Instructional Challenges in Developing Young Children's Science Concepts

Early childhood instruction tends to focus heavily on literacy development, sometimes at the expense of rich concept development (CEP, 2007; Neuman, 2006; NRC, 2012; NSTA, 2014). Because of the emphasis on literacy instruction, many early childhood teachers integrate content areas, such as science, in literacy instruction through read alouds of texts that involve science concepts. This article explores the challenges some teachers experience when trying to integrate science and literacy instruction in early childhood and explains ways in which teachers can effectively support science concept development in read alouds. We argue against the use of narrative texts to teach scientific concepts, explain how and why informational texts are much better suited to that task, and present four guiding principles and instructional challenges for teaching science concepts in read alouds of informational texts, illustrated using classroom examples.