Exploring STEAM teaching in preschool using Fred Rogers approach

The culture of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics (STEAM) teaching is still new among preschool teachers. Nevertheless, STEAM teaching is seen as challenging to be implemented if there is no clear guideline prepared by qualified experts. Therefore, a need analysis on STEAM teaching strategies ought to be conducted to ensure the implementation of STEAM teaching its related problems may be attended. This research aimed to explore experts’ perceptions about Fred Rogers’ STEAM as a STEAM teaching strategy approach as a considered method to be taught in preschools. This need analysis employed semi structured interviews with four experts. The obtained findings were categorized and analysed thematically. Five themes were identified: 1) features and needs of STEAM education, 2) inquiry-based learning 3) learning by doing activities, 4) interesting and systematic teaching strategies and 5) suitability with children’ development and practices. The research findings benefit preschool teachers in selecting and implementing STEAM teaching strategies based on experts’ opinion. Besides, it is anticipated to help teachers to conduct meaningful and effective STEAM teaching with preschool children.

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Assessing Preschool Teachers’ Challenges and Needs for Creativity in STEM Education

Asian Journal of University Education ◽

10.24191/ajue.v17i3.14517 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 17 (3) ◽

pp. 99

Author(s):

Muhammad Syawal Amran ◽

Kamariah Abu Bakar ◽

Shahlan Surat ◽

Siti Nur Diyana Mahmud ◽

Amirul Anwar Bin Mohd Shafie

Keyword(s):

Content Knowledge ◽

Stem Education ◽

Professional Training ◽

Preschool Teachers ◽

Qualitative Content Analysis ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

School Teachers ◽

Science Technology ◽

Specific Support ◽

And Mathematics

Abstract: Creativity in teaching is important in order to ensure children are engaged in learning Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). However, previous research has claimed creativity in learning STEM for children is not adequately supported by teacher in classroom due to the lack of preparation, content knowledge and skills. This study aims to assess the needs and challenges of promoting creativity in STEM education. In this study, preschool teachers (n= 22) were interviewed as they are the key informants who are involved in STEM education. The semi-structured interviews were analysed using qualitative content analysis and were qualitatively coded. Results illustrate that there are several distinctive themes identified as described by the participants when discussing the needs and challenges of implementing integrated creativity skill in STEM education as well as the support that would be most helpful in overcoming them. The results highlighted a huge gap between creativity knowledge and the implementation of creativity in STEM education. Participants also provided specific support needed to integrate creativity in STEM education. Preliminary findings suggest that many teachers are interested in integrating creativity skills in STEM education. This research sheds light on the needs and challenges for professional pre-school teachers by providing them pedagogical module as well as professional training to promote creativity in teaching STEM Keywords: Creativity Skills, Needs and Challenges, STEM

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A Primer of Population Genetics and Genomics

10.1093/oso/9780198862291.001.0001 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Daniel L. Hartl

Keyword(s):

Population Genetics ◽

Complex Traits ◽

Evolutionary Biology ◽

Knowledge Retention ◽

Learning By Doing ◽

Human Populations ◽

Gene Drive ◽

Molecular Population Genetics ◽

Genetics And Genomics ◽

And Mathematics

A Primer of Population Genetics and Genomics, 4th edition, has been completely revised and updated to provide a concise but comprehensive introduction to the basic concepts of population genetics and genomics. Recent textbooks have tended to focus on such specialized topics as the coalescent, molecular evolution, human population genetics, or genomics. This primer bucks that trend by encouraging a broader familiarity with, and understanding of, population genetics and genomics as a whole. The overview ranges from mating systems through the causes of evolution, molecular population genetics, and the genomics of complex traits. Interwoven are discussions of ancient DNA, gene drive, landscape genetics, identifying risk factors for complex diseases, the genomics of adaptation and speciation, and other active areas of research. The principles are illuminated by numerous examples from a wide variety of animals, plants, microbes, and human populations. The approach also emphasizes learning by doing, which in this case means solving numerical or conceptual problems. The rationale behind this is that the use of concepts in problem-solving lead to deeper understanding and longer knowledge retention. This accessible, introductory textbook is aimed principally at students of various levels and abilities (from senior undergraduate to postgraduate) as well as practising scientists in the fields of population genetics, ecology, evolutionary biology, computational biology, bioinformatics, biostatistics, physics, and mathematics.

