ABSTRACT

Background

STEM education integrates the disciplines of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Relevant research emphasizes a strong relationship among characteristics of STEM education and the early childhood period, such as investigation, exploration and observation, communication and playing. To support children in discovering STEM fields and concepts in this early childhood period of rapid learning and development, early childhood educators should prioritize the integration of STEM education into the early childhood curriculum.

Purpose

This research aims to explore pre-service early childhood teachers’ views on STEM education and their STEM teaching practices.

Sample

The research group consisted of 91 pre-service early childhood teachers studying at two universities in Istanbul, Turkey.

Design and methods

An open-ended questionnaire and STEM integrated lesson plans were used as data collection tools. Data were analyzed through content analysis and descriptive analysis.

Results

As a result, the themes of ‘Contributions of STEM Education’, ‘Why STEM Education is Suitable for Early Childhood Education’ and ‘How to Bring STEM Education into Early Childhood Education’ were obtained based on pre-service early childhood teachers’ views. The categories related to these themes are provided in detail in the ‘Results’ section. In addition, it was concluded that a majority of the pre-service early childhood teachers prepared and implemented STEM integrated lesson plans successfully.

Conclusion

The present research contributes to the literature related to STEM education in early childhood education, particularly regarding professional development of pre-service early childhood teachers.

中文翻译：

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职前幼儿教师对 STEM 教育的看法及其 STEM 教学实践

摘要

背景

STEM教育融合了科学、技术、工程和数学学科。相关研究强调 STEM 教育的特点与幼儿期的调查、探索和观察、交流和玩耍之间的密切关系。为了支持儿童在这个快速学习和发展的幼儿时期发现 STEM 领域和概念，幼儿教育工作者应优先考虑将 STEM 教育融入幼儿课程。

目的

本研究旨在探讨职前幼儿教师对 STEM 教育的看法及其 STEM 教学实践。

样本

该研究小组由在土耳其伊斯坦布尔的两所大学学习的 91 名职前幼儿教师组成。

设计和方法

开放式问卷和 STEM 综合课程计划被用作数据收集工具。通过内容分析和描述性分析对数据进行分析。

结果

因此，根据职前幼儿教师的观点，得到了“STEM教育的贡献”、“为什么STEM教育适合幼儿教育”和“如何将STEM教育带入幼儿教育”等主题。“结果”部分详细提供了与这些主题相关的类别。此外，得出的结论是，大多数职前幼儿教师成功地准备和实施了 STEM 综合课程计划。

结论

本研究为幼儿教育中与 STEM 教育相关的文献做出了贡献，特别是关于职前幼儿教师的专业发展。