Science, Design, & Technology in Kindergarten The Great Pumpkin Dissection

A FEW DAYS BEFORE HALLOWEEN, the Class of 2031 had a surprise waiting for them in their Science, Design, & Technology class. Ten bowling-ball-size, classic orange pumpkins and several miniature ones festooned the Lower School Science Lab, sparking curiosity and excitement.

The pumpkins would become subjects of a scientific exploration drawing upon a wide range of skills: examining, questioning, counting, analyzing—all foundational skills not only for science but also for design, engineering, and other STEM-related areas.

Peck’s Science, Design, & Technology class for grades K-1 is an overlap of three interrelated curricula. It follows Peck’s “specials intensives” structure, meaning the class meets frequently for longer periods of class time, and rotates every few weeks with other specials. Following this structure allots the same number of minutes-per-year for the curricula, but capitalizes on memory and momentum, allowing for deeper retention.

Co-taught by Lower School Technology, Innovation, & Design Integrator Jennifer Garvey, and Lower School Science Teacher and Department Chair Dr. Kathy Kennedy, the program leverages and optimizes

not only discipline-related skills, but also fundamental learning skills such as observation, wondering, collaboration, exploring, and understanding systems.

Kennedy and Garvey have their own standards and curriculum that each is responsible for teaching— Next Generation Science Standards for Kennedy and International Society for Technology in Education Standards for Garvey—but they weave these standards and concepts together in a powerful way. “Both sets of standards also include design and engineering, which is where the marriage of technology and science come together really nicely,” says Garvey.

For example, students might first do a scientific experiment then use technology (such as SeeSaw or PicCollage) to demonstrate their understanding, rather than a worksheet. This enables them to learn how to use various platforms to demonstrate their knowledge.

“A lot of the tech tools we use really make their thinking visible. For example, they can snap pictures of what they’re doing, or sort and categorize what they photograph,” said Kennedy. “As emerging readers, writers, or creators, what might be on paper may not correlate with how they express their understanding, but they can articulate it verbally and capture that using a microphone. And they can share that with their peers and parents.”

In this particular pumpkin-focused class, students applied design thinking principles to their dissection and experiments.

“We’re building a little on what is living and what is non-living,” says Kennedy. “We capitalize on their excitement for the fall and the holiday, and look at the idea of parts and their purpose in a system, and how those parts work together.”

This project also follows the Harvard-based teaching framework “Agency by Design” which Peck implemented in 2018. The framework was founded on the hypothesis that by fostering an innate sensitivity to design—the ability to look closely at something, and see how parts interconnect and relate to a whole—teachers help students discover their own sense of agency in learning. “We take things apart to see what their purposes are, and that builds skills for every class,” says Garvey.

After counting the number of ridges on each pumpkin, groups of students dug into their pumpkins to explore the insides, and count how many seeds they could find. They also had to guess whether or not miniature pumpkins would float in water, and wonder why that could be. They later designed models of their pumpkins, indicating where the various parts were located.

The Science, Technology, & Design class also leverages what’s happening in homerooms. When the K does their penguin unit in winter, Kennedy and Garvey link to already-established understandings. For example, since the class has discussed what living things need, they question how does a penguin stay warm, and how do they protect their eggs.

Kennedy and Garvey also teach and reinforce collaboration, a skill which may not always come naturally to five- and six-year-olds. Building this capacity rounds out a comprehensive learning experience, leading to students working in pairs during a science lab or on a team during a coding exercise that teaches computational thinking.

“These are learning experiences that build their skills in every class,” says Garvey. “When we look ahead and think about our students writing an essay in, say, sixth grade, we know how important it is now to start building the skills to take a step back, find opportunities for improvement, and appreciate that others might have a different perspective or solution for a problem.”