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Characterizations of preschool technology education: analyses of seven individual preschool teachers’ and childcare attendants’ descriptions of their teaching

International Journal of Technology and Design Education ◽

10.1007/s10798-021-09678-2 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Pernilla Sundqvist

Keyword(s):

Technology Education ◽

Narrative Analysis ◽

Digital Technology ◽

Preschool Teachers ◽

Learning Objective ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Children's Play ◽

Staff Members ◽

The Subject ◽

Preschool Staff

AbstractIn recent decades the preschool has leaned more towards a learning-oriented pedagogy, where the subject of technology has been given a more prominent place. Still, studies on how individual preschool staff members perceive and teach technology is scarce. This study shows how seven preschool staff in Sweden describe their work with the subject of technology and how technology education is characterized in these descriptions. The data was produced by means of semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire and analyzed with narrative analysis. The results show very diverse practices of technology education, implying the learning possibilities for children in different preschools are not equal. Some of the staff describe a clear and conscious teaching of technology, while others describe teaching what can be viewed as a limited and/or shallow technology education, where technology is sometimes used as means for learning other subjects or contents rather than being the learning objective. Six ways to characterize technology education was found, namely: technology education (1) concerns technological objects and systems in children’s environment, (2) concerns learning to handle technological objects, (3) is doing experiments, (4) involves developing abilities, (5) is naturally included in children’s play and (6) departs from digital technology.

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Active Learning by Visual Programming: Pedagogical Perspectives of Instructivist and Constructivist Code Teachers and Their Implications on Actual Teaching Strategies and Students’ Programming Artifacts

Journal of Educational Computing Research ◽

10.1177/07356331211017793 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 073563312110177

Author(s):

Avital Kesler ◽

Tamar Shamir-Inbal ◽

Ina Blau

Keyword(s):

Teaching Strategies ◽

Formal Education ◽

Computational Thinking ◽

Visual Programming ◽

Pedagogical Practices ◽

Mixed Method Research ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Optimal Learning ◽

Formal Curriculum ◽

Folk Pedagogy

The integration of visual programming in early formal education has been found to promote computational thinking of students. Teachers' intuitive perspectives about optimal learning processes – "folk psychology" – impact their perspectives about teaching "folk pedagogy" and play a significant role in integrating educational technologies, such as visual programming, within the formal curriculum. This study was conducted based on the mixed method research paradigm. First, a folk pedagogy questionnaire was distributed to 89 teachers who integrate differing technologies in their classroom in order to identify the teachers' pedagogical perspectives: constructivist versus instructivist. Then, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 24 teachers who teach Scratch in order to gain a deeper understanding of their instructivist/constructivist perspectives and actual pedagogical practices and strategies. Finally, we analyzed 96 students' programming artifacts to explore differences, if any, in students' outcomes related to the pedagogical perspectives of their teachers. Findings revealed that pedagogical perspectives are reflected in teaching strategies and assessment practices employed in a visual programming environment. It is promising that teaching visual programming promoted constructivist pedagogy even among instructivist teachers and was consequently reflected in student perspectives and expressed in their programming artifacts. We discuss theoretical and educational implications of these findings.

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Toolbox of teaching strategies

Frontiers of Nursing ◽

10.1515/fon-2018-0033 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 5 (4) ◽

pp. 249-255

Author(s):

Lei Pan ◽

Hui-Qin Xi ◽

Xiao-Wei Shen ◽

Chen-Yu Zhang

Keyword(s):

Learning Environments ◽

Teaching Strategies ◽

Online Teaching ◽

Nurse Educators ◽

Clinical Teaching ◽

Teaching Strategy ◽

Traditional Learning ◽

Teaching Online ◽

Face To Face ◽

Traditional Learning Environments

AbstractA teaching strategy is a method, which can help students to gain knowledge, deliver information, and improve their learning. Different learning environments, such as clinical teaching, online teaching, and face-to-face traditional learning environments, require different teaching strategies for students. Choosing teaching strategies for a course is very important for nurse educators because various factors should be taken into account to make students meet the learning outcomes. The use of modern technologies in teaching strategies can improve students’ competencies and confidences. The purpose of this article is to create a toolbox integrating ten teaching strategies that can be used in different teaching environments.

