topics through meaningful and contextual content( e. g., Messer 2020). The teachers understood that this harmful occurrence could serve as an invitation for the children to share their thoughts and feelings and to learn what the children knew about frogs. To understand how the children interpreted what happened on the playground, they engaged them in a whole-group conversation.
Ms. Evelyn collects a few dead frogs from the playground. She places one in a petri dish and brings it to the children during circle time that afternoon.
Ms. Evelyn:( holding out the petri dish) I want you to look at the frog I found on the playground. What do you think happened?
Henry: It looks like a car hit it. Ahmed: Like a bike ran over it?
Ryan: I think he is dead because his head is flat.
Ms. Evelyn: I agree with you. I think the frog is dead. Do you think we need to protect the frogs on the playground to keep them alive?
Ava: We could put them in a glass with a sign that says,“ Stop.”
Abby: That won’ t work because frogs can’ t breathe in glass. I did it at home with a hole in it, and it still died.
Ms. Evelyn and Ms. Kelly intentionally provided materials, scaffolds, and activities as they engaged the children in iterative cycles of play, exploration, and discussion about frogs( Ramanathan et al. 2022). They also supported the children’ s agency as the children engaged with targeted skills and knowledge. Early childhood educators can plan similar STEM projects aligned to expectations for science, technology, and engineering learning. They can adapt practices such as“ asking questions( for science) and defining problems( for engineering)”;“ planning and carrying out investigations”;“ analyzing and interpreting data”; and“ obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information” to prepare young children for future academic experiences( NGSS 2013). In the next section, we discuss how Ms. Evelyn and Ms. Kelly implemented and the children participated in each phase of the frog project.
Getting Started
Ms. Evelyn and Ms. Kelly began the project’ s first phase, which lasted two weeks, by learning what the children already knew about frogs and documenting their knowledge on a web that they kept on display. Throughout the project, the children added their discoveries and questions through drawings, dictation, and writing. As the web grew, the teachers used different colors to emphasize the connections and
Abel: I think we should make a sign with a picture. The sign can say,“ Don’ t put frogs in your pockets!”
Ms. Evelyn and Ms. Kelly used what the children shared to plan STEM learning connected to their real-life experiences. During the eight-week project, they encouraged the children’ s“ curiosities” and“ questioning processes” by applying key aspects of the scientific inquiry cycle, a science-based approach to inquiry( Trundle & Smith 2017, 81). It allows“ teachers to transform curiosity and play into rigorous learning in which students guide the process based on their experiences, worldview, scientific interests, and curiosity”( Ramanathan et al. 2022, 1268).
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