Teachers about STEM Education on the Preschool Level
The aim of such analysis is to describe the needs of teachers in the area of STEM education:
their knowledge about educational methods and strategies used in science education,
the quality of their own pre-service training in that area, their hidden assumptions,
opinions concerning perceived values, shortcomings and existing barriers in STEM education in 4 countries.
The State of the Art Analysis will collect both quantitative and qualitative data taking into account three dimensions:
- the contents, i.e. existing literature, scientific reports, initiatives and policies at national/international level, specific projects, OERs (including MOOCs) and best practices concerning STEM teaching/learning at pre-school level;
- the methodologies, i.e. qualitative and quantitative data concerning how early years practitioners promote “working scientifically” within their contexts, the values perceived in developing process skills through food based scientific inquiry the benefits and the eventual barriers to the development of scientific knowledge and skills through food based learning in early years; the links between best practice in early years and initial teacher training being.
- the state of the art of teachers/educators training for STEM teaching, ie. professional development strategies of early childhood education and care (ECEC) educators across different European countries from a variety of angles.