Infants as scientists

 While visiting the infant room recently, I had the opportunity to watch as an older infant explored the water as it came out of the sink faucet.  He touched the metal of the faucet itself; he attempted to grab the stream of water.  He allowed the water to run over his hands and his arms while he observed carefully.

For our youngest children, one of their biggest jobs is to understand how the world works on a basic, physical level.  The metal faucet has certain properties-- it is hard, it is cold.  Touching it doesn't make it change shape. The water stream, on the other hand, has a different set of properties.  It is cold (sometimes!), but it isn't hard.  It changes shape when I put my hand under it.  I can't grab hold of it like I can with my toy ball or the metal faucet.  When I put my hand on it, water sprays on me and I experience the feeling of being wet. 

This exploration is key to children's cognitive development.  In their minds, they are fitting the world like puzzle pieces into what they already know, and when a puzzle piece doesn't "fit" with what they already know, they create a new concept in their minds, plus all of the neural connections that go with it.  Child development theorist Jean Piaget called these dual concepts "accommodation" and "assimilation."  In these photographs, the infant may already have a concept, or "scheme," as Piaget called it, for water.  But perhaps he hasn't had as much opportunity to explore water coming out of a faucet.  Through exploration, he may determine that this is indeed the same water he's familiar with from the bathtub, and just "assimilate" these new properties of water into his already created concept of what it is (a thing to drink, a thing to bathe in.)  If he didn't already have this concept, he would have to change his view of the world (accommodation) to fit this puzzle piece into his world.

How can you extend this learning at home?  Observe your child as he observes the world around him.  What catches his interest?  Is she really just waving her hand in the air, or is she raptly watching as the sunlight coming through the window dances on her hand while she feels its warmth on her face?  Is he stopping on your walk because he doesn't want to walk anymore, or is he working hard to understand how the grass feels on his ankles? Children who are allowed to explore their world naturally build neural connections in the brain.  The only thing you have to do is let them!