INTEGRATING STEM INTO EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION: IS IT FEASIBLE?

Year 2016, Volume: 4 , 336 - 341, 01.09.2016

Eng Tek Ong Aminah Ayob Nasir Ibrahım Mazlini Adnan Jameyah Sharıff Noriah Mohd Ishak

Abstract

This
paper aims to determine the feasibility of integrating STEM into the early
childhood education. As such, a survey design was deemed appropriate. Purposive
sampling technique was used in which 22 early childhood teachers from 19 urban
and rural childcare centres in Malaysia were selected for this study. These 22
early childhood teachers were familiarised to the use of Problem-Based Inquiry Learning (PIL) in integrating STEM by
means of 10 authors-developed STEM Projects through a three-day fully
residential training workshop. Upon the completion of the training workshop,
the teachers were supported in integrating STEM in their respective classrooms
for five-month duration during which, an implementation of a maximum of five
STEM Projects was aspired. Two sources of data were gathered from the teachers
to determine the suitability of STEM integration in early childhood education:
(1) at the end of the training workshop where teachers reported on the
suitability of the STEM Projects for early childhood pupils aged 3 to 4+, and
(2) at the end of the five-month classroom implementation where teachers
reported on the STEM Projects which they have carried out with their 3-4+
year-old children. Findings indicated that, while two of the 10 STEM Projects
were perceived as less appropriate by at least 50% of the teachers, eight other
STEM Projects were deemed as appropriate. The actual implementation of STEM
Projects among the teachers ranges between 60% to 100%, with a mean of 81%.
This paper ends with a discussion on the characteristics of the appropriate
STEM projects for 3 to 4+ year olds, and equally, implications for STEM
education are proffered. 

Keywords

Project-based inquiry learning, STEM education, early childhood education

References

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