Understanding and Addressing Challenges in the Implementation of an Early Childhood STEM Curriculum as It Scales Out

• In Event: Exploring Research Practice Partnerships in Early Childhood Settings: Opportunities, Strategies, and Key Findings

Abstract

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) activities provide excellent inquiry- and problem-based opportunities for teachers to engage in conversation with young learners. These conversations develop children’s communication skills, critical thinking skills, and children’s STEM content knowledge by tapping into children’s curiosity about natural phenomena. A growing body of research shows that persistent discrepancies in STEM competencies between children from families in different SES strata have their origin in the preschool period.
Center-based preschool and prekindergarten classes are ideal settings for increasing children’s exposure to and understanding of STEM concepts particularly given most centers’ focus on child-centered instruction that organizes activities around children’s interests as they emerge during interaction with the classroom and outdoor environment. Yet, for many early childhood teachers, STEM is less about inquiry and exploration and more about facts. This orientation to STEM leads many teachers to miss opportunities to explore children’s observations and questions about the natural world in a way that allows children to practice reflection and critical thinking.
Education leaders at the Hundred Acre School, part of the Heritage Museum and Gardens sought to address this discrepancy by designing a STEM-focused curriculum called Cultivating Habits of Inquiry, Learning, and Discovery (CHILD). CHILD is an emergent curriculum that provides teachers with suggestions for investigations as a way to increase the intentionality with which teachers integrate STEM-focused activities in the preschool and prekindergarten classroom. The Hundred Acre School is an ideal setting for this curriculum in that it is nested in an expansive natural setting which children spend part of everyday exploring. The curriculum is accompanied by strategies for assessing children’s growing understanding of STEM concepts as well as continual development of other key skills such as language, emergent literacy, and analytic skills. In order to spread this curriculum to urban preschools with fewer resources for STEM and outdoor exploration, education leaders at the Hundred Acre school designed an online multimedia professional development series that is accompanied by in person coaching and regular meetings between participating teachers over the course of the nine-month training series.
In this presentation, we will discuss the pilot project in which CHILD was scaled out to two urban preschools serving low-income children. During the pilot, researchers worked with education leaders at the Hundred Acre school to problem-solve implementation challenges, design a theory of change to guide future curriculum design and evaluation efforts, and develop a school leader training component. Implementation challenges included mid-year teacher turnover and coverage issues that prevented participating teachers from completing the training in a timely fashion. After an initial wave of data collection, a revised theory of change guided changes to the implementation plan. Through an active, collaborative partnership between researchers, practitioners and leaders the CHILD curriculum and professional development program is better suited to match the needs and conditions of implementation sites.

Author

• Monica Stumpff Yudron, University of Massachusetts - Boston