The scientific approach is designed to bring children into contact with an environment on which they can have an influence, hence the need for students to play an active role in their own learning, and to take account of their initial conceptions in order to transform them. Scientific activities help to refine perceptions and translate them into the right language, thereby enhancing knowledge of the outside world. They enable children to :

   • Freely discover and manipulate objects.
   • Make objects freely or with a construction sheet.
   • Stimulate questioning and enable adults to take into account children’s initial conceptions.
   • Develop mutual aid and collaboration.
   • Move from play to a more directed activity.
   • Reinvest (for the child) and evaluate (for the adult) skills.

  Exercises