The Art of Asking ‘Why': Fostering Curiosity and Critical Thinking in Early Childhood
The simple question – Why? – is a powerful learning tool for young children. It’s absolutely a trait to be encouraged for many, many reasons. Questioning the world around them is a vital developmental process and underlines why exploration and discovery are key elements of the best early educational processes.
The Benefits of Why? (& How to Respond to What Can be an Endless Tirade)
Children generally begin to ask the why question anywhere between the ages of 2-3. This will carry on through the early learning (pre-school) years and is an important stage of development.
Understanding why they question everything is key to the best response. During these crucial formative years, a child begins to neural connections focusing on cause-and-effect. In other words, they begin to understand and process the relationships between everything in the world that’s around them.
Examples of questions that they’re beginning to think this way include:
Why is the water cold?
Why do I have to wear a coat?
Why does Daddy have to go to work?
Why do I have to brush my teeth?
The answers they receive are important, not only in fostering their understanding, but in promoting other important skills. These include promoting a love for learning and setting the building blocks of future academic prowess.
Caregivers can use the following strategies to help with their responses.
Answer in an age-appropriate manner
No one will disagree that some of the why questions asked by children surround incredibly complex subjects. But responses should be kept as simple as possible. Using educational aids, such as books, pictures and videos (YouTube is always a great source) can really help when stumped for a child-friendly answer.
Sometimes it’s OK to answer a question with a question
While this won’t always be the case (sometimes a direct explanation is best) it might be beneficial to ask, “Why do you think… The cat is sleeping, you don’t like cheese, we should put the toys away”, etc, etc… Such conversations introduce the concept of critical thinking, encouraging the child to explore whatever subject they’re talking about. It also provides a great basis upon which problem-solving skills are built.
Be patient
Children have a knack of asking why at the most inopportune moments. However, a failure to respond can discourage their curiosity - the complete opposite of what is most beneficial. Caregivers should try to be wholly attentive to such questions – and if it’s truly inconvenient, give the child positive affirmation – such as, “Wow, that’s a great question. Can we talk about it when … (insert appropriate time)?” Just be sure to revisit the question, even if the child seems to have forgotten about it.
Some other top tips that can help include:
If you don’t know the answer, say so
And then use the experience to find out together.
Don’t trivialise
The whole ethos behind helping a child build the art of curiosity and critical thinking is based on the age-old saying that there’s no such thing as a silly question. Answers to even the simplest queries play a key role in neural development and the learning process.
Use every resource available
Provide the child with things that encourage self-exploration to find answers. Show them how to use traditional sources, such as a library (once they begin to read) and to carry out simple online searches (with parental controls in place). You could make story time around a why question, with both parties contributing to the tale’s pathway to try and reach a conclusion.
Make a curiosity corner
This could be as simple as a blackboard or noticeboard where any outstanding questions can be noted. Or, even better, fill it with resources, games, puzzles and exploratory items that promote curiosity and self-exploration.
Remember that it’s OK to feel overwhelmed
It’s natural for children to repeat questions or to bombard caregivers with requests. This in itself can be an opportunity to help a child understand important life aspects, such as boundaries. You might want to allocate a particular time of day or, as already mentioned, explain that you’ll revisit their queries at a pre-arranged time - maybe over dinner or whenever is suitable to give the matter your full attention.
At Treasured Tots, we incorporate age-appropriate activities that actively encourage the art of asking, why? From kindy through our early years learning programme, we utilise the world-renowned Reggio Emilia approach that’s tailor-designed to promote the key skills of curiosity, problem-solving and build the basis of a lifelong love of learning.
Ready to find out more? Book a tour today and come and see our wonderful educational team in action.
Discover more at https://treasuredtots.com.au