Proponents of STEM education generally believe that hands-on, practical and in-depth learning should really begin taking place during a student’s high school years. We believe, however, that it can start earlier than that—like, much earlier. Who’s to say that kids who are just beginning their educational journeys cannot be exposed to the same kinds of experiential learning as older students? There are ways to do that—and they should be done.
Technology is Making its Mark in the Early Grades
The early years of a child’s education are crucial. From learning the basics of skills they will always need to know to developing their young minds, the time they spend in kindergarten, first and second grade will always be important. In the past, these years were used to acclimate children with fundamental literacies, like reading, spelling and writing. Now, there’s a new literacy in town and it’s known fondly as technology. Technology, in one form or another, is destined to play an enormous role in the lives of children early and often. Since much of the workforce is moving to a tech-first approach, they’re going to need to know how to do things like coding just to give one example. Thankfully, they can start practicing at five or six years old.
There are so many ways to incorporate technology in early education classrooms, many of which are designed more and more to create active learning opportunities for students. There is a lot of technology available—way too much for us to possibly cover in a blog post. But, it’s important for educators to know that, despite their varying needs and diverse students sets, there will always be something around for them. While students this young should not be spending 80 or 90 percent of their school days using technology, there is nothing wrong with a blended learning approach in the early grades. Mixing in the use of educational apps or tinkering with STEM-focused tools to augment traditional instruction can be largely beneficial in the early grades.
Teachers often find that by using tech tools to supplement their lessons students are still learning what they need to learn, but are engaging much more effectively with the material and picking up on concepts much more quickly. In fact, it’s not uncommon for teachers to treat technology like having an additional aide in the classroom—one that’s powerful enough to shape the futures of their students. Teachers can make use of software programs that teach kids how to read or interactive tactile technologies that teach them how to spell, solve problems and even code! That’s right—there are a bunch of educational tools out there that mimic the basic principles of coding for use by K-2 students. They’re easy to find, not that expensive and could easily make a difference in the lives of young children.
STEM Needs A Place in Early Education
You probably already know that integrating hands-on STEM learning in the early grades is majorly beneficial to students. You may not have known, however, that research actually shows that young children respond exceptionally well to hands-on learning opportunities and can usually understand even advanced STEM concepts rather clearly. Interactive, technology-based learning experiences allow kids to explore these important subjects in ways that speed up their development and help them build key skills. So, it’s not so much a question of if schools should actively make an effort to incorporate STEM education in the early grades—it’s more so determining the best ways in which they should go about it.
Exposure to STEM-related lessons and activities has been proven to help kids develop skills that will help them in all areas of their futures and not just in STEM-focused tasks. One of the indirect benefits of early STEM education is the fact that children will also bolster their reading, language and communication skills by engaging in group projects and those that focus on problem solving. Before all that can happen, however, there needs to be an effective teaching system in place. First and foremost, educators must understand how these young children learn about STEM—how they absorb the concepts, how their individual characteristics and abilities affect the ways in which they learn and how their basic literacy and numeracy skills affect how they learn about STEM. These are all factors that need to be taken into account in early education STEM programs.
The National Science Foundation is currently researching the best ways to make STEM a fundamental part of early education. The technical and economic capabilities are important factors as well. Schools need the right tools and training so that teachers know how to reach the budding minds of these students. They need to be willing to incorporate Web-based and other programs that effectively mimic real-world practices like coding. It’s possible, with a little bit of a commitment, to bring STEM into the early grades and lay the groundwork for having STEM in every course in the curriculum. According to research, less than five percent of early education is spent on teaching STEM skills, concepts and subjects. How is that still the case when much more than five percent of the workforce requires—not suggests—that these kids will need these skills?
The Economic Impact of Early Exposure to STEM
Since the economic recession in 2008, the number of jobs in America has continued to grow every year. That sounds like a good thing, right? The problem is that employers are constantly struggling to find workers to fill them. That’s because many of today’s jobs are found within the STEM fields and many of today’s graduates and those already in the workforce do not have the necessary skills to fill them. This job-skills gap is an economic nightmare for companies as they lose money every day that there is not somebody available to fill their jobs. The responsibility has fallen onto the shoulders of the education community to start preparing students for the future they are entering.
