Educational robotics and STEAM in early childhood education

Across all levels of education, Natural Sciences is a scientific field that is gaining considerable research interest. However, in recent years a growing interest in the introduction of Science in Preschool Education can be seen among scientists, as they realize that the children’s first experiences will be the cornerstone of the relationship they are going to develop with this scientific field in the future. It is accepted that children approach and understand the new knowledge taught in the classroom in the context of what they already know. Their pre-existing beliefs and experiential knowledge are the foundations upon which the new concepts will be merged. Based on these perceptions, children approach, "decode," and understand new knowledge through the interaction of the two cognitive systems, the pre-existing and the taught new enriched cognitive patterns. The kindergarten environment cannot remain isolated and uninfluenced by the developments in a constantly changing world. The goal of Kindergarten is to properly prepare its students to become active citizens of their country by helping them get all the necessary skills. In this way, the STEM and STEAM approach seems to be progressively gaining ground in Preschool Education. Various researchers emphasize the importance and positive outcomes of implementing a STEM education program in Kindergarten, as children can acquire at an early age all the necessary resources that will play a decisive role in their later life. According to the above, this study is a literature and article review with its primary purpose to verify the above assumptions. More specifically, this article showcases the importance of teaching Science in Preschool Education and its practicability at this age group. There is also a presentation of the holistic educational STEAM approach. The main goal of this presentation is to emphasize the contribution of this educational approach towards a more effective teaching of Science in Kindergarten and in-depth learning and understanding of natural concepts by preschoolers.

Section: Children's Perceptions In Natural Sciencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The teaching of Natural Sciences in kindergarten based on the principles of STEM and STEAM approach

Kastriti

Kalogiannakis

Psycharis

et al. 2022

“…S.T.E.M. education is rarely applied in primary schools, mainly by individual initiatives of teachers who wish to offer an innovative experience to their students (Chaldi & Mantzanidou, 2021;Foti, 2021;. Until the school year of 2021, the curricula of Primary and Secondary education did not yet include specific modules or activities of S.T.E.M.…”

Section: Stem Education In Greecementioning

confidence: 99%

Teachers' attitudes towards S.T.E.M. in secondary education

Kalliontzi

2022

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the level of secondary education teachers' attitudes towards implementing S.T.E.M. in the classroom. Moreover, previous relative research studies' findings were reviewed to assist in the analysis of the current study. The main instrument of the study was a questionnaire containing 18 items using a 5-point Likert scale administered to 121 K-12 school teachers. Descriptive, independent t-tests and ANOVA analyses were applied to analyze the research findings. The results showed a highly positive attitude towards S.T.E.M. education. Nevertheless, teachers seem concerned about implementing the framework in the classroom and appear willing to participate in relative seminars. Overall, this study's findings comply with the findings of the international literature and are expected to raise awareness among the relevant departments of the Hellenic Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs.

“…The STEM educational model stimulates children's curiosity and creativity and helps them understand how the world around them works based on cooperation and teamwork (Margot & Kettler, 2019). Technology, the T of STEM, adheres to 21st-century employment patterns (Noh & Lee, 2020) and practically supports learning and teaching (Chaldi & Mantzanidou, 2021;Donohue & Schomburg, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Marine plastic pollution in kindergarten as a means of engaging toddlers with STEM education and educational robotics

Tallou¹

2022

In recent years, education has increasingly focused on children's acquisition of digital skills and abilities, which leads to the need to create new educational methodologies capable of engaging students in computational thinking activities. The research interest of this paper focuses on how preschool children can be more involved in STEM and educational robotics through authentically experiential learning on the topic of marine plastic pollution. It examines toddler engagement through an integrated STEM scenario using the programmable robot Bee-Bot and encourages children to solve problems in many possible ways, assessing the strengthening of their necessary skills. The teaching intervention took place during the 2021-22 school year in a Kindergarten in the city of Ioannina. During the planning and implementation phase of the program, action research and field study are applied, while the sociocultural approach to teaching natural sciences, educational robotics, new technologies, engineering, the arts and mathematics. The research framework is completed with the evaluation process and the students disseminating the project learning outcomes.