| 1. Designing an early education STEM system doesn’t have to be scary. |
We’re aware of the overarching benefits STEM education experiences can have on students who take part in them. STEM covers a huge area of content and subjects, which makes it feasible for educational leaders to choose from any number of directions, tools, and ideas when designing STEAM learning that works for their students. One of those avenues includes early childhood STEM—the relevant, hands-on learning that students experience early in their lives. These early education STEM experiences can start around the time they’re three years old. Early child education takes place roughly from 3-6 years old and these—believe it or not—are crucial years for STEM development. And, surprisingly, there are many ways for educators to help students build foundations that could prepare them for the future.
Enhancing Early Education STEM
It might sound like a great idea to start exposing children to STEM early on but it’s not exactly as simple as handing them some STEM tools and getting out of the way. These STEM introductions need planning with particular attention from school and district leaders. If a preschool or other Early Ed facility isn't part of any school district, then it's likely the school leaders who would take on the responsibility of designing a STEM curriculum that's appropriately rigorous. It is, of course, also important to make sure that students do not feel overwhelmed. In fact, early STEM experiences should be almost entirely exploratory. That way, there's no pressure on these students since, after all, they’re not taking part in too many lessons anyway.
How to design an Early Ed STEM program.
Research into early childhood education and societal trends play a role in early learning STEM. At this age, the most beneficial opportunities often emerge from learning that aligns with a child's developmental needs and abilities. This usually signifies that there are elements of both play and exploration involved. Also, while that sounds good, there are other factors to consider, like whether or not your Pre-K students, for example, are able to communicate their feelings or struggles. In order for effective STEM learning to occur regularly at this young age, efforts should focus on equitable access, state and regional level coordination, educator professional development, and instruction and assessment, according to the NSTA team.
Working as a team.
It may seem challenging to design a system for STEM in Early Ed but it does have a variety of benefits. For education leaders, they need coherence throughout the process and a strategic plan for which tools they’ll want to use, activities they want students to do, outcomes they hope to achieve, and some way of tracking progress. Also, they would need to find a way to make this STEM learning appealing and equitable for all students as well. Plus, during the school day, they would need to provide meaningful professional learning opportunities for the educators who would be in charge of this new instruction. There also needs to be the right combination of play, exploration, learning, and assessment—all of which help these young students start to grow. If early educators can integrate these characteristics, then that’s a very solid start.
How to Teach STEM in Early Childhood
Though it can be, STEM doesn’t have to be anything complex, intimidating, or too challenging for students to grasp. Some think it’s lots of highly technical experiments and world-renowned scientists in laboratories but that’s not really the case. STEM can be anything hands-on and the skills that students develop through open-ended exploration can, perhaps one day, help them become one of those highly skilled scientists. In ECE, STEM learning is often as simple as enabling hands-on opportunities, so students can design, tinker, and build. It’s through these processes that they'll start developing crucial soft skills, like understanding the relationship between cause and effect (a precursor to learning coding), problem solving, collaboration, and even literacy. If students are building something, they’re also more likely to understand it in a concrete way.
Designing STEM learning experiences.
Knowing how to teach these skills so young children grasp them does take a bit of specialized training for educators. Early childhood experts recommend that these educators try to incorporate STEM experiences more and more into the school day for them, however. This has led to some administrators and even some education professionals developing their own Early Ed curricula. Whether STEM experiences are structured or not, they can still focus on having students participate in project-based learning. This is a great way to bring together hands-on activities, like building and measuring, for example. Mixing these STEM concepts and experiences into everyday lessons can help even the youngest learners start to make connections.
Strategies for early education STEM engagement.
Kids are capable of learning STEAM skills and concepts starting at an early age. So, when educators make room for this type of learning, they're doing students a real service. Some of the positive outcomes include intellectual and physical development that stems from working as part of a group. Students could also stay motivated and persistent with that added social element of working as part of a team. Teachers could even monitor their students' interests or simply ask what they like to do. They can use something as common as sunlight or temperature and use that to design a STEM lesson. Finally, when early childhood educators ask students questions throughout their hands-on learning, it helps them keep their brains fully engaged. It also helps push students to explain the reasons behind their thinking—something that's beneficial in all grades.
Why Starting STEM in Early Education Matters
We all realize that STEAM has become a larger element of classroom instruction, educational planning, and district budgets. That focus comes from how the current workforce is trending and large numbers of STEM jobs that are left unfilled. This has also compelled government officials to get involved and pass legislation to make STEM experiences more accessible for all students—not just for those in school systems with top equipment and facilities. In order to provide students with relevant STEM experiences, that means starting the teaching in early childhood education. From birth to age five, children undergo a critical stage of their neurological development. And, since they learn well through active exploration, it’s a great opportunity to introduce them to STEM.
Using STEM and inquiry in Early Ed.