For STEM jobs specifically, projections indicate that there will be a need for no less than 1 million more STEM professionals than there will be produced. STEM jobs have ballooned by 17 percent, but STEM subjects and hands-on opportunities are still commonly left out of school curricula. The lack of early introduction to these areas, in fact, is directly resulting in the U.S. falling behind the STEM demand. Simply providing students with access to a laptop or an iPad—what seems like the simplest solution for getting technology into the classroom—is not enough. It’s a step in the right direction, I suppose, but it’s not going to give these kids the workplace skills that they need to have.
The education system as a whole, by not committing to embracing the notion of teaching students about technology itself, is largely to blame for this gap. Students should be using technology as more than just consumers. They could be learning how to become developers and facilitators instead of just going through the motions five days a week. Schools and districts make excuses about not having the time, flexibility or resources to offer curricula like this. So, are they just supposed to go on preparing kids to know how to do things that will not get them anywhere? We are in the midst of a STEM revolution—one that promotes passion and rewards creativity each and every day. Those in charge of the education system need to get creative and find a mutually beneficial way to give kids the education they need in a way that won’t exhaust their resources. The clock is ticking.
Learning Through Play Improves Early STEM Development
As a country, we are counting on scientists to creatively come up with the next advances in so many fields all the time. Unfortunately, the number of students in the STEM majors is decreasing at a time when it needs to be increasing faster than it ever has. Perhaps this is due to the fact that there are also not enough qualified teachers to provide classes that properly educate these students or maybe they genuinely don’t have an interest in the science fields. Since there is this lingering disconnect, those who do have the qualifications should have no trouble finding a career—and a good one at that. It’s a question that’s been puzzling educators for years now: How do we get kids ready for the unknown?
The answer—though it is likely to surprise you—is to introduce kids to STEM ideas, tools and technologies early and to make it fun. We’re not expecting a 7-year-old to actually be able to write the code that will solve a pressing community problem. There are, however, ways to simulate that practice using age-appropriate technology. Research has shown that achievement gaps commonly begin to form when a child is in kindergarten and, by the time they are in third or fourth grade, have become significant. Since third and fourth grade is a pivotal time for introducing hands-on learning, many kids are already at a disadvantage because of the achievement gap. The earlier a child is given the opportunity to engage in STEM, the more likely they are to understand it and excel at it.
One of the most effective ways for kids to grasp STEM concepts is through play. When kids are using their hands and having fun, different parts of their brain are activated and engaged than when they associate learning with boredom. Hands-on play exercises a child’s creativity and problem-solving skills, which are two extremely important factors in STEM. Playing also helps kids to learn by doing and develop physical, sensory, social and intellectual skills much more efficiently than through traditional learning. When they can learn playfully, kids tend to get more out of the experience because they are directly experiencing the world around them, allowing the opportunity to satisfy their curiosity through investigation. Shouldn’t classrooms be more like this these days?
Early Education: Nothing Short of Critical for Kids’ Futures
The early years of a student’s education are crucial to the ones that follow. They should be using these years to develop the most important skills they need—not in classes designed to correct the flaws they have already established. Parents need to start investing more in the years before their children enter kindergarten so that they’re ready to succeed from the moment school starts. How can they do that, though, if they’re not equipped with textbooks and educational technologies? Well, there actually are plenty of simple technologies that kids can use to start building skills in the same way they would be doing it in the classroom.
The consensus among teachers, parents and officials is generally that investments in higher quality early education are worth it. Scientifically speaking, children are born learners. Their brains develop the fastest over the first five years of their lives. They’re able to learn skills before they even enter kindergarten that will set them up to be successful in every grade and later in life as well. There’s a learning curve in education and an opportunity gap that children need to get out in front of. Technology tools can help them develop social and cognitive skills in their early years and, believe it or not, these years are absolutely critical for their development.
Since children are undergoing rapid development during these years, it makes the importance of effective early education that much more crucial. Each skill that they learn leads to a new one and so on. Once they are old enough, it’s important to let kids experiment with technology. They’ll probably love stealing your phone or tablet, so just make sure there are some STEM-related games and apps on there. Parents can also take the time to read and talk to their children—two things that will build their vocabulary and help brain growth. Keep in mind that early childhood development has an economical advantage as well. It’s a lot easier to take the time to get kids started with learning STEM concepts than it is to be forced to take corrective measures a few years down the road. Just remember—it will be worth it.
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