I received the greatest compliment while sitting at the lunch table with a mixed age group of my students who are enrolled in the end-of-school-year camp. The children were playing a conversation-starter game they’ve developed of asking the lunchers to raise their hand if they fall into the named group (have a red lunch box, have an apple in their lunch, like to eat pretzels…). Then a five-year-old sitting next to me called out, “Raise your hand if you’re a scientist!” and all the hands went up.
What a gift to have confirmation that the science activities we did throughout the three years I taught him were seen as a process with the students as the central actors, and that all the children self-identify as scientists. Thank you to my students.