STEAM Education in kindergarten - a step toward to the future

 

 

6 Participating countries: Bulgaria, Spain, Poland, Italy, Romania and North Macedonia     

Start: 01-11-2021- End: 01-01-2024

Project Reference: 2021-1-BG01-KA220-SCH-000024689

EU Grant: 183.564 EUR

Programme: Erasmus+

Key Action: Cooperation partnership in school education KA220

 

This project proposal is the result of the analysis of the needs and willingness of teachers from six kindergartens to improve their pedagogical and digital competences for the application of the STEAM approach in children's education. All of us, treat pre-school education with responsibility and high professionalism, and strive to apply new developments in pedagogical theory and practice. In recent years, there has been more and more talk about the STEM skills that active people in the labour market should possess. Jobs in the real world are interdisciplinary. Rarely does a job require only one set of knowledge and skills. Preschool is a sensitive period in a person's development and is best suited for laying the foundation for interest in science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics. Hence the need to teach children how different science disciplines integrate and work together. They have unlimited access to lots of information. Education is no longer about memorising facts. The need to think critically and sift through information comes to the fore.
 

What differentiates STEM from traditional education and science is the learning environment. In practical terms kids can learn the scientific method and apply it to everyday life. We recognize the fact that continuous advances in technology are changing the way children learn, connect with others, and interact with each other every day. A variant of STEM is STEAM, which includes A /Arts/ - arts and design. Artistic design and the arts are an important part of the STEM-based education, as creative thinking and the unleashing of creative talents are essential to the development of innovation. Many STEM lessons involve model building and simulation situations. STEM and STEAM reflect real life and encompass the 4 principles identified as key to 21st century education: creativity, collaboration, critical thinking and communication. Teachers across all partner institutions share that one of the most significant issues for implementing STEAM learning is the lack of practical guidance and resources for organizing a stimulating and safe learning environment. By combining the knowledge, best practices and creativity of the teachers involved in the project, we will create an educational resource that will motivate and encourage teachers to implement and organize an exciting, inspiring, innovative and safe STEAM environment in the kindergarten. We will encourage them to clear up the educational process of unnecessary didacticism, rigidity and strict regulation and to tailor it to children's interests, wishes and abilities. STEAM helps to foster a love of learning. And the most important gift that education has to give a person is the love of learning. Raising and educating children is a family priority. They are our partners in the process of training, educating and socializing children. For this, the focus of our activities will also be to familiarize the parents with the innovative STEAM approach and involve them as active participants in the project activities.

 

                                                                                                                 

 

STEM, as an approach integrates learning in science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics. It allows kindergarten children to move beyond the acquisition of theoretical knowledge and into the practical application of what they have learned. Preschool is the most sensitive period of human development. It is during this period that children acquire the vital knowledge, skills and attitudes they need for a successful future. The dynamically changing social and economic environment demands specific competences from active people. Educational institutions - kindergartens and schools - face the challenge of creating an educational environment that fosters children's natural curiosity and interest in the world around them.

The aim of this project proposal is to improve the educational environment and to make education more interesting, useful, accessible and stimulating for children by improving the pedagogical competences of teachers to implement STEAM learning in the kindergarten. In this way we will achieve a better quality of pedagogical work and ensure a significant positive impact not only on the direct participants in the project activities, but also among a wider group of interested parties - parents, local community, other children, other educators.                                                                                                                                                     

After analysing the needs of children, teachers and school authorities, we have set the following specific objectives for the partnership:

1. To develop children's natural curiosity about the world around them, their creative potential, their skills to observe, develop hypotheses and draw conclusions, to seek solutions, to make improvements and innovations.
2. To develop children's active learning skills through observation, exploration and experimentation; to develop critical thinking, observation skills, concentration, dexterity and imagination.
3. To form positive attitudes towards engineering, technology, mathematics and programming and to form attitudes to participate in teamwork, to stimulate activity and independence.
4. To educate children in the spirit of European society and cooperation by creating virtual friendships with partner kindergarten children.
5. To motivate teachers to extend the methodological approaches used to meet the project objectives, and to organise an effective and safe learning environment that evokes positive emotions and a desire for activity from children.
6. To encourage school authorities to maintain capacity and develop European traditions in school education.
7. To make parents part of the project idea and objectives in order to achieve a lasting effect after the completion of this
particular project.

8. To involve representatives of public institutions in order to implement the project activities and promote the results.
9. To improve the ability of educators and children to use new communication and information technologies.

All project activities are oriented towards achieving the objectives of the partnership. For better operability, the project is
divided into modules, allowing sufficient time for the organisation and implementation of the respective activities. Each module will cover one main educational area of STEAM education and will include theoretical training for teachers, practical activities for children as well as reporting and analysis of the activity. Family-focused activities are also planned for each module. The overall aim is to provide a positive, stimulating and safe STEAM environment for the children. In the organisation and implementation of the work programme, we will take into account the dynamically changing health situation in Europe and we are ready to reorganise the implementation according to the conditions.

 

 

Expected outcomes can be defined as tangible and intangible results:
Children:

Will have received:

- new knowledge and competences for personal fulfilment and development, for active citizenship and social inclusion;
- lasting knowledge about the environment, nature and the way of life of children from other European countries;

They will have created:

- a lasting interest in science, technology, construction, arts and mathematics;
- an attitude to work independently and in teams, to solve complex problems;

They will have acquired the skills for:

- searching for possible solutions to problem situations;

They will have developed:

- their creative talents,
-a desire for research and experimentation.

Children with reduced abilities will have gained the confidence and self-esteem to participate in various STEAM activities, will have developed socially relevant experiences and attitudes that will be useful to them throughout their lives.

Teachers will have:
- Enriched their professional competences through exchanging experience and ideas with colleagues from other European countries;
- gained knowledge about education systems, programmes and innovative practices in partner countries;
- learnt useful techniques for organising a supportive STEAM learning environment;
- improved their language and communication competences;
- increased their professional self-confidence and will be motivated to continue working towards enhancing the prestige of their school;
- increased their pedagogical and digital competences;
- gained new knowledge about the nature and principles of organising STEAM education in the kindergarten;
- enriched their skills in creating developmental STEAM situations;
- changed their attitudes towards applying innovative approaches in their work.

Schools and kindergartens participating in the project will have established active relationships between their management to support the implementation of project activities, as well as exchange of experience and good management decisions.

By actively involving parents in project activities, they will:
- will have increased their confidence in educational institutions and education as a value;
- will have acquired knowledge and practical skills to build STEAM environments at home and sustain children's interest in science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics.
Other teacher colleagues from the partner countries will have received information about the nature of STEAM learning in the kindergarten and the project activities through the various dissemination initiatives.

The tangible results of significant importance are:
- E-Book STEAM training in the kindergarten;
- Proceedings of an international scientific and practical conference;
- Project website.

 

 

 

 

 

Materials:

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You can follow our work:

* Facebook Page of the project - you can find it HERE!

* eTwinning Space - HERE!

 

 

 Disclaimer: This project has been funded with the support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.