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What Do Preschool Teachers and Parents Think about the Influence of Screen-Time Exposure on Children’s Development? Challenges and Opportunities

Education Sciences ◽

10.3390/educsci12010052 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

pp. 52

Author(s):

Rita Monteiro ◽

Sandra Fernandes ◽

Nuno Rocha

Keyword(s):

Language Development ◽

Screen Time ◽

Preschool Teachers ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Online Questionnaire ◽

Time Exposure ◽

Teachers And Parents ◽

Children's Development ◽

Children’S Development ◽

At Home

Children’s exposure to screens has been increasing in recent years and so has the concern about its impact on children’s development. This study aims to analyze preschool teachers’ and parents’ views on the influence of screen-time exposure on children’s development. Semi-structured interviews with preschool teachers (n = 9), as well as data from a previous quantitative study, based on an online questionnaire applied to parents of children in preschool (n = 266) were used for data collection. For this study, eminently of qualitative nature, the following dimensions were analyzed: children’s habits of exposure to screens at home, changes in children’s play habits at school, strategies/methodologies used by preschool teachers, use of technologies at school and children’s language development. The results from the study with parents show that screen-time exposure of children is between 1 h to 2 h of television per day, mostly to watch cartoons. Parents also report that most of the children use vocabulary in other languages at home. Most preschool teachers agreed that children are changing their play habits and mainly their behaviors and attitudes, influenced by screen-time exposure. They believe that language development is also changing, mentioning more language problems in children. Changes in pedagogic strategies and specialized training on educational technology are needed to get closer to children’s interests.

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Development of a tool for identifying and addressing prioritised determinants of quality improvement projects led by healthcare professionals: a mixed-methods study

10.21203/rs.2.24055/v2 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Anne van Tuijl ◽

Hub C. Wollersheim ◽

Cornelia R.M.G. Fluit ◽

Petra. J. van Gurp ◽

Hiske Calsbeek

Keyword(s):

Quality Improvement ◽

Mixed Methods ◽

Online Survey ◽

Healthcare Professionals ◽

Learning By Doing ◽

Mixed Methods Study ◽

Quality Improvement Initiative ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Priority Score ◽

A Priority

Abstract Background: Several frameworks have been developed to identify essential determinants for healthcare improvement. These frameworks aim to be comprehensive, leading to the creation of long lists of determinants that are not prioritised based on being experienced as most important. Furthermore, most existing frameworks do not describe the methods or actions used to identify and address the determinants, limiting their practical value. The aim of this study is to describe the development of a tool with prioritised facilitators and barriers supplemented with methods to identify and address each determinant. The tool can be used by those performing quality improvement initiatives in healthcare practice. Methods: A mixed-methods study design was used to develop the tool. First, an online survey was used to ask healthcare professionals about the determinants they experienced as most facilitating and most hindering during the performance of their quality improvement initiative . A priority score was calculated for every named determinant, and those with a priority score ≥ 20 were incorporated into the tool. Semi-structured interviews with implementation experts were performed to gain insight on how to analyse and address the determinants in our tool Results: The 25 healthcare professionals in this study experienced 64 facilitators and 66 barriers when performing their improvement initiatives. Of these, 12 facilitators and nine barriers were incorporated into the tool. Sufficient support from management of the department was identified as the most important facilitator, while having limited time to perform the initiative was considered the most important barrier. The interviews with 16 experts in implementation science led to various inputs for identifying and addressing each determinant. Important themes included maintaining adequate communication with stakeholders, keeping the initiative at a manageable size, learning by doing and being able to influence determinants. Conclusions: This paper describes the development of a tool with prioritized determinants for performing quality improvement initiatives with suggestions for analysing and addressing these determinants. The tool is developed for those engaged in quality improvement initiatives in practice, so in this ways it helps to bridging the research to practice gap of determinants frameworks. More research is needed to validate and develop the tool further.

