Stem toys for infants professional#

Let us start with what we know about child development. This process helped us to find out more about what STEAM means in the early years, how foundational learning skills relate to STEAM, and what we could do to enhance STEAM in infant and toddler classrooms. All the teachers were female and were between the ages of 35 and 53.Īs a group, we met regularly to study early childhood development, observed and documented children’s learning, reflected on their data, and created action plans based on children’s interests. Four participants held infant/toddler Child Development Associate (CDA) credentials, three held associate degrees in early childhood, and two held bachelor’s degrees in child development or elementary education.

The teachers-Stephanie (coauthor), Ana Sofía, Sally, Ada, Ellen, Adriana, Rosalind, Mae, and Marie-had a range of experience and qualifications.

Stem toys for infants professional#

To do this, nine EHS teachers participated in consistent and continuous professional development that was embedded in their jobs and relevant to their specific contexts and children they served. Through teacher research, teachers can study their professional work, connect theory to practice, and hone their teaching craft through inquiry (Dana 2013 Marsh & Gonzalez 2018). Teacher research emphasizes key inquiry skills such as collaborative dialogue, collection and review of teaching data, and opportunities for reflection on practice (Newman & Woodrow 2015 Marsh & Gonzalez 2018). We approached our study of infant and toddler STEAM as teacher researchers, embracing the idea that early childhood professionals are not only teachers but also learners (Henderson et al. This article shares highlights from our journey together as researchers to explore infant and toddler STEAM, make connections between children’s interests and our intentional teaching practices, and create spaces that promote developmentally appropriate STEAM learning. To learn more about how and for what purposes Amazon uses personal information (such as Amazon Store order history), please visit our Privacy Notice.How do science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) relate to infants and toddlers? What can educators do to support the development of infants’ and toddlers’ STEAM-related skills? The authors-a professional development facilitator with experience in early STEAM and an Early Head Start (EHS) teacher who cares for and educates infants and toddlers-along with a cadre of eight other EHS teachers, were curious about finding answers to these questions. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie Preferences, as described in the Cookie Notice. Click ‘Continue without accepting’ or ‘Customise Cookies’ to decline these cookies, make more detailed choices or learn more. Third parties use cookies for the purposes of displaying and measuring personalised advertisements, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. This includes using first- and third-party cookies which store or access standard device information such as a unique identifier.

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