Where do I come from? Young children engaging with ‘big’ questions and the role of adults

Young children have an amazing capacity to ponder about some of life’s ‘big’ questions. They are natural scientists, theorising and testing through play and creating new knowledge from the day they are born, or some would argue this starts before birth. The role of parents and early childhood educators is to create climates for young children to question, wonder, explore possibilities, test hypotheses, learn through trial and error and find answers. This paper presents some examples for those adults working with young children that aim to challenge and promote inquiry based approaches to learning and create spaces for children to ask ‘big’ questions, gain insight into children’s epistemic thinking and to find answers using science as well as other disciplines.