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Students’ perception of a flipped classroom approach to facilitating online project-based learning in marketing research courses

Australasian Journal of Educational Technology ◽

10.14742/ajet.2884 ◽

2016 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Wen-Ling Shih ◽

Chun-Yen Tsai

Keyword(s):

Mixed Methods Research ◽

Flipped Classroom ◽

Teaching Strategy ◽

Marketing Research ◽

Teaching Quality ◽

Project Based Learning ◽

Online Discussions ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Combined Strategy ◽

Learning Interest

This study investigated students’ perception of a flipped classroom approach to facilitating online project-based learning (FC-OPBL) in a marketing research course at a technical university. This combined strategy was aimed at improving teaching quality and learning efficiency. Sixty-seven students taking a marketing research course were surveyed. Mixed methods research was adopted along with questionnaire, semi-structured interviews, online learning notes, and online discussions to understand the students’ perception of the teaching strategy used during the learning process. Results showed that FC-OPBL may enhance students’ learning effectiveness, learning motivation, and learning interest, as well as encourage diverse development and teamwork. Finally, suggestions are proposed related to flipped classroom research and instruction.

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The use of adapted teaching strategies in literacy by grade three educators in the northern KwaZulu-Natal region

10.51415/10321/750 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Veena Loopoo

Keyword(s):

Learning Styles ◽

Teaching Strategies ◽

Mixed Methods Research ◽

Learning Needs ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Intervention Programme ◽

Diverse Classrooms ◽

Adequate Knowledge ◽

Kwazulu Natal ◽

Grade 3

The literacy levels in South African schools are alarmingly low. Educators are challenged in diverse classrooms with multicultural and multilingual learners as they are faced with the problems that these learners are experiencing in literacy. Educators therefore need to be able to adapt their teaching strategies to suit the needs of their learners to address learners’ different learning needs and styles. This study investigated the use of adapted teaching strategies used by grade 3 educators in literacy in selected schools in northern KwaZulu-Natal. A mixed methods research design was used which included the use of a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews to gather data. The findings which were linked to the literature review revealed that educators lacked adequate knowledge and skills to adapt their teaching strategies as they have not been adequately trained to teach literacy within multilingual contexts. Although some educators were using adapted teaching strategies they were not using them effectively in their multilingual classrooms while some educators did not have a wellstructured intervention programme at school to deal with learners who were experiencing problems with literacy. Inexperienced educators also had problems identifying learning styles and adapting their teaching strategies. This study found that teachers require continual professional development to enable them to effectively adapt their teaching strategies to suit individual learning needs and styles.

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A Teaching Strategies to Enhance Students’ Creativity in English Profession Subject during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Journal of Development Research ◽

10.28926/jdr.v5i2.155 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

pp. 119-125

Author(s):

Diani Nurhajati

Keyword(s):

Elementary School ◽

Teaching Strategies ◽

Video Game ◽

Industrial Revolution ◽

Teaching Strategy ◽

Project Based Learning ◽

University Graduates ◽

School Students ◽

Elementary School Education ◽

The Right

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the learning process must be carried on from home. In fact, all of the university graduates should be equipped with a number skills needed to face the Industrial Revolution 4.0. Therefore, lecturers are expected to find the solution to train the skills, including creativity. One of the solutions is selecting the right teaching strategy. This research was carried out to answer the questions: “What are the teaching strategies employed by the lecturer English Profession to promote creativity?” and “How do the strategies enhance the students’ creativity?” This descriptive qualitative study took 60 students as the subjects. They were the students who took English Profession Subject at the Elementary School Education, University of Nusantara PGRI Kediri. The techniques of collecting data were observation checklist and questionnaire. The findings of the research show that the lecturer employed Project Based Learning in which the students were assigned to create some projects, namely video, game manual, and English book for elementary school students.

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