Eric.ed.gov – Math, Science, and Technology in the Early Grades
eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Do young children naturally develop the foundations of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM)? And if so, should we build on these foundations by using STEM curricula in preschools? In this article, Douglas Clements and Julie Sarama argue that the answer to both these questions is yes. First, the authors show that young children possess a sophisticated informal knowledge of math, and that they frequently ask scientific questions, such as “why” questions. Preschoolers’ free play involves substantial amounts of foundational math as they explore patterns, shapes, and spatial relations; compare magnitudes; and count objects. Moreover, preschool and kindergarten children’s knowledge of and interest in math and science predicts later success in STEM. And not only in STEM: the authors show that early math knowledge also predicts later… Continue Reading