STEM in Early Childhood Education: How Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Strengthen Learning

Description

Bringing together a diverse cohort of experts, STEM in Early Childhood Education explores the ways STEM can be integrated into early childhood curricula, highlighting recent research and innovations in the field, and implications for both practice and policy. Based on the argument that high-quality STEM education needs to start early, this book emphasizes that early childhood education must include science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in developmentally appropriate ways based on the latest research and theories. Experienced chapter authors address the theoretical underpinnings of teaching STEM in the early years, while contextualizing these ideas for the real world using illustrative examples from the classroom. This cutting-edge collection also looks beyond the classroom to how STEM learning can be facilitated in museums, nature-based learning outdoors, and after-school programs. STEM in Early Childhood Education is an excellent resource for aspiring and veteran educators alike, exploring the latest research, providing inspiration, and advancing best practices for teaching STEM in the early years. Review: Early childhood - It’s a good book Review: It's time for STEM - This book gives us a reason to be hopeful. The editors and authors of this important work disclose the best kept secret in the halls of educational bureaucracy: Children are natural born scientists! The book provides both the rationales and the recipes for assimilating STEM into early childhood education. The roll out of ideas – from conceptual frameworks to “tinkering/making” to wider world relevance – builds a convincing case. If ever there was a time to revise our paradigm for educating young children, it is now. As Buckminster Fuller opined: “Everyone is born a genius, but the process of living de-geniuses them. It’s time for us to nurture the genius.” It’s time for STEM IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION.