Preschoolers Get Closer to Science

Reporter: Rocío Castañeda / Photographer: Jorge Aguilar

“El Poli en Preescolar” is an IPN initiative that brings science to early childhood education through teacher training and hands-on learning strategies

Training early childhood educators in scientific subjects such as physics, chemistry, and biology; designing didactic materials and experiments; and distributing educational video content are all part of the large-scale project El Poli en Preescolar, developed and implemented by specialists from the Centro de Investigación en Ciencia Aplicada y Tecnología Avanzada (CICATA), Unidad Legaria, at the Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN).

Through this educational methodology, preschool teachers become key allies in fostering curiosity and interest in science among children between the ages of three and six, while also encouraging scientific vocations from an early age, according to the IPN experts leading the initiative.

The project aims to cultivate critical thinking skills by encouraging children to ask questions, observe, experiment, and explore the world around them under the guidance of their first educators in the classroom.

Mario Humberto Ramírez Díaz, head of the project and faculty member in the Educational Physics graduate program at CICATA Legaria, highlighted the initiative’s contribution—since its creation in 2012—to the educational field of Scientific Knowledge and Thinking promoted by Secretaría de Educación Pública (SEP).

The program also has a significant gender impact, as women represent 99 percent of preschool teachers nationwide. “They acquire tools and skills that allow them to create and deliver innovative scientific experiences for children,” explained Carlos Israel Aguirre Vélez, deputy director of Research and Technological Development.

Miguel Olvera Aldana, also part of the Educational Physics graduate program, noted that the team sought to break the perception that science is difficult and instead make it accessible to educators, who have demonstrated remarkable creativity, ingenuity, and enthusiasm throughout the project.

“We want to leave something meaningful for our country and promote a different way of presenting science. Every team member contributes their expertise so teachers can explain scientific phenomena naturally to children, because they are truly scientists in the making,” he said.

A fundamental component of the project focuses on child development and psychology. According to Germán Köhler Fuentes, a specialist in neurolinguistic programming at CICATA Legaria’s Research Division, children learn naturally through curiosity and can begin developing reasoning skills from an early age without relying on complex theories.

Expansion of “El Poli en Preescolar”

The initiative began in 2012 when a preschool teacher enrolled in the Educational Physics master’s program at CICATA Legaria to better address physics topics with her students. This sparked growing interest among preschool educators across the country.

Seeking to reach a larger audience, Carlos Aguirre Vélez collaborated with preschool education authorities in southern Mexico City to launch the course Science Teaching in Preschool Education, attended by 550 teachers from the boroughs of Tlalpan, Tláhuac, Xochimilco, Magdalena Contreras, and Milpa Alta.

“If we consider that each teacher works with an average of 10 children, the multiplying effect becomes significant,” emphasized Germán Köhler Fuentes, who highlighted the careful planning behind creating a high-quality course for Mexican educators.

The course is free of charge and forms part of the broader El Poli en Preescolar strategy. It consists of 40 hours of instruction delivered both in person and online through the platform El Poli en Preescolar Platform, where participants study topics such as lenses, light and color, sound, and basic principles of electricity.

The in-person sessions combine theoretical explanations of physical phenomena with hands-on activities led by Carlos Aguirre, who selects the experiments, materials, timing, and complexity level for each activity.

“We want children to identify cause-and-effect relationships in scientific phenomena. That’s why selecting the right experiments is so important, as well as ensuring teachers feel confident and capable of carrying them out using the knowledge and skills we provide,” he explained.

Research and Educational Impact

The results of El Poli en Preescolar have been published in the Journal of Posthumanism and the Revista de Enseñanza de la Física.

As part of the course, teachers are required to design and implement a didactic project combining theory and experimentation with their students, while documenting evidence of the process.

“For example, some teachers introduced principles of electricity to children aged three and four, and the children actively asked questions about what they observed,” Ramírez Díaz explained.

At the end of the program, participants undergo an evaluation process and have consistently achieved outstanding results, demonstrating measurable improvements in their understanding of physics and their ability to develop age-appropriate scientific activities.

“Preschool teachers often receive limited training in science and usually only have access to highly theoretical courses. Through this project, CICATA Legaria brought physics closer to them in a way they could adapt to their own language and teaching practices with children,” he said.

While preschool educators already possess strong pedagogical preparation, he added, there remains a need to strengthen their scientific background.

“Our goal is to train teachers so they can introduce these topics naturally and foster critical, logical, and analytical thinking skills in children,” Ramírez Díaz emphasized.

The specialists also identified theoretical understanding as one of the project’s main challenges, leading them to create educational books such as Eureka. It’s Not Magic, It’s Science: Science Workshops for Third-Year Preschool Children and Why? A Book of Scientific Phenomena for Children, co-authored by Mario Humberto Ramírez Díaz and Ana R. Barrón Hernández from the Ministry of Public Education in Guanajuato.

The project has continued to expand through collaboration with the IPN Child Development Centers, where a second edition of the program was implemented in several educational facilities.

International Recognition

The global results of El Poli en Preescolar have been presented at international physics education conferences, including one held in the Netherlands last year, where the initiative attracted significant interest. “It was remarkable because there are very few international projects focused on teaching physics at the preschool level. We were practically the only initiative of this kind, and it drew a great deal of attention,” Ramírez Díaz said.

The IPN team has also received interest from educational sectors in the Czech Republic and Colombia, and expects to present the project in Greece in the near future.

A Promising Future

The initiative has brought together specialists from the Escuela Superior de Física y Matemáticas (ESFM), the Centro de Estudios Científicos y Tecnológicos (CECyT) 2 “Miguel Bernard,” and graduates from CICATA Legaria’s Educational Physics graduate programs.

In addition, Martha Leticia Vázquez González, IPN’s Secretary of Research and Graduate Studies, is working to strengthen the macroproject further. Plans include integrating nutrition-related topics led by researcher Mónica Jaime from CICATA Legaria, promoting broader collaboration across the institution in support of children’s well-being.

The future of El Poli en Preescolar continues to expand, and the initiative is currently undergoing trademark registration while its creators work to bring this educational methodology to early childhood educators under the prestige and institutional seal of the Instituto Politécnico Nacional.