Creativity, Optimism, and Persistence

Creativity, optimism, and persistence are essential traits for STEM learning-and for success in life. In our work, we continually explore better ways to strengthen professional learning and develop open-ended materials that help young children engage meaningfully in STEM experiences.

In our STEMwonder Scale-Up program for educators of preschool through 3rd-grade students, we are once again offering three popular STEM experiences: Engineering Ramps & Pathways, Engineering Light & Shadow, and Engineering Balance. Each year, we strengthen our professional learning with new research and upgrade our materials as new technologies emerge.

One example is our STEM experience focused on balance in rotational motion. Children are naturally curious about spinning tops. They love testing different shapes and designs, and this encourages thinking like an engineer - wondering why a top is built a certain way and how design choices affect how it spins.

Imagine if students could design their own tops! Thanks to 3D printing, one of our team members has been reverse-engineering existing 3D printing designs and creating new components that students can assemble and reassemble. These interchangeable hubs and inserts allow students to explore how different design choices change the way a fan blade or spinning to behaves. She models the very traits we hope to cultivate in young learners: creativity in problem-solving, optimism in seeking new solutions, and persistence as she refines each design. Her innovative work captured the attention of Ann Caspari, Early Childhood Education Specialist for the Simthsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC. They are now collaborating to provide a similar experience for children and their families in the museum.

 Creativity, optimism, and persistence are qualities we intentionally embed in our STEMwonder experiences and professional learning opportunities. If you've taken an iteration of one of these programs before, we invite you to return and continue learning with us. Refine your approach to questioning. Update your materials. Bring your team with you. Invite newbies! Our opportunities are designed to fit educators' busy schedules - a single summer day and a Saturday of playful learning, a stipend to offset travel, a grad credit to use in license renewal, new classroom materials, and ideas for integrating STEM with literacy.

What more could an educator ask for?

Join us by applying to the STEMwonder Scale-Up Program!

34 DAYS TO APPLY BEFORE THE DEADLINE!

educate.iowa.gov/STEM/ScaleUp

Learning at Deeper Levels

It’s always a joy to hear from educators who have participated in our past Scale-Ups! Many have asked whether they can reapply after completing one or more of our previous programs. The answer is YES! Each year we refresh our materials with new technologies that weren’t available before and update our professional learning based on the latest research. In this 3-year award, we are delving deeper into integrative STEM and literacy.

All of us on the STEMwonder team have real classroom experience with young children, so we know that repeating a professional learning experience often leads to deeper understanding. Each time you revisit similar content, your questions shift, your insights grow, and your solutions become more nuanced.

As we move into the next three years of Scale-Ups, we are thrilled to welcome both new and returning awardees. New participants will be learning how to introduce and implement Engineering, Ramps & Pathways, Light & Shadow, and Balance. Returning participants can support them with practical advice while also refining their own questioning strategies, strengthening how they challenge students’ thinking, and exploring literacy connections within STEM.

Choosing between the Science of Reading and Science/STEM is a false choice. Strong reading instruction and STEM learning go hand in hand. Together, they help students become stronger readers, more confident scientists and engineers, and thoughtful mathematicians!

39 DAYS TO APPLY BEFORE THE DEADLINE! 

educate.iowa.gov/STEM/ScaleUp

A Special Opportunity for Iowa's Educators From the Iowa Governor's STEM Advisory Council

Imagine a classroom where children's natural curiosity becomes the spark for joyful discovery - where questions like How does this work? or What will happen if...? leads to hands-on exploration, meaningful collaboration, and joyful learning.

That's the heart of STEM - and the reason we're proud to share that STEMwonder Experiences has been selected as one of only three partners for the Iowa Governor's STEM Scale-Up Program.

This is an exciting chance to bring imagination-driven STEM experiences to the students who benefit most. STEM starts early.

Who Can Apply?

Informal learning educators and PK-Grade 3 teachers working with children ages 4-8 are encouraged to apply. Whether you're familiar with STEMwonder or brand new to the program, you're welcome - and you'll find updated materials, expanded capabilities, and new research supporting your work.

What Awardees Receive

Starting in July and over three years, awardees will gain professional learning and high-quality classroom materials designed to make STEM come alive:

• 
  2026-2027: Engineering Ramps & Pathways
• 2027-2028: Engineering Light & Shadow
• 2028-2029: Engineering Balance

Each kit is intentionally designed for young learners, offering developmentally rich experiences that grow problem-solving, inquiry, collaboration, and foundational early literacy skills. 

Apply now at https://tinyurl.com/2mfjn6pr. Need assistance? Email regents.center@uni.edu

Curiosity-Creativity-Confidence

Curiosity is what sparks learning. When children wonder about something, they naturally want to explore it, and that curiosity helps them understand the world more deeply. As they ask questions and investigate how things work, they develop inquisitive minds and stronger thinking skills. With the rapid growth of AI, it’s more important than ever for schools to nurture this sense of curiosity—encouraging children to think critically, ask meaningful questions, and explore new ideas.