Children at these young ages have the natural inclination to observe, interact, discover, and explore—all of which are inherent elements of their development. More and more people are starting to believe that this is an opportunity to capitalize on their natural tendencies and weave in appropriate STEM experiences since they also turn out to be more exploratory in nature. By using STEM to make inquiry something that stays with them and something they crave, many educators believe they can help their students become more interested in STEM. It can also help them develop relevant STEM skills. The benefits could perhaps span even further than just STEM as well. They may include other key academic and interpersonal areas, like literacy, language learning, communication, and reasoning.
Toys and technology in early education.
The natural inquiry that students have in preschool, Pre-K, and kindergarten is something that educators can use to their advantage. Also, leveraging a play-based curriculum can be particularly effective. These often align with the development of these students, especially since they involve a process of inquiry. So, teachers can make use of things that their kids are already interested in, like toys and maybe even some technology, using them to create hands-on, inquiry-driven learning experiences. Students at this age can learn a lot through daily classroom situations and active experimentation. And, as the teachers introduce STEM in Early Ed, students who utilize these strategies can become better prepared for the future.
Benefits of STEM in Early Ed
STEM education brings with it a lot of tangible and intellectual benefits for students of all ages. The good news is that many of the experiences that might benefit middle or high schoolers could also work in early education. Two of the central benefits of STEM education involve students developing increased comfort levels with hands-on work and trying new, innovative lines of thinking. Plus, teachers can attain many of the common goals of STEAM education by consistently using technology in instruction. Also, as STEAM education continues to increase in popularity and necessity, more school administrators are making sure they implement it. Actively embracing it can also create some relevant and specific benefits for kids.
Creating the right conditions.
Aside from helping students build readiness for the real world, STEM helps them develop many soft skills as a byproduct. Many of these skills are just as valuable as the content knowledge. For example, STEAM learning helps kids foster ingenuity and creativity, which is near the top when it comes to the importance of soft skills. Since there's such a large hands-on component to STEM, students often experience failure in their problem-solving efforts but that's good. It helps them recognize potential flaws in these processes and helps them build resilience. They get a chance to redesign their approaches in an environment where this is the norm. With this regular re-working also comes a desire to experiment, which helps them benefit from taking reasonable risks. They can also learn how those risks could potentially lead to new knowledge.
Why STEM in early education works.
STEAM learning is very collaborative and, even in early education, teachers can try encouraging teamwork among students. It helps young children see that they can apply their skills to problem solving in a real and immediate way. STEM in Early Ed also encourages kids to use technology to solve problems. It even helps them begin to employ critical thinking to solve problems that are facing them. In early education, kids often benefit from STEM problem solving since it's an opportunity for them to first examine problems and—with a little guidance—then solve them in a logical way. Finally, STEM learning encourages adaptation in young students. This is because they get the chance to apply the skills they learn—however minimal they might be—to learning or problem solving in a variety of scenarios.
Why Early Ed STEM Could Be Easier than you Think
Education is all about engagement—at all grade levels, frankly. Since it seems logical that kindergarten or preschool teachers might struggle to keep their students' attention for long periods, they’re probably often looking for ways to increase engagement. As we said, using STEM tools, like building blocks, basic robots, and others often help thanks to their hands-on elements that cater to both learning and student's interests. Young kids often enjoy solving problems and experiencing new things and EarlyEd STEAM tools often help them tangibly understand the problems they solve and may even resemble toys. Simply put, teachers can make early STEM introductions fun and beneficial while supporting intellectual development in kids when using certain STEM tools.
Using STEM experiences to help in all subjects.
When young students can engage with STEM-related activities (something hands-on), they tend to remain more curious, focused, active, and communicative. They may also tend to have more fun than in traditional learning experiences, which isn't something that should be overlooked. Also, the ideas that young children develop about math and science as early on as kindergarten can have an impact on their attitudes towards those subjects as well as academic outcomes down the road. And, since many Early Ed STEM tools help students develop math, science, and soft skills, it's a short- and long-term win.
How teachers can figure out instruction.
Through early STEM experiences, students can learn about redesign, abstract thinking, reasoning, or even data collection among other skills. And, even if early years teachers feel they’re too squeezed for time, not all that comfortable with teaching STEAM, or not sure how to make it fit in the curriculum, there's plenty of ways to accomplish all of those. Also, you are never alone! It's sometimes as simple as utilizing some new math concept or challenging students to use engineering to solve a problem. This could help them see that their ideas can work for what they’re trying to solve or in rethinking things. When young kids get hands-on, it can enhance their development and—ideally—their interest in how the world works.
For the latest EdTech, STEM, and 21st century education news, follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Like us on Facebook, too, or sign up for our newsletter for our latest product announcements and offerings. If you have an idea for an Eduporium Weekly theme, send us a message on social media or comment below.