Children can examine and explore the need for recycling programs designed to keep ecosystems safe and healthy for all living things.Ĭhildren experience great joy and excitement when they work to find practical solutions to real-world problems that they directly encounter, observe, and reflect on as they make sense of what is happening.Learning about the basic survival needs of living organisms (e.g., water and nutrients) can be used as the criteria to define and discern between the living and nonliving.Just as children would not want to plaee litter or trash into the pet’s ecosystem within the classroom, children can transfer the need to care for outdoor ecosystems where plants and animals live and survive. Learning about plants and animals in the classroom can likewise transfer to outdoor settings.Classroom pets provide children with many joyful opportunities to learn about their survival needs while always respecting how the animal is cared for and handled.Adhesive materials such as utility or packaging tapeĬonversations about the need for adequate ventilation and temperature moderation (not too hot, not too cold) would need to be contemplated as well.Wood blocks, cardboard boxes, cardboard pieces.To increase the hamster’s mobility, groups of children designed mazes using wooden blocks. When children encountered design challenges, such as a collapsed floor, they were encouraged to look around the school and classroom for ideas (such as pillars providing needed support). The children drew possible hamster structures designed with specific architectural elements, such as stairs. They asserted that the hamster’s house was too small and the hamster wheel was not providing adequate exercise and metabolism needed to maintain the hamster’s general health and wellness. Children expressed concern to their teachers based on their direct observations that the class hamster was gaining too much weight. Let’s consider a STEM project completed by four- to five-year olds at the Hangzhou Qiangtang Jingyuan Preschool in China. When adults stop, look, and listen, the message communicated to children is that their thoughts and ideas matter to them. Listening attentively to what children say and the questions they ask empowers them with increased voice and agency to act on their questions and interests, further encouraging STEM identities. A play-based STEM approach to answering questions and figuring out problems children encounter is arguably a strengths-based approach as well. When teacher observations of individual children reveal new interests and inqueries they want to pursue, it is critical for the teacher to pause what they are doing to capitalize on these teachable moments whenever possible. Trusting relationships with adults empowers children to openly explore, question, investigate, and try out their ideas without the fear of failure or making mistakes. Joyful STEM experiences likewise help to promote trusting relationships supported by authentic connections with meaningful, purposeful reasons to communicate and share thoughts and ideas with others. The science branches that are most readily available to young children’s explorations include the life sciences (plant and animal life), physical sciences, and earth science. In this sense, interest fuels the constructive process while simultaneously serving as a regulatory function by using interesting materials and experiences that fully captivate their attention, focus, and participation. According to Piaget (1954), children will not think deeply about concepts and content if the materials and activities do not interest them.
#Hamster maze study full
Children construct a hamster maze.Įducators must use their power of observation on an ongoing, continuous basis to determine which materials spark children’s curiosity and compel them to pursue their interests with their full and undivided attention. A play-based STEM approach places joy at the center as children explore and investigate actual materials within educational settings where items are readily available for their use. One study examining Black graduate candidates enrolled in engineering programs across three leading research universities determined that the students attributed their STEM progress to family members who cultivated and maintained their interest in STEM at early ages, whether curiosity and exploration were modeled purposefully or accidentally by parents (Burt and Johnson 2018). Children prosper from play-based STEM opportunities that appeal to their creativity and imagination. They welcome any opportunity to use their math and science skills and STEM concepts as they work with actual items within real-world applications. Young children are intrinsically curious and generally eager to engage in play-based learning activities.
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