Tinkering in Early Childhood: From Home to Center-Based Online Learning

• In Event: Moving Making to Online and Homes Spaces: Lessons for Maker Education

Abstract

Objectives or purposes: While the Tinkering Studio has a long history of engaging young children as part of the museum experience at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, it wasn’t until 2018 that the Tinkering Studio team began to expand its professional development offerings to include educators working with young children. With support from the Early Learning and Care division of the California Department of Education, the Tinkering Studio and WestEd began to create STEAM Starters, a set of early childhood Tinkering training modules for inclusion in expanded online opportunities for early childhood educators in California. This collaborative design process also included educators from a range of statewide/rural regions, to ensure cultural and linguistic appropriateness.

Theoretical framework: The initial plan was to host in-person design meetings and debrief sessions with educators. Since many early childhood programs were closed or inaccessible as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Tinkering Studio and WestEd pivoted to develop the modules by inviting a group of early learning educators to participate in Tinkering experiences in their settings with children and reflect on their practice with other educators online. The opportunity to collaborate online, rather than the original in-person model, allowed for a more equitable stance on the selection of the educator pool given that the digital medium affords greater reach and accessibility, as well as higher fidelity of Tinkering professional development experiences.

Methods and Data Sources: Formative evaluation activities support the development of the online professional modules by assessing educators' understanding and uptake of Tinkering and STEAM activities. Surveys, focus groups, review of educators’ documentation, and observations during online workshops form part of an integrative feedback loop in the learning design process.

Results: Phase 1 of the production of the modules has yielded significant insights about developing and providing professional development related to Tinkering and STEAM to early care educators online. Phase 2 will launch in August of 2021 and final production and evaluation results are expected June 2022.

Significance: Research suggests that integrating STEAM into early childhood can create a rich learning environment that supports language, math and science skills for all students (Brenneman et al., 2019). The materials developed for this project aim to prepare educators to support STEAM experiences for children from Family, Friends, and Neighbor (FNN) and Family Day Care (FDC), to center-based programs statewide.

Authors

• Osnat Zur, WestEd

• Sophie Savelkouls, WestEd

• Alexa Roth, WestEd

• Luigi Anzivino, Exploratorium

• Casey Federico