STEM Made Simple: 25 Activities by Preschool Teachers

Marcella Fecteau Weiner

Description

STEM Made Simple introduces early childhood educators to the exciting world of STEM. It includes 25 small-group activities developed by preschool teachers from diverse settings, ensuring that you too can learn how to build STEM topics – science, technology, engineering, and mathematics – into your curriculum.

Each activity in this resource provides a scaffolding chart that supports children's learning at beginning, middle, and later stages of development as well as intentional vocabulary so your children's language, communication, and comprehension skills grow along with their emerging STEM knowledge. This ebook version also includes 10 video clips of STEM in action in the HighScope Demonstration Preschool.

Informations

• Publié par: eBookIt.com
• Date de parution: 26 avril 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781573797832
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 5 Mo

Extrait

STEM MADE SIMPLE
25 Activities by Preschool Teachers
Marcella Fecteau Weiner, Editor
Published by
HighScope ® Press
A division of the
HighScope Educational Research Foundation
600 North River Street
Ypsilanti, Michigan 48198-2898
734.485.2000, FAX [phone]
Orders: 800.40.PRESS; Fax: [phone]FAX; www.highscope.org
Email: [e-mail]
Copyright © 2018 by HighScope Educational Research Foundation. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this book may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage-and-retrieval system, without either prior written permission from the publisher or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978.750.8400, fax [phone], or on the web at www.copyright.com . The name “HighScope” and its corporate logos are registered trademarks and service marks of the HighScope Foundation.
Editor: Marcella Fecteau Weiner
Cover design: Phire Advertising and Design, LLC
Text design, production: Kazuko Sacks, Profit Makers
Illustrations:
Samantha Smith — 62
Photography:
Bob Foran — 3, 22, 39, 74
Gregory Fox — 23, 27
HighScope staff — front cover, 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 14, 16, 18, 21, 33, 49, 55, 61, 68, 71, 80, 86, 89, 94, 95, 101, back cover
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Weiner, Marcella Fecteau 1968- editor.
Title: STEM made simple : 25 activities by preschool teachers / Marcella Fecteau Weiner, editor.
Other titles: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics made simple
Description: Ypsilanti, Michigan : HighScope Press, a division of the HighScope Educational Research Foundation, [2018] | Includes bibliographical references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018004913| ISBN 9781573797788 (soft cover : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781573797801 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Science--Study and teaching (Preschool)--United States. | Technology--Study and teaching (Preschool)--United States. | Engineering--Study and teaching (Preschool)--United States. | Mathematics--Study and teaching (Preschool)--United States.
Classification: LCC LB1140.5.S35 S84 2018 | DDC 372.35--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018004913
ePub:
ISBN 978-1-57379-783-2
EB1440E
Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
What exactly is STEM, and why is it important?
What are the four disciplines of STEM? Why (and how) should they be taught together?
Can I really teach STEM to preschoolers?
How does STEM learning fit in with the HighScope Preschool Curriculum?
Can introducing STEM in preschool help address the race and gender gaps in the STEM fields?
How can teachers best support STEM learning for children with special needs?
How can teachers best support STEM learning for dual language learners?
How will this book help me incorporate STEM learning into my classroom?
STEM Activities
1. Ramp Up: How Fast Can Your Car Go?
2. Is Black Really Just Black? Color Combinations
3. Let Them Go! Freeing the Frozen Toys
4. Dimension Designs
5. Using Your Senses to Examine Fruit
6. Becoming a Builder
7. How Will It React?
8. Bubbles, Bubbles Everywhere!
9. Pulley Power
10. Building a Bridge
11. Experimenting With Oil and Water
12. Where Do Raindrops Come From?
13. Keeping My Boat Afloat
14. From Station to Fire
15. Map Detectives
16. Nuts About Nuts and Bolts
17. The Super Structure
18. Measuring Boxes
19. Tailor Made
20. Sounds From Everyday Materials
21. Totally Tubular
22. Traveling Water
23. Exploring Catapults
24. Completing the Circuit
25. Programming: Writing a Recipe for Bee-Bots
Appendixes
Appendix A: HighScope Key Developmental Indicators (KDIs)
Appendix B: How to Use the Scaffolding Charts in This Book
About the Contributors
References
 
