STEAM education in early childhood: Explore the pedagogical play

Research output: Contribution to conferencePapers

Abstract

There is an increasing need in Hong Kong kindergartens for exploring children with exposure to Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math (STEAM) in school settings. The aim is not the subject-based learning but the way of integrating the STEAM concepts in the holistic learning experience. Guiding children to explore the concepts in the process of solving problems, providing hands-on experience to stimulate children's intrinsic motivation. However, the challenge is apparent that the lack of professional development to prepare the teachers for STEAM education in early childhood education. This project adopted a Pedagogical Play-framework (Edwards, 2017) to prepare kindergarten teachers to integrate STEAM education through play. Accordingly, three types of play were explored, including 1) open-ended play, 2) modelled play and 3) purposefully framed play. The initial finding indicates that kindergarten teachers showed the positive attitude to involve STEAM education in the classroom practice, and used the Pedagogical Play-framework for improving children’s engagement. Teachers were lack of the subject concepts especially the science and the engineering areas. More school-based support were needed to create the multimodal learning spaces.
越來越多香港的幼稚園開始探索融入STEAM的元素,包括科學、科技、工程、藝術及數學的學習範疇。但其目標不是主張孩子學習獨立學科,而是希望進行統整的學習,在解決問題的過程中探索所需的概念,以動手解難為基礎讓孩子整合學習經驗,激發孩子的內在學習動機。然而教師培訓是STEAM教育在幼兒教育推行的一個難點。本研究以一個幼師培訓課程為例,使用教學遊戲架構(Pedagogical Play-framework)來透過遊戲來設計STEAM教學活動,三類型遊戲包括1)開放式遊戲,2)示範式遊戲以及3)目的性的遊戲。研究初步發現大部分教師對STEAM教學的態度積極,使用教學遊戲架構能夠幫助教師提升兒童參與程度。但初步的研究結果顯示教師缺乏STEAM的學科知識,特別是在科學和工程方面,以及需要更多的校本支持來設計多元學習空間。 Copyright © 2018 Learning & Teaching Expo.
Original languageEnglish
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2018
EventLearning & Teaching Expo 2018: Tomorrow's Learning Today = 學與教博覽2018:攜手共創教育未來
- Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong
Duration: 12 Dec 201814 Dec 2018

Seminar

SeminarLearning & Teaching Expo 2018: Tomorrow's Learning Today = 學與教博覽2018:攜手共創教育未來
Country/TerritoryHong Kong
Period12/12/1814/12/18

Citation

Hu, X. (2018, December). STEAM education in early childhood: Explore the pedagogical play. Paper presented at the Learning & Teaching Expo 2018: Tomorrow's Learning Today, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong, China.

Keywords

  • Alt. title: 幼稚園的STEAM教育:探索教育遊戲

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