What California’s DRDP says about science and inquiry
California’s Desired Results Developmental Profile (DRDP) recognizes science and inquiry as a natural expression of children’s inborn curiosity. Administered by the California Department of Education, the DRDP frames early science not as a body of facts to memorize, but as a set of thinking and inquiry skills — observation, questioning, prediction, experimentation, and drawing conclusions — that begin developing in infancy and deepen throughout early childhood.
Under the DRDP, science development is addressed within the Cognitive Development domain through measures that assess children’s scientific inquiry skills and cause-and-effect reasoning. These measures capture children’s growing ability to observe the natural world intentionally, ask questions, form predictions, and make sense of what they observe.
California requires all licensed childcare programs to document children’s science and cognitive development through DRDP observation records. This documentation informs curriculum planning and contributes to Quality Counts California QRIS evaluations of curriculum quality and learning environment richness.
Children are natural scientists from birth — dropping objects to study gravity, splashing to observe cause and effect, mixing colors to see what happens. Research from the National Science Foundation confirms that the inquiry dispositions formed in early childhood — curiosity, persistence, systematic observation — predict science achievement and STEM interest through high school and beyond.
Developmental milestones
Science milestones by age group
Understanding where children are developmentally helps educators plan meaningful activities and document DRDP progress accurately. These milestones align with California’s DRDP levels and nationally recognized frameworks including NAEYC’s Developmentally Appropriate Practice and the CDC’s Milestone Moments.
| Age group | Key DRDP milestones | What educators can do |
|---|---|---|
| Infants Birth–18 months | Repeating actions to observe effects (cause and effect); exploring objects through senses (mouthing, shaking, banging); attending to changes in the environment; early object permanence | Provide varied materials to explore; narrate cause-and-effect observations aloud; set up simple physical cause-and-effect play; respond to infant investigations with curiosity |
| Toddlers 18–36 months | Deliberately experimenting with cause-and-effect; beginning to verbalize predictions; sorting and classifying by observable properties; noticing and commenting on natural phenomena | Provide sensory exploration stations; support outdoor nature walks with observation language; introduce simple experiments; maintain a ‘wondering’ culture |
| Preschool 3–5 years | Forming testable questions; making and checking predictions; conducting simple experiments; drawing conclusions from observations; using tools (magnifying glasses, scales); recording findings through drawing | Science investigation center with rotating inquiry provocations; documentation walls with hypothesis and result records; outdoor science explorations; STEM challenges; nonfiction science read-alouds |
Curriculum alignment
How Experience Curriculum supports California’s DRDP science standards
Experience Curriculum builds science inquiry into every monthly theme through hands-on investigation experiences, sensory explorations, and nature-based learning. Rather than presenting science as a separate lesson, the curriculum treats each month’s theme as a lens for scientific exploration — animals invite observation and classification, weather invites prediction and data collection, plants invite life cycle inquiry.
Every Experience Curriculum kit ships with a verified alignment to California’s DRDP. The downloadable California Alignment PDF maps each curriculum activity and skill to the specific DRDP measure and developmental level it targets — saving teachers significant documentation time.
Science skills covered
- Observation and sensory exploration
- Cause-and-effect reasoning
- Prediction and hypothesis formation
- Scientific inquiry and investigation
- Classification and sorting by properties
- Nature and life science exploration
How it’s delivered
- Monthly kits with science exploration materials included
- Inquiry provocation cards with guided observation questions
- Nature exploration activities and outdoor science experiences
- Simple experiment guides with hypothesis-result documentation
- Brightwheel digital documentation tied to CA DRDP cognitive science measures
- Family science take-homes for at-home inquiry
Experience Curriculum’s science approach draws on the Next Generation Science Standards’ Science and Engineering Practices, NAEYC’s position statement on early STEM education, and the American Institute for Research’s science inquiry frameworks for early childhood. An independent psychometric evaluation found the linked Experience Assessment exceeds standards for validity and reliability across all eight developmental domains, including cognitive development and science inquiry.
Skills spotlight
Key science skills in the 35-skill framework
Experience Curriculum’s 35-skill framework maps directly to the DRDP domains. Here are four skills that feature prominently in every age-band kit.
Curiosity
Intrinsic drive to explore, ask questions, and investigate. Nurtured through open-ended exploration time, wonder-inducing materials, and adults who model genuine curiosity about the world.
Observation
Using senses deliberately and systematically to gather information. Developed through guided sensory explorations, nature walks, and science investigation centers with tools like magnifying glasses.
Cause & Effect
Understanding that actions have predictable consequences. Built through cause-and-effect experiments, sensory play, and the deliberate use of “what do you think will happen?” prompts.
Classification
Organizing objects by observable properties. Practiced through sorting activities, nature collections, and attribute games embedded in each monthly theme.
Implementation guidance
Practical tips for embedding science into your California program
1. Create a permanent science investigation center
A well-stocked science center — with rotating collections of natural objects, simple tools, and open-ended materials — gives children daily opportunities to practice observation and inquiry on their own terms. California’s DRDP cognitive development measures assess self-directed inquiry, which is most authentically documented in free exploration contexts.
2. Use outdoor time as science time
The outdoor environment is the richest science lab available to early childhood programs. California programs that use outdoor time intentionally — with nature journaling, bug observation, water and sand exploration, and weather monitoring — generate more authentic DRDP science documentation than programs that treat outdoor time as purely recreational.
3. Make the inquiry process visible
Post children’s questions, predictions, and findings on a documentation wall. When children see their scientific thinking honored and displayed, they engage more deeply with inquiry. This documentation also makes DRDP evidence-gathering natural — the wall is a ready record of children’s scientific reasoning over time.
4. Ask “What do you notice? What do you wonder?” daily
These two questions — central to science inquiry — can be used in virtually any context: examining a caterpillar, observing rain, mixing paint colors. Regular use builds the inquiry dispositions California’s DRDP science measures assess and creates a classroom culture of scientific curiosity.
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about California’s DRDP and science curriculum
Related resources
California DRDP alignment PDF
Full mapping of Experience Curriculum to California’s DRDP framework across all domains
California early learning standards
Overview of California’s DRDP framework and all 8 domain alignments
CA Mathematics & Reasoning standards
California’s DRDP Mathematics domain and Experience Curriculum alignment
CA Approaches to Learning standards
California’s DRDP Approaches to Learning domain and Experience Curriculum alignment
California DRDP resource guide
Official DRDP implementation resources from the California Department of Education