Real vs Imaginary

On March 17^th, before a session with early childhood students, the teachers mentioned St. Patrick’s Day.  In this discussion, several children mentioned leprechauns.  From the very lively discussion, the existence of leprechauns seemed implicit.  I asked, “Are leprechauns real or imaginary?”  It quickly became clear that many PK'ers believe that leprechauns are real.  Deciding to follow a critical thinking path, rather than a doctrinaire, rain-on-your-parade path, I asked what evidence they had that leprechauns were real.  I gave the example that we could demonstrate that horses were real animals because we could find a live horse and touch it.  Could we do the same for leprechauns?

Whenever a discussion like this comes up I feel it is important to proceed gently.  As a parent, I cherish my daughter’s early delight in imaginary animals and imaginary friends, as well as her continued enjoyment of science fiction and science fantasy.  As a science teacher, I do look for ways to begin to build scientific habits of mind and critical thinking.  Early childhood is not too early.  As students grow and develop, they need to be able to distinguish between what is real and what is not.  I always try to do this without being a killjoy.  I need to read some about what developmental psychologists and other child development experts say about how children acquire this ability to differentiate real from not real. 

I have had this discussion before with a different group of early childhood students and it is clear that the composition of the group and their previous experiences make a difference.  Several students in this group had been in one or more preschools where the teachers had told them about leprechauns as real beings and had helped them set leprechaun “traps”.  Several students reported that these traps had actually caught leprechauns, though no one could give a description of one.  Had this teacher or these teachers actually intended to foster the idea that leprechauns were real?  Or was this how their young minds processed a fun story and a whimsical activity?  I will revisit “real vs. imaginary” with this group.  I need to plan how to do this with sensitivity and in a way that builds their critical thinking rather than satisfying my needs to tell them how the world “really” is.