Hello Mia,

It is good to see you in this forum. I am a facilitator this year, I hope to create a presentation next for our new NSF-ITST project, "Voices to Hear". I am still at the University of Idaho. visit me sometime. 

Let me know how you are doing!

Best,

Anne (akern@uidaho.edu)

Hi Anne,

So good to hear from you! 
Congrats on being a facilitator on such an impressive project - first time for me. 
Would love to visit and catch up. 

You are welcome to Worcester if you are in the area :)

Mia

Thanks for your questions, Kenneth. 
Prior to the development of the curriculum, the team created a framework for high-quality early childhood STEM experiences (adapted from Pinnell et al., 2013). One of the criteria is alignment with standards. Therefore, the Seeds of STEM curriculum outcomes were created by reviewing and comparing several sets of standards, including the MA Pre-K STE standards, NGSS kindergarten performance expectations, Common Core math standards for kindergarten, and the Head Start Framework. The topics of the 8 units as well as the problem solving skill expectations were derived from these standards. 

To your second question, the Seeds of STEM units do build on each other. The first 5 units teaches the steps of the engineering design process, while the last 3 units have teachers help students lead the process themselves. See the Curriculum Overview for details. 

Thanks for your question, Maura. 

We are looking for improved vocabulary and problem solving skills for children who experienced the Seeds of STEM curriculum. We have developed the EPCOT instrument (Engineering skills in Preschool Children Observation Tool, tentative name) which we follow to score children's behaviors and use of vocabulary through videos. 

Specifically, we are looking for the following behaviors:  
1. Describing/recognizing Scientific Phenomena:
The extent to which children can recognize the scientific phenomenon that underlies the problem.
2. Identifying the problem:
The extent to which children can articulate a problem and its implications.
3. Obtaining information/asking questions:
The extent to which children ask questions about the scientific phenomenon, or about trying to understand the problem.
4. Brainstorming:
The extent to which children can draw on self and others’ knowledge and observations to come up with multiple solutions
5. Solution planning:
The extent to which children can develop a plan for the design of the solution using simple materials/equipment and investigate materials as needed
6. Solution creating and testing: The extent to which children can work with others to select and use materials to build the solution, implement the design, and gather data on the effectiveness of the solution
7. Sharing findings:
The extent to which children can communicate the entire problem solving and design process, articulate findings, and state conclusions to peers and teachers
8. Using the Engineering Design Process: The extent to which children can use the engineering wheel to communicate and elaborate on the problem-solving process
9. Frequency of problem-solving vocabulary use: Problem, Solve/Solving, Solution, Engineer, Brainstorm/Think, Idea, Choose, Plan, Design, Create, Build, Revise, Improve, Share

Thanks, that's very interesting! Our work focuses on children with language disorder & how to address language skills as a way to improve science learning - I always find it interesting just how much language skill is required for a lot of meaningful science learning outcomes in young kids!

True!

Many of the young children in the classrooms are dual language learners and do not speak English at home. I hope our teachers will be able to share some of the cases in which the children learned to converse in 'engineering' because they were so excited to help Panda solve the problem. 

This makes me think of one of my favorite experiences with the Seeds of STEM curriculum. This memory showed me engineering can push past language boundaries.  I had two boys working for days on building a solution, at first independently then combining their solutions into one.  They had particular struggles cutting and manipulated the tape.  I could of helped out but i choose to watch them push through.  When it came time to test, their solution fail.  The next day they went back to work again with struggling manipulating the tools, but they pushed through.  Again they brought their solution to be tested again but this time it was success. These two boys were invested in their solution and working together and neither of these boys spoke the other's language.  One boys was mostly Arabic speaking and the other Spanish.  

I am also interested in the the role language play young children's science learning.  I was apart of a cohort of teachers that looked at the impact of inquiry skills and vocabulary acquisition in regards to hands on science.  We had favoring data for vocabulary growth but struggled to find meaningful data looking at inquiry skills. We found it was very challenging to authentically asses children's science learning.

To me, young children may not yet have the developmental abilities to express the complexities of science topics but may have some understanding that may be evident with observation of behavior.  

Thanks for these questions, Christine. 
We sure had a boatload of challenges.

In terms of curriculum development, we kept hearing from teachers who tested the curriculum in their classrooms, that there need to be more hands on experiences for since the problem solving process may be abstract. The development team was challenged to come up with ways to model the abstract concepts through physical experiences. Luckily we had a great development team and advisory board that helped with that. 

Another challenge was to convince some of the teachers to trust the process. Some of the teachers were skeptical about the notion that preschoolers will be able to follow the engineering design process. However after about 3 units when they heard their children talk about brainstorming, planning, and solving problems they changed their mind. 

Lastly, we had (and still have) many challenges on the research aspect of the project. Since there are very few research studies on preschool STEM, we had to develop most of the research instruments, including the main assessment observation tool (EPCOT). We definitely followed the design process closely as we had to revise and test the tool multiple times. 

As for surprises in the classrooms - I'll let Colleen and Suchira share some of their classroom stories :)

You're right Christine, the children do love Problem Panda. He actually solved a problem that the developer team faced in terms of getting the children excited in solving the posed problem. To the children, he is a friend that needs help.  To the teachers, Problem Panda is a tool to foster engagement from the children in solving the posed problem.  

