Elementary Educators Reflections on Challenges and Opportunities of Implementing Hands-On STEM Remote Learning During COVID-19

• In Event: Science Teaching and Learning: Elementary Science Education

Abstract

This paper explores the reflections on challenges and opportunities educators who value hands on, inquiry-based STEM learning activities faced during the initial pivot to remote teaching during the Covid-19 crisis. Through observations and document analysis of three 2nd grade settings and interviews with six elementary educators in those settings, we analyze how they shifted their activities, encountered challenges and sometimes gained unexpected insights as result of the sudden pivot to remote.
This research focuses on a young student population. In addition, all educators in our study were implementing a Bridge Unit as a grounding context for specific science and engineering concepts. This paper focuses on three main areas of adaptation when educators went online: media, materials and instructional support.

Authors

• Maaike Bouwmeester, New York University

• Shilpa Sahay, New York University