This book emphasizes the significance of teaching science in early childhood classrooms, reviews the research on what young children are likely to know about science, and provides key points on effectively teaching science to young children. Science education, an integral part of national and state standards for early childhood classrooms, encompasses not only content-based instruction but also process skills, creativity, experimentation, and problem-solving. By introducing science in developmentally appropriate ways, we can support young children's sensory explorations of their world and provide them with foundational knowledge and skills for lifelong science learning, as well as an appreciation of nature. This book emphasizes the significance of teaching science in early childhood classrooms, reviews the research on what young children are likely to know about science, and provides key points on effectively teaching young children science. Common research methods used in the reviewed studies are identified, methodological concerns are discussed, and methodological and theoretical advances are suggested.

Chapter 1: The Inclusion of Science in Early Childhood Classrooms, Kathy Cabe Trundle.- Chapter 2: Young Children's Motivation for Learning Science, Helen Patrick, Panayota Mantzicopoulos.- Chapter 3: Young Children's Ideas about Earth and Space Science Concepts, Mesut Saçkes.- Chapter 4: Young Children's Ideas about Physical Science Concepts, Yannis Hadzigeorgiou.- Chapter 5: Children's Ideas about Life Science Concepts, Valarie Akerson, Ingrid Weiland, Khadija Fouad.- Chapter 6: Too Little, Too Late: Addressing Nature of Science in Early Childhood Education, Randy L. Bell and Tyler L. St. Clair.- Chapter 7: Development of Science Process Skills in the Early Childhood Years, Jamie Jirout, Corinne Zimmerman.- Chapter 8: The Use of Technology in Teaching Science to Young Children, Sedat Ucar.- Chapter 9: Teaching Science to Young Children with Special Needs, Sheila Alber-Morgan, Mary R. Sawyer, Heather Lynnine Miller.- Chapter 10: Physical-Knowledge Activities for the Development of Logico-Mathematical Knowledge, Constance Kamii.- Chapter 11: Science and Literacy: Considering the Role of Texts in Early Childhood Science Education, Laura B. Smolkin, Carol A. Donnovan.- Chapter 12: Role of Play in Teaching Science in the Early Childhood Years, Berrin Akman and Sinem, Güçhan Özgül.- Chapter 13: A Modeling-Based Inquiry Framework for Early Childhood Science Learning, Ala Samarapungavan, Deborah Tippins, Lynn Bryan.- Chapter 14: Connecting Young Children with the Natural World: Past, Present and Future Landscapes, Deborah J. Tippins, Stacey Neuharth-Pritchett, Debra Mitchell.- Chapter 15: Science Education for Young Emergent Bilinguals, Leslie C. Moore and Mandy McCormick Smith.- Chapter 16: Assessment in Early Childhood Science Education, Daryl Greenfield.