Project 365 D35: Teaching evolution to a toddler

So my 4 year old, Spencer, has become curious about evolution. He has clearly stated that he wants to follow in his grandfather's footsteps and become a paleontologist and he loves dinosaurs and extinct mammals. He has a long going excavation in the backyard but to date as only discovered a plastic eagle and a Jurassic Park action figure. Recently, he has become interested in change and has started asking some very good questions for someone with limited science experience (granted it would be nice if some of the undergraduates I teach asked these same kind of questions). A lot of these insights stem from a book he picked up at the public library called The Complete Guide to Prehistoric Life, which is an excellent illustrated resource for young children. Even though he has cursory reading ability, by looking at pictures he has been able to make important inferences about past life forms and how they have changed over time. The blog that follows are some of my initial approaches and feelings at trying to present evolutionary theory to the pre-K set.

One of these questions included: Why didn't dinosaurs and mammals co-exist?. They did but mammals at the weren't as big as they are now. Then shortly after the extinction of the dinosaurs, the mammals went through a number of natural experiments with size. Some of these mammals were incredibly successful, such as canines, rodents, ungulates. One could include humans here but we are the only biped left wandering the planet. Here Spencer is coming to the idea of what an ecological niche is and why are some animals better suited to different environments. This is difficult for a toddler to grasp especially due to their short attention span. However, one can explain it in the simple way of sharing.

Generally, when young kids play together there is one object they like, now they can either hoard this object or share it, now if they share it they need to do it at different times. So if they can't both use it at the same time then they either share or one out competes the other for it. Sometimes though crying or through fisticuffs. If the latter happens more than likely a parent will step in This is a common adaptation that some primate demonstrate when confronted with inhabiting the same ecosystems (prosimians and old word monkeys in Africa). The classic example of this is the Owl monkey from South America and is the only nocturnal anthropoid (haplorhine if you are into that sort of thing) and only where it overlaps ranges with Titi monkeys. In cases where they don't overlap ranges owl monkeys are diurnal (active during the day). So how does this help explain why didn't mammals and dinosaurs co-exist. Well it is like sharing and dinosaurs were bullies and didn't want to share there toys and mammals were smaller so until the dinosaurs were out of the way the couldn't play with all the toys.


While there is no real information developed fully for pre-schoolers there are some good science resources on the web (like this). Most of the material is geared for older children. I believe it would be nice if we started talking about math and science earlier in the education process. As I mentioned early my father was a paleontologist and so my formative years were spent learning how to interpret past landscapes and the creatures that wandered through them. He was also a paleontologist before it was recognized as a profession outside of geology and kindergarten. Young children have always been fascinated by dinosaurs, any parent know this but somewhere along the way, the forget the names, the periods, the fascination. Why is that well it is possible that our education system sucks the joy out of science by presenting it like dry toast.

Then there is the supposed conflict between religion and science. My father also had no conflict with waking up every Sunday morning and going to church where he served as both an Elder and a Deacon. Granted he dragged me off there right after going to mass with my Mom. So I've never really understood the conflict between science and faith. That may upset some people on both sides of the issue. However, I'm a fan of NOMA and belief that Science teaches as life works (kind of like auto mechanics) and religion teaches how to live responsible lives. At times both have failed largely due to human error.

Oh yeah and remember when explaining anything to a toddler patience is the key and while they may not fully understand everything they may be able to get a grasp on the concept which help them when confronted with it at an older age.