Young children can and do inquire, and it is important not to underestimate the power of this inquiry. They do so in different ways, depending on developmental level, prior experience, and context. But at all ages, children do observe and investigate, collect data, think, reason, and draw conclusions. The theories children build, whether they are right or wrong, are not capricious. They are often logical and rational, and firmly based in evidence and experience.
Children are natural scientists.
They do what scientists do, but perhaps for some slightly different and less conscious reasons. They are anxious to understand the world just as adults are. There is a terribly interesting, but rather confusing, world full of stimuli all around them. Many adults, however, have learned to ignore some of that world rather than investigate it. Young children ignore very little.