The Origins of a Village of Educators Nurturing Preschoolers’ Visuospatial Reasoning Through Socio-Ecological STEM Tasks (Poster 27)

• In Event: AERA Poster Session Thursday 5:25 p.m.
  In Poster Session: Socio Political Issues in Mathematics and Science Education SIG Poster Session

Abstract

Schools have few spaces to develop learners’ environmental consciousness and representations of the living world (i.e., socio-ecological tasks). We are an interdisciplinary group of teacher educators that partnered with preschool educators to plan and teach socio-ecological STEM tasks. Socio-ecological STEM tasks engage learners in 1) attending to nature and all living beings; and 2) using STEM practices, such as visuospatial reasoning to represent their experiences with the living world. In this proposal, we report on the process of collaborating to create the socio-ecological tasks. Preliminary analysis suggests that the co-creation of tasks cultivated a learning environment for all educators. Educators envisioned new possibilities that start remedying and repairing preschool STEM education.

Authors

• Elizabeth Suazo-Flores, University of North Dakota

• Amber Janel Adgerson, University of North Dakota

• Christine McGrail, University of North Dakota

• JoAnne Yearwood, University of North Dakota