STEM education in early childhood

2021 ◽  
pp. 166-186
Author(s):  
Christine Preston
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Stem Education

An analysis of Australian STEM education strategies

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 122-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve Murphy ◽  
Amy MacDonald ◽  
Lena Danaia ◽  
Cen Wang
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Stem Education ◽  
Career Pathways ◽  
Learning Trajectories ◽  
Stem Learning ◽  
Equity Issues ◽  
Australian State ◽  
Education Strategy ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Stem Dispositions

In December 2015 the Australian state and territory governments endorsed the ‘National STEM School Education Strategy 2016–2026’. Since then, the individual jurisdictions have released their own STEM education strategies that aim to improve student STEM capabilities and aspirations. This paper analyses the various Australian STEM education strategies in relation to six themes informed by research into effective STEM education: STEM capabilities; STEM dispositions; STEM educational practices; Equity; Trajectories; and Educator capacities. The analysis shows that Australia’s STEM education strategies focus on actions aimed at building student STEM capabilities, particularly through inquiry and problem-based learning, and enhancing educator capacity. The strategies recognise student STEM learning trajectories and pay particular attention to the importance of early childhood STEM education, as well as the ways in which students’ potential career pathways might be influenced. However, less emphasis is placed on supporting key transitions in STEM education, developing student STEM dispositions, and addressing equity issues in STEM.

scholarly journals STEM EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABILITY OF EARLY CHILDHOOD IN CHINA

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenxiao Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Stem Education ◽  
Picture Books ◽  
Mobile Apps ◽  
Video Camera ◽  
Mobile App ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Education For Sustainability ◽  
Language Background ◽  
And Mathematics

Changes in curricula, publication policy and information technology, notably in China have led to concentrations in the role of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education in early childhood and applauded to proliferations of imported up-to-date reading materials and mobile apps in English. This paper proposes a longitude study of a Chinese toddler learning STEM by reading picture books and playing with tablet and suggests new horizons in parenting and in STEM education during children's early years. The present study carried out from 2016, when the participant reached one year old, eligible to learn to speak and to concentrate on the picture books read by parents who had filled a language background questionnaire with information on themselves and the participant. Tablet playing brought about for the two-year-old toddler and collections of STEM books in English was added for the second year. Data collection lasted for two years with an iLab video camera, capturing utterances and motions for five minutes per week transcribed by VoiceScript software. Tests were given quarterly at private home by tapping in mobile app "Bilingual Child Learning" which consists of 20 basic STEM themes before scores were collected. Findings indicate that (1) it is accessible for children of very early years to be engaged in English STEM resources, (2) kids' limited English dominance does not impede learning STEM, (3) and to think in English in early STEM contributes to children's English.

scholarly journals STEM Education Implementation at Early Age and Stakeholders’ Opinions: The Case of Turkey

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Remziye Ceylan ◽  
Beyza Akçay Malçok
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Stem Education ◽  
Preschool Education ◽  
Education Institution ◽  
Early Age ◽  
State University ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Vice Principals ◽  
Engineering Mathematics ◽  
Observation Protocol

This study aims to observe and examine the implementation of STEM educationin early childhood and get opinions of teachers, parents and school administrators.The method of the study is the case study, one of the qualitative research methods.The data were collected with The Classroom Observation Protocol (COP) and Semi-Structured Interviews with parents, teachers and vice-principals. The study wasconducted in Turkey in a preschool education institution at a state university inIstanbul. This study was carried out with 15 children, two teachers, two vice-principalsand five parents. In the study, the data were described using the method of contentanalysis. During the STEM training, 39 out of 48 indicators were observed by using theClassroom Observation Protocol (COP). It was concluded that the STEM educationapplied contains the desired STEM education items, and STEM education mightbe appropriately incorporated in early childhood classrooms. As the results of theinterviews, it was concluded that parents did not have information about STEMeducation because they were not provided with enough information about it. Besides,teachers and vice-principals were satisfied with this training and they observedpositive changes in children as the result of the STEM education.Keywords: early age; engineering; mathematics; science; STEM; technology

Preschool Teachers’ Knowledge, Perspectives and Practices in Stem Education: An Interview Study

2021 ◽  
Vol LXIV (6) ◽  
pp. 617-633
Author(s):  
Lyubka Aleksieva ◽  
◽  
Iliana Mirtschewa ◽  
Snezhana Radeva ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Stem Education ◽  
Family Involvement ◽  
Preschool Teachers ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Academic Preparation ◽  
Stem Learning ◽  
Open Questions ◽  
Technology Users ◽  
Goal Implementation

Early STEM education has a great potential to support children’s development in constructing their own knowledge, in designing, discussing and testing ideas and finding solutions to different problems. Significant role in achieving the goals of STEM education is played by the teacher, who scaffolds the learning process, builds a creative learning environment, provokes children with open questions and guides them to test their hypothesis as young scientists, mathematicians, engineers and technology users. Preschool teachers’ knowledge and perspectives could seriously influence their practices in STEM education and respectively, the fulfilment of STEM learning outcomes. It is very important to explore in depth teachers’ views and experiences thus to plan and provide appropriate courses for their academic preparation or continuous professional development. While reviewing some popular misconceptions for STEM education amongst teachers, this paper presents the results of pre- and post-interviews conducted with teachers from Bulgaria in the framework of the European multilateral Erasmus+ project №2018-1-TR01-KA203-059568 “STEM for Pre-schoolers and Their Families” (PARENTSTEM) (2018–2021). The overall goal of this project was to increase family involvement in the STEM education process of early childhood children specifically coming from low socio-economic status. As a part of this goal implementation, the project aimed to extend conceptual and pedagogical knowledge of early childhood teachers on STEM. In the frame of the project the preschool teachers-participants in the study were provided with three teacher trainings (two international and one national) and were additionally supported with the intellectual outputs of the project. This paper attempted to identify teachers’ preliminary knowledge, awareness and attitudes towards STEM conceptualization and pedagogy and to describe the relative influence of the project teacher trainings and activities on them. The results of the research unambiguously demonstrated the need for training of preschool teachers in terms of STEM education, outlining the main focuses to be considered when constructing STEM courses intended for preschool teachers.

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