Toddlers and STEM Experiences: Adults as Chief Historians

 

The struggle to find out the material world through science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) begins at birth. Lucky are the infants and toddlers who have observant, caring adults who support STEM learning from the start. 

This is the third in a series of four blog posts written by Dr. Jill Uhlenberg who will describe four types of effort adults can employ to nurture STEM from the beginning. 

Toddlers and STEM Experiences: Adults as Chief Historians

Dr. Jill Uhlenberg

STEM with toddlers that leads to successful experiences is supported by a teacher who is the chief historian. Toddlers have not lived long enough to have experienced much of history. The teacher becomes the lead in this process, which involves repetition and variety.

Toddlers need routines to provide them stability in their environment. They want to know what to expect in the daily schedule so that the routines of the day give them a framework for their lives. Breakfast is followed by learning center time. Then comes outdoor play, lunch time, stories, and naps.

Within those regular daily events, we can provide variety, such as the ideas I wrote about for curriculum development. Providing water play as a daily offering at a center time builds a history of opportunity for STEM exploration. When the toddlers seem less interested in the water table, adding some new containers will re-strengthen that interest and provide new ways to engage with the water and other materials. In my toddler classroom, the water table was available every day of the year because it was so interesting to the children.

Adults can remind the toddlers of previous actions, also building history. “Remember when we found the caterpillar on the playground? Let’s look at the caterpillar book again.” Building routines and providing variety will support curriculum development as well as supporting children’s ability to make choices and share power in the classroom.

[For a fuller explanation, see Uhlenberg, J. (2016). The four roles of a master toddler teacher. Early Education and Development, 27(2), 240-258. DOI: 10.1080/10409289.2016.1088313]