Sowing the Seeds for Successful STEM Learning in Early Childhood

Whether it is
gardening, building forts, stacking blocks, playing at the water table, or
lining up by height in the classroom, children demonstrate a clear readiness to
engage in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) learning early in
life.

STEM Starts Early is the culmination of a deep inquiry
supported by the National Science Foundation including: interviews with policy
makers, researchers, and teacher educators; focus groups with preschool and
elementary school teachers; an analysis of research funding in the area; and an
extensive literature review on the latest research about early STEM learning.
The initial findings were shared with leaders from policy, research, and
education at a two-day
agenda-setting convening at New America, and their input was then
incorporated into the report released today.

Efforts
involving STEM (as well as STEAM, which includes the arts) have been gaining
momentum around the country.  In addition to raising awareness of STEM
education needs at middle and high schools, a crop of research specialists and
early childhood advocates has been focused on STEM in the early years. Last
year, researchers established the DREME
Network, which stands for Development and Research in Early Math
Education, and earlier this month, the Early
Childhood STEM Working Group published Early STEM Matters.
Other system-building initiatives include: 100K in
10, focused on building a highly qualified STEM workforce; the
Teaching Institute for Excellence in STEM (TIES),
which fuels STEM education curriculum and instructional program development; Change the Equation, an alliance of
business and policy leaders devoted to promoting STEM education; and CS4All,
an effort launched by President Obama and the National Science Foundation to
ensure that every child masters computer science as a gateway skill.

These promising
initiatives  point to a converging consensus among practitioners and
policymakers  and are the first step in creating a web of charging
stations for young children, ensuring that they can power up their learning
anytime, anywhere. Initiatives like STEM
Next work to engage kids in STEM everywhere, and high-quality
media are being used to support teachers in the classroom (e.g., STEM from the Start), parents at
home (e.g., Bedtime Math), and
home-school connections using multi-media (e.g., Ready
to Learn’s transmedia suites).

Findings and
recommendations from the report include:

Findings

Researchers and
educators agree: Children demonstrate a clear readiness to engage in science,
technology, engineering, and math (STEM) learning early in life. And, just as
with language and literacy, STEM education should start early in order to
maximize its benefits and effectiveness.

1. Both parents and teachers appear to be
   enthusiastic and capable of supporting early STEM learning; however, they
   require additional knowledge and support to do so effectively.
2. Teachers in early childhood environments need
   more robust training and professional development to effectively engage young
   children in developmentally appropriate STEM learning.
3. Parents and technology can help connect school,
   home, and other learning environments like libraries and museums to support
   early STEM learning.
4. Research and public policies play a critical
   role in the presence and quality of STEM learning in young children’s lives,
   and both benefit from sustained dialogue with one another and with teachers in
   the classroom.
5. An empirically-tested, strategic communications
   effort is needed to convey an accurate understanding of developmental science
   to the public, leading to support for meaningful policy change around early
   STEM learning.

Recommendations

So why is STEM
not woven more seamlessly into early childhood education? What can we do—in the
classroom, in homes, in museums, in research labs, and in the halls of
legislating bodies—to ensure that all young children have access to
high-quality STEM learning early in life? Small and large steps can be taken,
both sequentially and simultaneously, to advance greater STEM learning in early
childhood.

• Engage parents: Support parent confidence and efficacy
  as their children’s first and most important STEM guides.
• Support teachers: Improve training and
  institutional support for teaching early STEM.
• Connect learning: Support and expand the web of
  STEM learning “charging stations” available to children.
• Transform early childhood education: Build a
  sustainable and aligned system of high quality early learning from birth
  through age 8.
• Reprioritize research: Improve the way early
  STEM research is funded and conducted.
• Across all these recommended actions, use
  insights from communications science to build public will for and understanding
  of early STEM learning

Much has already
been written about this project and report, including: The Joan Ganz Cooney
Center’s Behind the Scenes at the White House Early STEM Learning Symposium and Fostering
STEM Trajectories: A Plan of Action; EdCentral’s Deepening
Discussion of STEM in Early Learning Part 1 and Part 2; and the U.S.
News’ Op-Ed: Integrating STEM Learning in Early Childhood Education

STEM Starts
Early: Grounding science, technology, engineering, and math education in early
childhood is available as a free download today.