ROCKINGANDROLLING
Consider the water experience described in the opening vignette. Mimi was able to produce an action( filling the tube and dumping it); the result was immediate( water spilled onto the floor); the result was observable( Mimi could see, hear, and feel the effects of the water spill); and she was able to vary something and try again( move the lid so that the water was moving into the table rather than onto the mat).
When infants and toddlers are given engaging materials, adequate time, multiple opportunities, and supportive adult interactions, they will use error-informed experimentation( Piaget 1975 / 1985; DeVries & Sales 2011); that is, they will try out their ideas, observe the results, then refine their ideas. This means that STEM experiences should be offered over time— introduced and reintroduced as children develop new skills that will enable them to engage with materials in increasingly sophisticated ways. Giving children many opportunities with the same or similar materials provides multiple entry points for discovery and allows children to build and refine their STEM knowledge and skills over time.
High-quality STEM experiences should be inclusive, allowing children to meaningfully engage in activities and contribute to others’ learning regardless of their social and demographic characteristics( NASEM 2024). Research supports the understanding that children’ s cultural and racial backgrounds are likely to affect their early STEM experiences( Spaepen et al. 2017): Infants and toddlers make meaning by investigating materials and phenomena that are of interest to them and connected to their daily lives( Hoisington 2024). Languages, routines, people, and open-ended materials that are recognizable provide an invitation to explore with a sense of safety and security. As such, educators should plan experiences that connect to children’ s homes and communities. Nurturing reciprocal relationships with families can help to support these efforts as families share what they observe about their children’ s interests, including in STEM activities( NAEYC 2020).
Supporting Infants and Toddlers in Inquiry Learning
Such repetition is essential to children’ s growth and learning( Conkbayir 2017). The foundations of brain architecture are established early in life through a continuous series of back-and-forth interactions between children and their environments( Center on the Developing Child 2007, 2011). Much like scientists, babies are driven by a desire to figure out how the world works( Gopnik 2012; Maguire-Fong 2020). They investigate, hypothesize, try things out, and try again when their results are not satisfactory.
It is a long-accepted principle that early childhood education“ starts with the child and not with the subject matter”( Elkind et al. 2016, 4; emphasis added). STEM investigations support young children’ s development through inquiry learning, in which educators observe, document, and reflect on children’ s actions, then design and scaffold early STEM explorations.
With infants and toddlers, inquiry learning is not about planning lessons. It is about planning the environment, materials, experiences, and supports. These are tailored to infants’ and toddlers’ specific needs and interests and honor and reflect their developmental capacities. They decide what to explore, and they explore in the way or ways that make sense to them. Educators observe, document, and reflect on what children are doing so that they can extend their learning by adding novel materials, rearranging or modifying the environment, and using intentional teaching strategies that encourage children’ s investigations( Van Meeteren & Peterson 2022). Acknowledging what infants and toddlers are doing by moving close to the action, commenting on an action taken and its results, giving assistance by modeling, suggesting that a child notice what a peer has done,
90 Young Children
Summer 2025