Nursery World - Learning & Development Science: In the lab

Becoming real-life research scientists for the day sparked children's enthusiasm for enquiring and learning. Lisa Jane Wildey, Early Years Professional and pre-school team leader at University of Sheffield Union of Students' Pre-school, observed the long-lasting effects.

Do we give children opportunities to see success in life? This question was posed at a seminar on brain development that a colleague and I went to. It inspired us to think of how we could give the children in our care the chance to see young adults choosing to learn and enquire, to encourage them to become successful and autonomous learners.

Being part of a university gives us a fantastic opportunity to introduce the children to people who want to study. A parent, Dr Fiona Hunter, who works in the university's Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, expressed interest in outreach work to help children learn about science, so we jumped at the opportunity to take a group of nine threeand four-year-olds to her laboratory.

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