Video Links
1. Science in Action
2. Technology in Action
3. Engineering in Action
4. Mathematics in Action
5. Activity 1 — Ramp Up: How Fast Can Your Car Go?
6. Activity 3 — Let Them Go! Freeing the Frozen Toys
7. Activity 8 — Bubbles, Bubbles Everywhere!
8. Activity 13 — Keeping My Boat Afloat
9. Activity 14 — From Station to Fire
10. Activity 23 — Exploring Catapults
Acknowledgments
STEM is an interdisciplinary approach to learning, one that integrates different content areas to enhance children's knowledge and inspire their curiosity so they become lifelong learners. Likewise, STEM Made Simple was developed by integrating many different voices so that we could offer you — the reader — the knowledge and expertise of HighScope preschool teachers from many different settings. It was important for us to use activities from practicing teachers to illustrate that you too can teach STEM, whether you're teaching in a Head Start center in Michigan, in a program in South Africa, or in a New Jersey public school. Thus, we'd like to thank, first and foremost, the preschool teachers who contributed their innovative STEM activities. A special thanks goes to Kim Diamond-Berry, associate director of the Center for Early Education Research and Evaluation, for her review of the introductory chapter and Kazuko Sacks, the designer, for transforming words and pictures into an attractive and usable product. Finally, we'd like to acknowledge HighScope's Publications Department: Joanne Tangorra, Editorial Director, and Adam Robson, Managing Director, for their editorial direction and expertise; Kevin McDonnell, for his photographs; and Samantha Smith, for her assistance with all matters large and small that go into creating a book.
Just as STEM learning provides young learners a launching pad to explore, investigate, create, and invent, we hope this book gives you the confidence and inspiration to provide these opportunities to your students.
HighScope's Early Childhood Applied Practice Department
Marcella Fecteau Weiner, Editor
Introduction
If you're in the education field, you've most likely heard or read about STEM. In settings from preschool to high school, STEM is the new buzzword whose letters stand for four important areas of education — Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. However, it's not just these individual disciplines that are getting the attention; it's the integration of these content areas in the classroom that results in a trajectory of success, starting in school and leading to more favorable outcomes for adults in the job market. It's no wonder, then, that there are now STEM summer camps and after-school programs, STEM professional development courses, and even STEM schools. Moreover, research shows that formative STEM experiences can support children's growth not only in the four disciplines but also in young children's executive function and literacy skills (Center on the Developing Child, 2012; McClure et al., 2017).

“Okay,” you might say. “But STEM in preschool? Really?” The answer is yes, really. If your curriculum (like HighScope's) follows a research-based approach and you use developmentally appropriate practices, STEM learning can be naturally integrated into your daily classroom routine. Let's take a look at some typical preschool scenarios that illustrate STEM learning:
At outside time, Cameron attempts to scoop sand into a tall, narrow container, but most of the sand spills down the sides. He looks around and sees a funnel, which he places in the mouth of the container. “There,” Cameron says, as he successfully pours in the sand. (Epstein, 2012c, p. 90)

The children want a roof for the house they built by putting all the big hollow blocks on end. They search around the classroom, looking for materials that might work as a roof. They try a square tablecloth first, pulling it across the top of the blocks, but one child says, “It's too small…it doesn't reach all the way.” Next, they try a thick bedspread, but it's too heavy, and the walls of their house sag and start to collapse. A child goes to the house area and brings over a sheet for the roof to replace the heavy bedspread; it fits perfectly! (Adapted from Neill, 2014, p. 33)
If active learning is a part of your classroom, chances are that these two scenarios are something you might have seen and heard before. These examples, in fact, illustrate activities that reflect STEM learning (exactly how they reflect STEM learning is described below). What's important here is to recognize that preschoolers can do STEM, and you can explicitly teach STEM in your preschool class — you're probably doing it already!

Still having doubts? Perhaps you think that STEM is just another educational fad and not something you have time for. Or perhaps you don't feel comfortable teaching math and science, let alone engineering. That's where this book comes in — to explain why STEM is important in preschool, to make you feel more comfortable with STEM, and to show you how you can easily incorporate STEM activities into your preschool classroom.
What exactly is STEM, and why is it important?
The acronym STEM originated with the National Science Foundation (NSF). STEM refers to NSF's education-related programs in the disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (Moomaw, 2013). It has become the focus of attention for US educators for several reasons: STEM education has been linked to scientific leadership in the world; nations whose educational systems emphasize the disciplines of STEM lead global science efforts (National Research Council, 2011). The US is not preparing enough high school students in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math to compete in the global job market (US Department of Education, 2015). In addition, US employers are increasingly seeking job applicants — at all levels — to have content knowledge fro