About Us
ScienceStart! uses daily investigations of real world phenomena as the hub of detailed lesson plans that integrate language, literacy, mathematics, creative play and the arts. Lessons build on one another throughout the school year, with children engaging in age-appropriate investigations of optics, biology, chemistry and physics.
Invested in teaching since 1995.
Developing strong language skills during the preschool years is essential for developing literacy during elementary school. For this reason, Professor Lucia French designed the day-to-day implementation of ScienceStart! in ways that would essentially require children to develop vocabulary, listening skills, and communication skills. As for content, she focused on age-appropriate science because the preschool years are when children are most eager to learn about their everyday world.
In 1995, French established a Head Start Demonstration Program. Working together, experienced early childhood teachers and researchers at University of Rochester developed, implemented, and revised ScienceStart! in a recursive, organic, and standards-based manner. Research showed that children in the Demonstration Program significantly improved their language skills, reasoning abilities, and knowledge base as a direct result of the curriculum.
The National Science Foundation learned about ScienceStart! in 2000 and provided Professor French $500,000 to implement the curriculum in classrooms beyond the demonstration program. This provided the opportunity to explore how portable the curriculum might be and how well it would work for children of different backgrounds. Again, the results were very impressive, with students showing substantial increases in their language and cognitive skills. Special Education: As it turned out, several of the classrooms included children with severe autism and their teachers reported that these students were much more engaged by the science investigations than by any other classroom activities.
ScienceStart! received additional support from some small foundations and two large grants (totaling $4.8 million) from the US Department of Education. These grants allowed ScienceStart! to become widely available throughout the Rochester area, serving children from both affluent and impoverished families. English Language Learners: Many of the classrooms included quite a few refugees who spoke no English. Over the course of the year, these students became fluent in English and participated fully in the science investigations.
Lucia French, PhD
Lucia French is the creative and academic force behind the development of ScienceStart!. She has deep knowledge of child development and has hands-on experience working with teachers and children.
Lucia French, PhD, and Earl B. Taylor Professor Emeritus, recently retired after 32 years on the faculty of the Warner School of Education and Human Development at University of Rochester. She is a developmental psychologist specializing in young children’s language and intellectual development. As a Spencer Fellow of the National Academy of Education (1985 – 1988) she investigated the impact of the physical and intellectual environment on development. As a Fulbright Research Fellow (1992 – 1995) she observed preschool classrooms in South Korea and concluded that a primary reason Korean children learn to read relatively easily is because of the emphasis in the culture and in the preschools on developing listening comprehension skills. This finding has been incorporated into the design of the ScienceStart! classroom materials.
Our Mission
ScienceStart! products respond directly to young children's eagerness to learn about their everyday world by providing structured opportunities for them to explore their natural environment and in doing so to develop skills in language, literacy, reasoning, mathematics and creative arts.
Invested in teaching since 1995.
The ScienceStart! Comprehensive PreK Curriculum began its development when Professor Lucia French at University of Rochester, Rochester NY obtained funding from Eastman Kodak’s 21st Century Learning Challenge to develop a state-of-the-art preschool that would serve children living in poverty.
In 1995, the Third Church Head Start Demonstration Program opened as a delegate Head Start agency serving 36 children in two classrooms. When the Demonstration Program closed in 2001 the ScienceStart! Early Childhood Curriculum had been developed, implemented, and revised in an ongoing process that drew on teachers’ expertise, children’s engagement, theories of child development and early childhood education, and national standards. Ongoing research showed that children’s conceptual and language skills improved substantially as a result of participation in ScienceStart! classrooms.
In 2000, the National Science Foundation awarded University of Rochester a 3-year grant to document the curriculum, to implement it in other settings with new teachers and to continue to assess its effectiveness in terms of children’s language and cognitive development. (Grant #ESI9911630; $500,000.)
Between 2000-2002 the A. L. Mailman Family Foundation and Rochester’s Child provided funding to develop and test science-based curriculum materials for Family Day Care Providers and the parents they served.
The U.S. Department of Education has provided funding to support development and implementation of this curriculum through two different programs.
- The Early Childhood Educators Professional Development Program provided funding to investigate the role of ScienceStart! in supporting teacher improvement and the outcomes for their students. (Grant # S349A01071; $1,031,000; 2001 – 2004.)
- The Early Reading First Program provided funding to create preschool centers of excellence in four urban preschools. (Grant # S359B040093; $3,816,000; 2004 – 2008.)