STEM Integrated Curriculums in Early Childhood Education: An Exploration of Teachers' Pedagogical Beliefs and Practices

Autor/inn/en	Movahedazarhouligh, Sara; Kermani, Hengameh; Aldemir, Jale
Titel	STEM Integrated Curriculums in Early Childhood Education: An Exploration of Teachers' Pedagogical Beliefs and Practices
Quelle	In: International Journal of Modern Education Studies, 7 (2023) 1, S.106-127 (22 Seiten) PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Movahedazarhouligh, Sara) ORCID (Kermani, Hengameh) ORCID (Aldemir, Jale)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Schlagwörter	Early Childhood Education; Early Childhood Teachers; Beliefs; STEM Education; Curriculum; Educational Practices; Teacher Behavior; Integrated Curriculum; Instruction + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Early childhood; Education; Frühkindliche Bildung; Frühpädagogik; Early childhood education; Teacher; Teachers; Frühe Kindheit; Lehrer; Lehrerin; Lehrende; Belief; Glaube; STEM; Curricula; Lehrplan; Rahmenplan; Bildungspraxis; Teacher behaviour; Lehrerverhalten; Teaching process; Unterrichtsprozess
Abstract	Young children are perfectly adapted to learning STEM concepts. A growing body of research indicates that experiences with science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) are critical in preparing young children to think critically and creatively and solve problems. These are valuable skills young children need to succeed in school, work, and life. This raising awareness of STEM education needs has pushed for STEM integration in early childhood (EC) settings while giving limited attention to the teaching of STEM in the EC field and targeted STEM professional development programs. This qualitative study aimed to explore the EC teachers' pedagogical beliefs and practices about STEM-integrated curriculums and STEM teaching in pre-K settings after attending a series of STEM integration teacher professional development programs in an eastern state in the United States. Five EC teachers participated in in-person interviews after attending a series of professional development sessions designed to help teachers develop both content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge related to the STEM curriculum. A qualitative inductive approach was used for the data analysis. The analysis of data collected from interviews with EC teachers revealed that they were positively impacted by the STEM-integrated professional development, resources, and materials available to implement the STEM units. According to the teachers' beliefs, children were also positively impacted by their teacher's professional learning and high confidence in teaching STEM-related topics and activities. A discussion of the findings and implications for future research and practice is presented. Recommendations are also discussed for how teachers can effectively teach integrated STEM education. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	International Journal of Modern Education Studies. Available from: Mevlut Aydogmus. Necmettin Erbakan University Ahmet Kelesopglu Education Faculty A-319 Meram Konya, 42000, Turkey. e-mail: ijonmes@gmail.com; Web site: https://www.ijonmes.net/index.php/ijonmes
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01