STEM & MOVEMENT

In addition, STEM and Movement are currently much discussed topics within current affairs.  STEM is a very broad domain, often there is a lack of clarity about the interpretation of STEM among preschoolers. This can make teachers more likely to feel uncertain about integrating STEM topics within their classroom practice. During their preschool years, children are best brought into challenging environments where they can discover and explore the world for themselves from wonder and through play and enquiry. By letting the child investigate, explore and experiment by himself, you touch the child's deepest interest and he will also get to fundamental learning faster. Here, the physical world is one of the main sources children use to be amazed by, solve problems and find answers.

Within our society, the need for a wide and varied range of physical activity is becoming more and more evident among preschoolers as well (much sitting at school and in leisure time), which may hinder the development of broad basic motor skills in these young children. Taking into account the limited teaching time that goes to movement classes, teachers within preschool education are encouraged to look for additional movement and development opportunities within classroom practice.

During the international PWO project STEM&Movement, we want to explore, together with the University of Stavanger (Norway), how to shape an integrated approach to STEM and movement in preschool education. In close cooperation with a number of kindergartens in Belgium & Norway, good practices around the integration of STEM and Movement will be developed.

Research project output

The inspiring poster & the fan are the end product of a two-year practice-oriented PWO research project at Arteveldehogeschool, in collaboration with the University of Stavanger (Norway). The central question within this project was a search for an approach to support teachers in putting into practice the integration of STEM and Movement within preschool education.

1. How are teachers currently translating their views on integration of STEM and movement within preschool education into their own classroom practice?
2. What do preschool teachers need to achieve quality integration of STEM and movement in their own classroom practice?

Within a two-year research project, we started working with 7 teachers from 4 different schools to answer these questions together.