The influence of early science experience in kindergarten on children s immediate and later science achievement evidence from the early childhood longitudinal study

Abstract

This study explores the impacts of selected early science experiences in kindergarten (frequency andduration of teachers’ teaching of science, availability of sand/water table and science areas, and children’s participationin cooking and science equipment activities) on children’s science achievement in kindergarten and third grade using datafor 8,642 children from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten cohort (ECLS-K). A theoretical modelthat depicts the relationships between the study variables was developed and tested using structural equation modeling.Results demonstrated that availability of science materials in kindergarten classrooms facilitated teachers’ teaching ofscience and children’s participation in science activities. Likewise, the frequency and the duration of kindergarten scienceteaching was a significant predictor of children’s science activities but not of the children’s end of kindergarten scienceachievement scores. Children’s engagement with science activities that involved using science equipment also was not asignificant predictor of their end of kindergarten science achievement. However, children’s participation in cookingactivities was. Children’s prior knowledge, motivation, socio-economic status, and gender were all statistically significantpredictors of their science achievement at the end of kindergarten and end of third grade. Results of this study indicatethat early science experiences provided in kindergarten are not strong predictors of children’s immediate and later scienceachievement. Findings of the study suggest that the limited time and nature of science instruction might be related to thelimited effect of the science experiences. Implications for teacher education programs and educational policydevelopment are discussed.