Develop Children’s Process Skills

As children observe, ask questions, experiment and investigate, they develop important process skills. 

• Observing: This is the process of using the five senses to look closely and notice things. 

• Comparing and classifying: This involves identifying similarities and differences and informs the sorting and organising of things into groups.

• Sequencing: This involves recognising the order of events/things and patterns of change in people, objects and the environment over time.  

• Questioning: This involves formulating questions to find out and learn about how things work and why things happen. 

• Investigating: The process of investigation could involve asking questions, making predictions, testing out ideas, and finding answers in a variety of ways.

• Inferring: When making inferences, children draw conclusions or explain a phenomenon based on what is observed or the information presented to them, and their prior knowledge.

• Predicting: When making predictions, children make informed guesses about what would happen by recalling their prior knowledge or experiences.

• Recording, Drawing Conclusions and Communicating: Recording of observations and information gathered can be in the form of drawing, writing, mark making, taking photographs, videos, or audio clips. This helps children to be process the information to form opinions and conclusions. They can share about and show their discoveries either verbally or visually in drawings, simple writing, artworks or dramatisation. 

How can you provide opportunities for children to develop process skills?

Read on!