Short description:

This book informs best practice for enhancing young children?s STEM learning experiences in formal settings such as preschool environments and less formal settings such as home environments. It was originally published as a special issue of the journal Early Education and Development.

Long description:

This book informs best practice for enhancing young children?s STEM learning experiences in formal settings such as preschool environments and less formal settings such as home environments. It is the first collection of multidisciplinary and multinational studies on early STEM programs worldwide and presents diverse, authentic, and current STEM-relevant scenarios that address two fundamental problems: where are we in early STEM education? and where shall we go?

The book explores factors that influence young learners? abilities to make informed choices in authentic, problem-based, STEM-relevant scenarios and how those abilities have been identified, documented, and enhanced. Chapters address topics related to curriculum and pedagogy, teacher education and professional development, family environment, and inclusive education from a variety of international settings including Australia, Germany, Hong Kong, Mainland China, Singapore, and the United States. Each chapter is based around a research project and describes relevant background information from the research literature, details of how the study was designed, findings from the study, and discussion as to what the findings mean for practical implementation.

Developing Culturally and Developmentally Appropriate Early STEM Learning Experiences will be a key resource for researchers and practitioners of early childhood education and care, STEM education, educational psychology, educational research, and educational technology. This book was originally published as a special issue of the journal Early Education and Development.

Table of Contents:

1. Introduction: Developing Culturally and Developmentally Appropriate Early STEM Learning Experiences  2. ?Once Upon A Star?: A Science Education Program Based on Personification Storytelling in Promoting Preschool Children?s Understanding of Astronomy Concepts  3. Teacher?s Role in Fostering Preschoolers? Computational Thinking: An Exploratory Case Study  4.Engineering Play, Mathematics, and Spatial Skills in Children with and without Disabilities  5.Mathematics Learning Opportunities in Preschool: Where Does the Classroom Library Fit In?  6. Exploring the Relationships between Scientific Epistemic Beliefs, Science Teaching  Beliefs and Science-Specific PCK among Pre-Service Kindergarten Teachers in China  7. Evaluation of an Online Early Mathematics Professional Development Program for Early Childhood Teachers  8. The Influence of Parental Educational Involvement in Early Childhood on 4th Grade Students? Mathematics Achievement  9. Family Cohesion Facilitates Learning-Related Behaviors and Math Competency at the Transition to Elementary School  10. STEM for Inclusive Excellence and Equity  11. An Analysis of the Nature of Young Students? STEM Learning in 3D Technology-Enhanced Makerspaces