Comments on: STEM Should Take Root Early

By: macky buck

macky buck — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 18:55:09 +0000

STEM training is of course going on in all preschool programs all the time. The kids are doing it on their own. What will enhance this for preschoolers? I believe the best thing would be training teachers to see it in action as the kids do it, help the kids by introducing words and concepts and allowing the kids to continue on with what they are doing.

Math is there when kids fold laundry, noticing that a wash cloth when folded in fourths is still a square or match socks. Setting a table is all about sequence, matching, one to one correspondence.

Science and technology come at the park. Rolling balls teach about gravity, digging to the water table after a heavy rain, watching the clouds move across the sky, identifying trees and birds, and watching them over the seasons.

We need to do this. But we need to make sure it is not just another exercise in interrupting children’s block building (math, technology) and bringing them to a table to watch or participate in a teacher driven lesson.

We need to help teachers to see what they are already allowing to happen in their classrooms. Help them find organic, natural ways to step it up a bit. Help them to see that kids whare are engaged are often exploring the concepts in math and science and technology. And finally helping teachers to use language to talk about this stuff with each other, the kids and the parents. Kids are learning every minute that they are in a rich environment.

By: Kay Lisseck

Kay Lisseck — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 16:46:25 +0000

Thank you, Gwen, for that eloquent response which addresses my concerns! Of course, we want to recognize the importance of learning in the areas of science and math. And we need teachers who understand how best to support learning about the world in these areas. But we must also be sure to integrate this learning, following the child’s lead, and connecting to their natural curiosity and delight. Let’s hope that teachers and children can enjoy the learning process together. We know that engaging in playful experiments with materials can provide serious learning experiences in ways that nourish the whole child and their relationship to peers and teachers at the same time. Good teachers can certainly set the stage by being responsive to individual children and recognizing the important inter-related ways that they learn about the world.

By: Cecile Tousignant

Cecile Tousignant — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 16:01:22 +0000

Massachusetts can be thankful that we have Gwen Morgan in our neighborhood to respond to and comment on the many demands made of early childhood educators.
Gwen’s remarks are ever insightful. “Ditto” to the distinction between young children’s learning and teaching, which is the responsibility of higher ed to train teachers in this and to connect observation and assessment as bases for developing curriculum. We need to watch the children and not the plan sheet, which often center-based administrators do to monitor teacher job requirements.

By: Gwen Morgan

Gwen Morgan — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 14:46:23 +0000

Educators need to distinguish between learning, which children do, and teaching, which teachers do. Learning begins at birth, and the learning trajectories in reading, math, science, art,
architecture, music, and any other subject matter are put in place before kindergarten. Good teachers build on these trajectories for each unique individual child. However, children learn all these subject matters simultaneously in their early years, not divided into subjects, as they are in schools. Teachers over-focused on a particular subject, whether reading or science, will miss the necessary trajectory on which they must build. Good teachers build teaching on their relationships with and knowledge of the children they teach.