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Provides an introduction to constructivist physics with classroom examples illustrating how children construct knowledge. Shows how to promote children's scientific reasoning by engaging them in active experimentation.
Children are intrigued by moving objects, even more so when they can engineer the movement. This volume in the STEM for Our Youngest Learners Series uses Ramps and Pathways as a context to provide children ages 3-8 with opportunities to engage in STEM every day. Ramps and Pathways is a meaningful and fun way for children to develop engineering habits of mind as they explore concepts in force and motion, properties of objects, and how an object's properties affect its movement. In the process, children develop spatial thinking that is essential for future careers in STEM. The text also offers guidance for arranging the physical, intellectual, social-emotional, and promotional environments of a classroom to embrace the natural integration of literacy learning. Each volume in this series includes guidance for forming partnerships with families and administrators that support STEM learning, vignettes showing educators and children engaging in inquiry learning, tips for selecting materials, modifications and accommodations for diverse learners, ways to establish adult learning communities that support professional development, and more. Book Features: Alignment with both the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework (ELOF) and the NGSS Science and Engineering Practices, with specific descriptions of how those science and engineering practices in Ramps and Pathways look and feel in Pre-K-2 classrooms. Examples of how to integrate literacy learning in a meaningful way. Descriptions of how the open-ended nature of ramps and pathways aligns with the Universal Design for Learning Framework (UDL). Guidance to help teachers anticipate and plan for all children to become purposeful, motivated, resourceful, knowledgeable, strategic, and goal-directed about learning. Examples of how to stage, introduce, and support children's designs to develop engineering habits of mind (systems thinking, optimism, creativity, communication, collaboration, attention to ethical considerations). A meaningful and healthy context to grow children's executive function skills (EFs), including inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility.
This teacher’s guide provides the background information, STEM concepts, and strategies needed to successfully implement an early STEM curriculum (Ramps and Pathways) with young children, ages 3–8. R&P actively engages young children in designing and building ramp structures using wooden cove molding, releasing marbles on the structures, and observing what happens. Children use logical-mathematical thinking and problem-solving skills as they explore science concepts related to motion, force, and energy. This guide helps teachers to: Structure and organize an engaging STEM learning environment. Understand and promote logical-mathematical and scientific thinking during investigations. Promote social settings that enhance communication, cooperation, and collaboration. Make the necessary accommodations and modifications for diverse learners. Integrate STEM concepts and skills with other content areas. Align teaching and learning with Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Assess STEM learning using formative and summative assessments. Establish adult learning communities to support ongoing professional development. Help children develop habits and behaviors that contribute to positive attitudes toward STEM. This one-of-a-kind resource uses a newly created Inquiry Teaching Model (ITM) as the conceptual framework and devotes specific attention to the importance of an inclusive and social, STEM learning environment in which children are free to collaborate, take risks, and investigate within the context of exploratory and constructive play.
Everyday STEAM for the Early Childhood Classroom offers a rich, rewarding pathway for early childhood educators integrating the arts into STEM instruction across ages 0–8. Science, technology, engineering, and math are mainstays of early childhood curricula, but young learners can have even more engaging experiences in these subjects with the inclusion of the arts. In this comprehensive resource, early childhood educators will learn key principles for the effective teaching of STEAM in their classrooms and be guided to leverage their existing knowledge and strengths toward meaningful learning opportunities. Packed with hands-on resources, ready-to-use teaching tools, and developmentally appropriate practices, this book is ideal for in-service and pre-service educators ready to explore and experiment with STEAM.
Drawing from a professional development model that was developed with funding from the National Science Foundation, this book is an essential resource for anyone who wants to support preschool children to be STEM thinkers and doers. The text features research-based resources, examples of field-tested activities, and highlights from the classroom.
The goal of the book is to offer an alternative model that better articulates the ideas of agency, constraint, and variability along the path to scientific careers for women. The chapters in this volume apply the metaphor of the road to a variety of fields and moments that are characterized as exits, pathways, and potholes.
