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ERIC Number: EJ1262239
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2020-Feb
Pages: 6
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0036-8148
EISSN: N/A
The Geometry of Buildings
Angelone, Lauren
Science and Children, v57 n6 p64-69 Feb 2020
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) has been at the center of a national conversation around the necessity to strengthen the STEM workforce starting with STEM education in K-12 schools. "The Next Generation Science Standards" (NGSS Lead States 2013) incorporate a prominent engineering component in both disciplinary core ideas and practices. STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics), an iteration of STEM that incorporates the arts, is becoming more prevalent in early childhood education settings and serves as an aesthetic context that naturally extends engineering and technology experiences (Wynn and Harris 2012). The past decade has seen a significant growth in makerspaces and STEAM labs making their way to elementary schools. Makerspaces and STEAM labs are areas with both physical and technological resources for students to create. These spaces provide environments for teachers to integrate Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics as a way for students to use higher level thinking to make complex meaning in traditionally discrete subjects. Early childhood education majors at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio, take a Math/Science methods block during their junior year, alongside an Integrated Art course. The Math/ Science methods block is designed to prepare candidates to teach science and mathematics to children age 3 to grade 3. Likewise, the Integrated Art course is designed to prepare candidates to integrate the arts throughout the curriculum at this age level. These courses provided a unique opportunity to incorporate STEAM education in a meaningful way that aligned with course outcomes and provided opportunities for students to understand and apply best practices in STEAM education. As such, the STEAM module presented in this article, The Geometry of Buildings, was designed to cover kindergarten standards but also to provide preservice early childhood education majors a high-quality experience with STEAM education.
National Science Teaching Association. 1840 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22201-3000. Tel: 800-722-6782; Fax: 703-243-3924; e-mail: membership@nsta.org; Web site: https://www.nsta.org/nstas-journals-digital-editions
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education; Early Childhood Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Ohio (Cincinnati)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A