Curious teachers help create curious learners. When teachers pay attention to what excites children and what captures their interest, it opens the door to creative and effective teaching. At the Iowa Regents’ Center for Early Developmental Education, we’re always exploring how children respond to different phenomena. Our goal is to design hands‑on STEM experiences that honor children’s natural curiosity about the world.

In our work, we create materials that meet four key criteria: producible, immediate, observable, and variable. Children should be able to make something happen on their own, see the result right away, and adjust or vary something to discover a new outcome. Through this process, they build confidence in their ability to figure things out and follow their ideas.

The artifacts you see represent the ongoing work of our curious team. Noticing children’s interest in rotational motion, we set out to design materials that fit our four criteria. To explore new possibilities, our team member Yin dug into how 3D printers work and began creating tops and fan blades with interchangeable parts children can experiment with. What you see on display is our continuing journey in developing these engaging, variable materials. 

What ideas do you have? We'd like to learn from you!

Coding in Early Childhood

Coding is the process of creating step-by-step instructions for a computer. These carefully written instructions are necessary for the computer to successfully run its programs. The instructions for the computer are not the same as human verbal or written instructions. A computer uses the language of number. However, a computer counts differently than a human counts. The instructions use a number system that is not in base ten, but instead, a binary number system. 

Chepina Rumsey, Associate Professor in mathematics at UNI has been working with us as we explore experiences that support the kind of thinking that is required for coding, but experiences that are not necessarily electronic and don't have screens. In other words, what early experiences help build the architecture of the brain to more easily develop concepts in computer science and in coding. We happened upon research done by MIT computer scientists who are exploring this idea as well, and worked to design "materials for young children to learn the basics behind how computers work - without using computers" (Learningbeautiful.com). We purchased a set of their materials and examined them from the perspective of the young learner, and from the perspective of early childhood educators. 

One of the Learning Beautiful experiences is the Binary Towers. Although the experience is written for young children, we struggled with how young children would respond to learning a binary number system at the same time they were learning a base ten system. We questioned whether the benefits of dual number system learning would be the same as dual language learning. We have not yet arrived at an answer to this question. What we did settle on is that the Binary Tower experience would be a good introduction to the binary system for early childhood educators unfamiliar with coding. 

We invite early childhood educators and preservice teachers to explore the Binary Towers in our Integrative Classroom Studio (Schindler Education Center 116) at UNI where we are exhibiting explorations in coding in early childhood. Read the book The Binary Towers Playbook and engage with the Binary Towers materials to become familiar with the basics of how computers work. While the Binary Towers Playbook reads like a child's picture book, we feel the contents and concepts are suited for adults who want to know more about computer coding. Come play with us in our Integrative Classroom Studio and think with us on how to engage young learners in concepts of computational thinking in developmentally appropriate ways. 

The Value of Loose Parts

 This past summer and fall, the Iowa Regents' Center for Early Developmental Education had the privilege to spend learn with more than 160 Iowa educators by exploring open-ended STEM experiences involving light and shadow phenomena. Several of these experiences involved loose parts. The idea of providing young children with loose parts was initiated by British architect, Simon Nicholson as a way for children to interact with variable such as gravity, sound, science concepts, words, and people. Engaging with open-ended loose parts offers a sense of wonder to children and nurtures invention, divergent thinking, and problem solving. We encourage teachers to provide opportunities for children to work with loose parts on a light pad, using light as a tool to reveal details in human made and natural objects, discover patterns, and create their own patterns using loose parts. When PK-2 children handle loose parts, they call upon their five senses as well as their senses of weight and balance. They discover properties of the materials, and how those properties determine how these materials can be used. 

A recent article by Carrie Cutler and Diane Skidmore entitled, Creating Outdoor Loose Parts Classroom: One Preschool's Quest for Boundless STEM, illustrates how a preschool capitalized on the open-ended nature of loose parts. The article provides guidance on how to collect loose parts, how to set up an outdoor loose parts classroom, and how loose parts outdoors connects children with STEM in a way that is meaningful to the. Cutler and Skidmore discuss ways to plan and reinforce safe play, and how teachers can learn to let the child lead in loose parts play. Examples of how to observe and assess growth are listed as well as reflecting on how to adjust and improve experiences with loose parts to respect children's initiative and creativity. Click here to access a link to the article. 

How are you using loose parts with your young children?

Attention Iowa Teachers! Apply to Receive a Light & Shadow Classroom Kit and Professional Learning

The Iowa Regents' Center for Early Developmental Education is proud to announce our Light & Shadow program has been selected for the Iowa Governor's STEM Advisory Council's Scale Up Awards.  Teachers across the state of Iowa are invited to submit an application to receive an award of a Light & Shadow classroom kit and professional learning in Light & Shadow that results in a paid UNI graduate credit. Click here to begin the application process. If you need assistance in filling out the application, feel free to contact us at regents.center@uni.edu. Watch the short video below to see more about this opportunity.