Introduction

Many activities in which young children spontaneously engage are intrinsically scientific, or can be made to be so: blowing bubbles, playing with sand and water and looking at flowers or spiders’ webs. Scientific processes are certainly very important aspects of Early Years science. Children’s emotional disposition towards learning, and their responses to natural phenomena, can serve as the starting points for developing the attitudes of curiosity, open-mindedness and respect for evidence. Design and technology–spoken as a singular rather than plural term –is a holistic activity, involving thinking and doing, action and reflection. In this respect it parallels many approaches to Early Years education, including ‘HighScope’ with its emphasis upon the ‘plan-do-review’ cycle to develop intentionality in children’s play. Young children can engage with coding and computational thinking as when giving instructions to a programmable toy such as a Beebot or solving an online maze. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.