BFSU special Features

The “Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding” Curriculum:

A common inclination in teaching is to have in mind the facts that one wishes the child to learn (now called standards) and, by one means or another, get kids to memorize those facts. Unfortunately, the common experience is that kids soon forget that information, or if they remember it all, they often reveal confusion and misinterpretations regarding its meaning and context. Clearly, the methodology of simply getting kids to memorize information does little for long-term retention and neither develops understanding nor the ability to think rationally.

Modern investigations into learning reveal three key principles behind developing long-term memory, understanding, and rational thinking.

  1. Lessons must connect to what children see and experience in their everyday lives.
  2. Lessons must relate to, build on, and connect to one another so that understanding is developed in logical, systematic increments—a natural sequence of stepping-stones.
  3. Thinking, like learning to play the piano, is developed by continual exercise and practice, not by a handful of lessons requiring thinking.

We observe further that the stage is set for long-term retention and life-long learning as the “pieces” fit together into an integrated framework of understanding, a framework that is ever expanding. Need it be said that a child’s discovery of how the pieces fit together is the “ah-ha” moment when the light bulb goes on. It is what generates the real joy of learning.

The lessons in BFSU have been written and organized in a manner to facilitate these three key aspects in developing long-term memory, understanding, and rational thinking.  

Requires NO particular background in science or teaching:

Basics of teaching according to how students learn and how to stimulate them to think for themselves are given in Chapters 1 and 2 of Vol. l. Furthermore, each lesson throughout BFSU includes instructions to the teacher regarding bringing students to observe, question, experiment, and reach conclusions through on logical reasoning. Thus, skills of inquiry learning are built into each exercise.  Teachers will engage in inquiry learning and learn the science along with their students and be excellent role models in doing so.

Involves minimal cost:

Every effort has been taken to minimize cost. Required materials are common items about the house or easily available from a supermarket, home supply store, or collected from nature with children’s and parents’ participation. There are no sales pitches to buy anything additional.

Addresses and integrates all major areas of science

BFSU pursues four “Threads”—Nature of Matter, Life Science, Physical Science, and Earth and Space Science—which are pursued more or less in tandem through the entire curriculum and connected at many points along the way. In this manner, students gain a broad, integrated, foundation of understanding embracing all the major areas of science. 

Emphasizes child-centered, hands-on, inquiry learning and rational thinking

Lessons are designed to have students make observations, pose questions, conduct tests, and exercise rational thought so that students gain knowledge through their own examination, manipulation, and thinking, not by memorizing answers. In short, BFSU provides continual practice in these skills of life-long learning.

Builds understanding in logical, systematic steps

It is well proven that comprehensive understanding, like constructing a building, comes from adding and fitting the pieces together in logical, systematic steps. The lessons in BFSU are designed to have learning and understanding build in a logical steppingstone-like manner.

Facilitates retention

The logical steppingstone-like sequence of lessons in BFSU has the result that each new lesson provides an automatic review and reinforcement of what went before. This, plus the connections between lessons providing an interconnected framework of understanding, greatly enhance retention.

Relates all lessons to children’s every-day world


Both experience and research show that learning is enhanced when lessons relate to the child’s life in the real-world. All the lessons of BFSU center on children’s real-life observations and experience. Furthermore, “homework” consists of suggestions to find further examples and applications of the lesson in real-life situations.

Fosters coordination among teachers, caregivers, and students

   Every lesson in BFSU contains a section, “To Parents and Others Providing Support.” This section suggests things caregivers can do to help their child relate and apply the lesson to their everyday life. As well as reinforcing their child’s learning, this provides and facilitates cooperation and coordination among the teacher, students, parents and other caregivers.

Integrates reading and writing

   In many cases science has been pushed aside to make more room for teaching basic reading and writing. BFSU advocates harnessing reading and writing to the learning of science. For this purpose lists of suggested readings and writing assignments are given with each lesson.

Standards are achieved by gaining a broad, comprehensive

understanding of science, not by teaching to the test.
Standards are derived by starting from a broad, comprehensive understanding and choosing particular elements that seem pivotal to that understanding. Experience demonstrates, however, that teaching to those elements often does not produce the desired understanding. BFSU goes directly for gaining the broad, comprehensive understanding. Thereby, achieving standards will be natural product.