, at the request of the National Science Foundation, more than 100 experts gathered at the forum on Early Childhood Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education to discuss how, when and even if we should teach science, mathematics and technology to pre-kindergarten children. The answer to the final question was a definite yes! As one of the participants, Karen K Lind, wrote in the book that is the product of the meeting:
'More than ever before, educators agree that preschool-level and primary-level science is an active enterprise. Science is understood to be a process of finding out and a system for organising and reporting discoveries. Rather than being viewed as the memorisation of facts, science is seen as a way of thinking and trying to understand the world.' (Lind, 2000)
How does the Museum's growing early childhood program cater for these active, willing learners who are ready and waiting to use their (wonderful) 'ecological brains'!
Kidspace has proven to be a much loved, effective, powerful and a way of introducing children to the Australian Museum. It was designed in consultation with parents, early childhood practitioners and Museum staff for children to learn through play. Great care was given to the physical environment of the space, and after the opening Sarah Main carried out a research project for her Early Childhood Masters degree exploring links between the physical environment of Kidspace and children's learning. The study concluded that there is a strong connection between the two. The exciting nature of the physical space. which includes a boat, hot air balloon, wombat's burrow, and cubby house sets a positive environment for learning, involving children at an emotional level. The physical space encourages children to explore and upon exploration 'discover' things that excite them, such as model animals, shells, crystals and insect puppets. These are then brought to carers and/or staff for discussion. This way, children feel attachment to and ownership of the things they find, and they can assign meaning to them because the whole physical space puts everything into a context. Had the objects been presented on a table or in a showcase they would have had far less appeal.
In February 2001 'Time to Play' a program for 5s and under was launched, offering themed workshops, exhibition-based activities and story sessions about the Australian environment. From 2002 onwards, this successful program will be held each February and for the first week of the school terms 2, 3 & 4. The program offers an extended experience for young learners and an extra opportunity to interact with Museum staff.
Starting in 2002, Wednesdays will be 'Family Day'. No groups will be booked into Kidspace, so toddlers visiting with their carers will have free reign without needing to fit around enthusiastic preschool groups! There will also be an extra activity happening each Wednesday morning, varying from a 'Storytime' session, art experiences, close observation and touching of animal specimens to dinosaur dress-ups.
Work is progressing on preschool prototypes of our popular "Museum in a Box" loan kits. The boxes have been available to schools for many years, and contain items from the Museum invaluable for those who are unable to make the trip to College Street. While they are sometimes borrowed by preschools, they are designed for older learners. The preschool boxes are being designed to cater for young children's particular learning style, allowing them to use the materials to follow their own interests and questions about the world around them. As Fleer & Cahill wrote in a recent Australian Early Childhood Association publication "I Want to Know....? Learning About Science"
'Research over the past 15 years has shown how children's questions are immensely more complex and interesting than those posed by adults. Children will focus on the everyday in ways that adults are not likely to consider. For example, staff teaching about plants may focus on growing plants from seeds. Yet what is significant to children may well be quite different. A child might ask, 'The grass is very dry. How do you put the green back into the plants?'
Many farmers would like a good answer to this question too!
There are many more exciting roads for the program to take. Work is beginning on an early childhood component of the website right now, there is much potential for online interaction, via the Museum's website. There have also been discussions between the Australian Museum, the Melbourne Museum and the University of Melbourne's Centre for Innovation and Equity in Early Childhood about the possibility of launching a joint research project to investigate the most effective way of teaching young Anglo-Australian children about Indigenous Australians. Our young visitors are Australia's future. If the Museum's early childhood program can contribute to the next generation's understanding of and passion for/about the country's cultural and natural heritage, then we can all sleep a little easier at night!
Fleer, M. & Cahill, A. (2001) I Want to Know...? Learning About Science Australian Early Childhood Association Inc. publishing@aeca.org.au
Lind (2000) "First Experiences in Science, Mathematics, and Technology" in Project 2061 Dialogue on Early Childhood Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education.
Shore, R. (1997) Rethinking the Brain. New Insights into Early Development. Families at Work Institute, New York.
Copyright © Australian Museum, 2003
