Harlen begins and ends chapter five with an overview of why, as educators, we should take children’s ideas seriously. One reason he cites is that children’s ideas are “the product of reasoning, and so make sense to the children.” This reminds me of a psychological concept I came across last year in my AP Psychology course. The term is ‘schema:’ “a cognitive framework or concept that helps organize and interpret information” (Cherry, Kendra). Children develop many schema in their early years. For example, a child could have a schema that all animals have four legs. The child draws on what he or she has experienced (perhaps a pet dog or cat) and reasons that the characteristic of having four legs applies to all animals. There is a follow-up to schema called ‘accommodation.’ This is where true learning occurs. Let’s say the child goes to the zoo for the first time and sees a snake. This is an animal, but it does not have four legs. The child must accommodate the new information and create another schema. Hopefully, someone would explain to the child why snakes do not have four legs like other animals, and the child will build upon his knowledge base.

Why is this relevant? Because schema are fundamental to childhood learning. I agree with Harlen that children’s ideas are just as valid as ours. They need to be developed, not replaced. Children have “necessarily limited experience” because of their age, but they work with what they know. They accommodate new information into their worldview. We know how learning occurs in children; now we must base our teaching styles according to that. Instead of simply presenting information and expecting memorization, we should work from the bottom, up. Memorization results in learners only recalling facts, rather than actually understanding the information. If we build on the ideas that children already possess, then they will develop a deeper understanding.

This is especially important in science education, because science follows a similar process. Scientists begin with observation and then build up to inferences and hypotheses. If we teach children from a young age how to observe and then infer and accommodate, we are better equipping them to think scientifically. It is important to pay attention to children’s ideas because they are every bit as real as our own. If we force children to blindly accept facts they do not understand, we cannot expect learning.