Children engaging in scientific reasoning, as recorded roughly 2500 years ago in a Daoist (not Confucian!) text:
Confucius was heading east when he came across two little boys arguing, and asked what was going on.
One boy said: "I think that at sunrise, the sun is nearer to us, and at noon, it is further away."
The other boy said: "I think it is farthest at sunrise and nearest at noon."
The first boy said: "At sunrise it is as big as an umbrella, and at noon it's more like the lid of a jar. Doesn't that show when it is near and when it is far?"
The other boy said: "At sunrise it is chilly, and at noon water warms to the touch. Doesn't that mean it's near when it's warm and far when it's cool?"
Confucius had no idea who was right. The little boys laughed at him: "We thought you were supposed to be smart, loser!"
Source text: ctext.org/liezi/tang-wen#n3747…
Translation note: I'm getting "loser" from how they boldly address him with the inferior-thou pronoun, which is what Confucius would use to address *his* students.