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Asia carefully turns the handle of a handheld drill that her teacher holds in place over a piece of soft wood. Soon sawdust begins to appear. "Round and round it goes," they sing, as Asia cranks the handle. Suddenly the drill bit slips through the wood. "A hole!" exclaims Asia. "Let's do it again." The teacher replaces the drill bit with a smaller diameter bit. "You made a round hole with the big bit," he says. "Do you think this new bit will make a round hole too?" Asia shrugs. "Do you think it will make a big or a little hole?" the teacher asks. Asia shrugs again. "Well, let's find out," he says, and Asia eagerly begins to turn the crank again.
Math and science and the related technology and engineering are natural pairings. These four disciplines form the acronym STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) and can be readily combined into an integrated curriculum for early childhood classrooms.
Many educators believe that children learn best when disciplines are interconnected. An integrated curriculum, such as STEM, is in keeping with developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood education: "Teachers plan curriculum experiences that integrate children's learning within and across . . . the disciplines" (Coppie & Bredekamp 2009, 21). The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM 2000) encourages teachers to help children connect mathematics to other contexts, while the National Science Education Standards (NRC 1996) urge teachers to coordinate science and mathematics programs.
Some adults mistakenly think that STEM activities are too challenging to integrate into preschool settings, particularly if the children have special needs. Appropriate STEM activities, however, allow young children to explore materials using all their senses. As they experiment and investigate with the materials, they develop an understanding of important mathematical relationships, such as more/less, far/ near, and fast/slow. We also found that the STEM curriculum helps children focus, increase their vocabulary, collaborate with one another, and create scientific relationships.
This article explores the reflective practice of a preschool early intervention teacher and a university teacher educator working to develop and incorporate a STEMbased curriculum in an inner-city, inclusive classroom. The classroom included 14 children, ages 3 through 5, of whom 12 had documented disabilities, including cognitive delays, severe language delays,...