Preschoolers take on the world through science!

As he organizes by color and size, Sammy Newport explores the possibilities of making patterns through dual classification.

Assumptions pop into our heads because they're based on what we take for granted. Leave it to Lucia French to make us rethink the predictable.

To Lucia's credit, she has sidestepped literacy-based models of early childhood education and has created a curriculum using science as the key to school readiness.

"The daily routine and the classroom layout look like a regular preschool program, but science is the hub around which all activities are organized," said French, associate professor at the Warner School, University of Rochester. "Science meets every child's need to understand the world through active investigation."

French's curriculum has aspects that are hidden and explicit. The hidden curriculum, she explained, focuses on developing social skills, attention management skills, communication and listening skills, and problem-solving skills. "The explicit curriculum is the vehicle for supporting children's development of these skills," she said. "It is an integrated curriculum with science as its core."

Three- and four-year-olds are ready-made explorers. Out comes the yarn to measure the length of a table top. A few children begin unfolding a chain of soft felt handprints to see how tall Andre and Tanika are today.

The topics of measurement and mapping will be developed for 8 to 10 weeks, followed by an equally intense exploration of color and optics, and then on to other themes. Such focus is quite different from most early childhood programs that scatter science activities throughout their schedule--if they do them at all. French, who earned her doctoral degree at the University of Illinois in developmental psychology, doubts if unrelated science activities promote a meaningful context for the social and intellec- tual skills that should be learned in preschool.

"We like to think of our four-step process as a way children can organize their thoughts to fit all types of problem solving," said French. Like scientists, they are taught to reflect and ask, plan and predict, act and observe, and report and reflect.

"Once children have seen with their own eyes and touched with their own hands, they are ready to do something with the information they have," she said.

In her role as coordinator of the demonstration project within the thriving Third Church Head Start Center in Rochester, French has developed her Preschool Curriculum for the 21st Century. Classroom exercises are built into the curriculum as well as activities promoting parent involvement, a critical component in early childhood education. French's ZipKits--take-home science activities in individual plastic bags--have gotten accolades from parents, and the annual preschool science fair keeps parents abreast of their children's accomplishments.

"Teachers call parents at home about the ZipKits and get direct feedback," French said. "It really opened up a positive channel of communication."

For many parents, it's the first time they've used an educational "toy" with their children. "To a lot of them, school can be a threatening place," added Kathleen Conezio, education coordinator for Third Church Head Start who is work- ing on a doctoral degree at the Warner School. "They are their child's first and primary educators so they need to find a voice and feel that they're competent people."

French has gained financial support for her work with young children from the Frontier Corporation, Spencer Foundation, Daisy Marquis Jones Foundation, Halcyon Hill Foundation, and Science Linkages in the Community. In fact, she first began investigating the use of science with young children in 1991 when Eastman Kodak Co. offered funds for that purpose. French took off with her ideas and connected with the Head Start center in February 1995.

Although the Third Church Head Start Demonstration Center is not formally associated with the Warner School, it serves as a research site for graduate students. Right now, students are analyzing language development and attention management. For their part, the children are old hands at being photographed and taped at work and play.

Lead teachers in the center's two classrooms, Omeri Nwachi and Suzanne Sanders, apply the research and methods developed by French and others as they teach 36 children four days a week, four hours each day. For example, each week's lesson plan can be found posted on "a planning wheel," designed by French. At its center is a science activity; around it, the teachers describe in writing how that activity will be integrated into play, language arts, social studies, art and mathematics.

"Lucia provides the theoretical background, and we provide the day-to-day nitty-gritty," said Conezio. French has seen what a dramatic effect science activities have on children. "During science lessons, children will most likely listen well, be eager to talk about what they are doing and learning, and follow an inquiry-based process," she said.

Teachers without a strong background in science shouldn't fear this approach.

"To become effective teachers of science, those who work with young children need only a positive attitude toward inquiry, their own curiosity, and a willingness to become co-explorers with the children in their classroom," according to French. "They will realize that this can happen naturally and easily in every preschool classroom everyday."