The photos above are not just from a STEAM class or a fruit candy–making activity. They show a learning environment I intentionally created to encourage children to observe and ask questions.

Food, especially sweets, never fails to catch kids’ attention. And honestly, what’s better than learning, experimenting, and enjoying something sweet at the same time?

From my experience, helping children learn how to observe and ask questions doesn’t start with asking them to “raise their hands.” It starts with the teacher.

 1. Teacher receptiveness

This is the most challenging aspect for me. I understand how overwhelmed a teacher’s mind can be: there are many activities to cover in a single session to ensure quality, equal attention must be given to all students, teachers must observe, document, and intervene when needed, and above all, ensure students’ physical and emotional safety in the classroom.

So what should a teacher do when one child asks a question? And what if all students ask questions? What if the teacher doesn’t have an answer yet? I’m not even mentioning to classroom management skills here, but to me, openness and acceptance of every child’s curiosity are absolutely crucial if we want students to truly develop those skills.

2. Classroom facilitation skills

How should questions be asked? How many questions are appropriate? What if a question goes off-topic? What if all students are raising hands? What if no one wants to ask? Who responds after a question is asked? And how is that question received?

All of this lies within the teacher’s ability to facilitate the classroom, much like a conductor leading an orchestra.

3. Lesson design skills

I believe you would agree with me that helping students develop thinking skills takes an enormous amount of time. It requires a well-thought-out strategy and an action plan grounded in both academic theory and real-world practice. This is not something that can be achieved in a single lesson or even a short course.

Therefore, instead of simply designing lesson plans based on a fixed curriculum framework, I encourage teachers to spend significant time analyzing the objectives behind that framework, especially the foundations of educational science that support it.

Teaching children to ask questions is not about having all the answers. It’s about creating enough space for curiosity to breathe. When children feel accepted, listened to, and not rushed or judged, questions come naturally. Sometimes they are messy, off-topic, or impossible to answer right away, and that’s perfectly okay. Learning to think takes time, patience, and intention. As teachers, our role is not to control every moment, but to quietly guide, observe, and trust the process.

#STEAMEducation #LearningThroughPlay #Science #TeachingWithHeart #CuriosityDriven #AskingQuestions #ChildCenteredLearning #PlayBasedLearning

A STEAM LESSON THEMED AROUND EXPLORING VISCOSITY. 

At first, the notion of “stickiness” or “viscosity” was so disgusting to the 5–6-year olds students. Yah, who wants to learn about substances which look like snivel Some of them were even afraid to touch the stems and leaves of crushed Malabar spinach, and it took me so much time to convince a little girl of doing experiment (yah, she cried a lot ).

But once we got to making the bubble solution, oh my goodness, the classroom exploded with excitement. They even asked for getting more and more sticky sap from Malabar spinack

Turns out, viscosity isn’t scary at all.

Turns out, one of the best moment of being a science teacher is seeing students overcome their fear by world exploration.

During my journey of accompanying young children as they conduct their very first scientific experiments, I have come to realize that what matters most does not lie in the experimental outcomes themselves, but in how teachers encourage, guide, and patiently walk alongside children through each small step.

At this age, experiments serve merely as a pretext for children to learn how to observe, ask questions, and explore the world around them with their own hands and innate curiosity. When teachers offer timely encouragement, children feel trusted and emotionally safe; as a result, they dare to try, dare to make mistakes, and are no longer afraid of failure. For example, experiments involving liquids often make many young learners feel anxious, as liquids may spill onto the table or glass measuring cups may break if accidentally dropped. In such moments, the gentle presence of the teacher becomes a warm reassurance that soothes children’s fears.

Gentle guidance, attuned to children’s cognitive abilities, transforms exploratory experiences into their earliest science lessons, where an intuitive understanding of cause-effect relationships gradually begins to form. A teacher’s patience in waiting, listening, and accepting each child’s individual pace teaches lessons that extend far beyond science itself: perseverance, cooperation, respect for rules, and an appreciation of one’s own efforts as well as those of peers. Most importantly, children learn that they are not alone on their learning journey (anyone who has ever felt lonely while learning, please raise your hand ).

#steameducation #makerspace #invention #science #teaching #sciencestyle #children #education #learning