A few months after I had completed the Seeds of STEM project, I had accidentally left Problem Panda out on a table in my classroom. A group of children found him and started searching for a problem.  Problem Panda had some dried glue globs on his fur and they decided that had to be 'the problem.'  Independently they worked through the different steps of the engineering design process using the engineering wheel.  

At my school, 80% of the children are duel language learner, meaning they speak another language other than English at home.  It was a challenge to ensure that all the learners in my class understood what the posed problem was.  To help overcome this challenge, we designing problems that the children can not only solve but also experience within the classroom. 

Hi Sara, 
We used several measures to evaluate the impact of teaching the Seeds of STEM curriculum on teachers' knowledge, practice, and self efficacy. To assess teachers knowledge we used a project-developed assessment that looked into teachers' conceptions of integrated STEM, engineering, the engineering design process (EDP), and vocabulary associated with problem solving. We found that teachers who taught the entire Seeds of STEM curriculum had a better understanding of the EDP and associated vocabulary, as well as what constitutes high quality STEM experiences, compared with teachers who taught only one unit of the curriculum. 

In terms of practice and self efficacy of teaching STEM and problem solving we adapted the Friday Institute Teacher STEM survey, again teachers who taught the entire Seeds of STEM curriculum improved their own initial scores and also had higher gains compared with control teachers, who only taught one unit of the curriculum as an assessment unit. 

In addition to these pre/post surveys we conducted interviews with 9 teachers. The qualitative analysis (currently in its last phase) provides rich details regarding the teachers' gains. For example, the analysis show that they learned about curriculum, STEM, and new ways of teaching and presenting materials to children. Teachers commented that Seeds of STEM showed them how much the students can actually learn and how to keep them engaged while doing so. 

Teachers also commented about using the problem-solving visual and pedagogy in other situations, for example to solve social problems. The teachers found the process useful for engaging children in solving disputes by asking them to discuss the problem, brainstorm solutions, try to follow their solutions, and if it doesn't work think of a different solution to the problem. 

As for the second question, I think that the structure of the curriculum, the repetition of the process helped both the teachers feel comfortable with the problem solving process - for which some teachers told us they knew very little about. 

Thanks for your question, Kim. 

During the first unit, which lasts 2-3 weeks, the children are introduced to the problem solving process through songs, stories, games, and solving problems around the classroom. First, teachers helps children understand the key words, problems & solutions, by assembling a box of 'problems', such as a car with missing wheel, a broken pencil, and a marker with no cap. The children are then engage in solving these and other problems. Later, the children are asked to identify and solve problems in books, or around the classroom (designing a chair for Mr. Potato Head). During the second week the children are introduced to the problem solving visual through a curriculum developed story about Problem Panda, in which the children follow the process to free Panda from a box. 

The children love these experiences and being empowered to solve problems. Teachers embrace the approach of turning problems into opportunities. 

I love how you are describing the EDP also being used for solving social problems and "turning problems into opportunities!" So much of learning overlaps and flows into other parts of our lives. I'm happy to see the Making/Tinkering/STEM movement helping people young and old practice productive responses to failure!

Working on the Seeds of STEM opened my eyes to the endless learning and engagement that comes from tinkering within the classroom. I see how invested the young children in my class become to their creations and work through struggles to completed a goal.   Having a drop in program do you ever encounter parents to focused on completed the goal of the project and take over when working with their child? I feel the true learning happened within the process and do you have any experience promoting the value of the process? 

<3
Thanks for watching!

Hi Kathy, 

Thanks for visiting our page!
We are in the process of finalizing the latest version (#7) after additions from the wonderful Marisa Garcia, who incorporated teachers' feedback and embedded more math standards and activities to the curriculum. 
The final version will be available as PDF documents, or printed for those who attend the 2-day PD on July 10-11. 
The PD is subsidized by the IES grant and will allow preschool teachers/administrators to unpack the problem-solving process and work with colleagues to review all 8 Seeds of STEM units. 

Please have your daughter email me (mdubosarsky@wpi.edu) about the PD or the curriculum. Our team will also travel to schools who are interested in conducting PD with a large number of teachers. 

Thanks!

Mia

Thanks, Shelese!
It was great having the QCC Children's School be part of the project. 
Have you used the curriculum or components of it following the ending of the pilot study?

Hi Mia,

We absolutely have, so much so that Problem Panda has become a part of our classroom community! We've also used some of the materials, visuals, and curriculum ideas in our planning since the pilot ended. The children were so invested, it was a great experience so many connections to science and engineering. Thanks again for the opportunity!

Hi James, 

I enjoyed your video (will leave a comment on your page as well). My University, Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), emphasizes problem solving throughout the undergraduate studies. in addition to several humanities-STEM integrated courses, all WPI undergrads are required to complete two 9-credit projects during the junior year (outside of their major) and senior year (major focused project). 

In addition students have an opportunity to engage in the Great Problems Seminar during their freshman year. 

Similar to your project, the students credits the WPI projects with providing them with the collaboration and problem-solving skills required on the job. I am sure that your students have provided similar feedback.  More info, here: https://www.wpi.edu/project-based-learning/global-project-program

Nice inciative