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Micro-project Design of STEAM Education for Preschoolers Based on Striking Life Phenomena

Received: 20 April 2020     Accepted: 6 May 2020     Published: 27 May 2020
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Abstract

As STEAM education has received growing attention in early childhood in recent years, how can we provide young children quality experience of STEAM learning? High-quality STEAM education project resources are a solid foundation for STEAM education quality assurance. The article takes striking phenomena in children's lives as a key point to extract and design micro-projects for STEAM education for young children. The main ideas behind the micro-projects design are as following: (1) Effectively capturing the striking life phenomena that can evoke a strong experience of children. (2) Extracting the key scientific problem and inferring progressive problems behind the phenomena. (3) Defining the micro-project and clarifying the composition of its sub-projects. (4) Realizing the integral elements of STEAM learning, etc. In a word, the micro-project design aims to establish interdisciplinary connections through in-depth exploration based on striking life phenomena and real problems. Taking the fingerprint of preschooler’s fingertips as an example, behind the striking phenomena the key scientific question "What is the genetic secret (e.g., the genetic mechanisms)" can be extracted, and then a series of progressive questions like "What is the fingerprint? Is there any difference in fingerprints among children?" "Is the child’s fingerprint the same as that of his/her parents?", "Does the child look the same as his/her parents?" "How can fingerprint be applied into our lives" can be drawn. To establish and clarify the micro-project and sub-projects based on these questions, and then to define embedded STEAM learning elements and other information. This is the design process and the main composition of a micro-project. These could be an effective way to boost quality project resource exploration for young children’s STEAM education. Issues for further exploration are also discussed.

Published in Education Journal (Volume 9, Issue 3)

This article belongs to the Special Issue Pathway to Quality Preschool Education: Chinese Perspectives

DOI 10.11648/j.edu.20200903.11
Page(s) 59-63
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Preschool STEAM Education, Striking Life Phenomenon, Micro-project Design

References
[1] Yakman, G. STEAM Education: an overview of creating a mode of integrative education. Pupils Attitudes Towards Technology 2008 Annual Proceedings. Netherlands, 2008.
[2] Tippett, C. D., Milford, T. M. Findings from a Pre-kindergarten Classroom: Making the Case for STEM in Early Childhood Education [J]. International Journal of Science and Math Education, 2017, 15: S67-S86.
[3] DeJarnette, N. K. Implementing STEAM in the Early Childhood Classroom [J]. European Journal of STEM Education [J]. 2018, 3 (3), 18-27.
[4] Wang, Wei., Yuan, Lei. Research on the teaching model of the STEAM curriculum based on the project in the connection stage of the young and the primary [J]. Modern Distance Education, 2018 (3): 51-58.
[5] Hu, Hui-rui, Wang, Yang., Chen, Xiao-ling. Kindergarten STEAM Activities Design and Implementation from a Perspective of Design Thinking [J]. Journal of Sha anxi Xueqian Normal University, 2019, 35 (8): 63-67.
[6] Kim, D., Bolger, M. Analysis of Korean Elementary Pre-Service Teachers’ Changing Attitudes About Integrated STEAM Pedagogy Through Developing Lesson Plans [J]. International Journal of Science and Math Education, 2017, 15: 587-605.
[7] Zheng, Wei. China STEAM Education Development Report [M]. Science Press, 2017.
[8] Zhang, Mo., Wang, Wei., Yuan, Lei. Research on Activity Design of STEAM Education in Kindergarten [J]. Modern Distance Education, 2018 (4): 76-80.
[9] Li, Xue-shu, Fan, Guo-rui. Reform Strategies of Kindergarten Science Education Based on STEAM [J]. Education Science, 2020, 36 (1): 82-90.
[10] Peng, Du-hong. An Analysis of the Key Goals and High-quality Teaching Model of STEAM Education in Preschool [J]. Journal of Suzhou University of Science and Technology (Social Science), 2019, 36 (5): 93-100.
[11] Yu Guowen, Cao Yiming. Interdisciplinary Teaching Research: Taking Finnish Phenomenon Teaching as an Example [J]. Foreign Primary and Secondary Education, 2017 (7): 57-60.
[12] Zhang Wenlan, Hu Jiao. Has the learning effect of project-based learning happened?——A meta-analysis based on 46 experimental and quasi-experimental studies [J]. Audio-visual Education Research, 2019 (2): 95-104.
[13] Caroline Edwards, Laila Gandini, George Foreman, Luo Yafen, with English, translated by Jin Naiqi. One hundred languages for children [M]. Nanjing Normal University Press, 2006 12 First edition of the month.
[14] Lipsey, M. W., Farran, D. C., Durkin, K. Effects of the Tennessee Prekindergarten Program on children’s achievement and behavior through third grade [J]. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 2018, 45: 155-176.
[15] Currie, J., & Thomas, D. School quality and the longer-term effects of Head Start [J]. Journal of Human Resources, 2000, 35 (4), 755–774.
[16] Early Childhood STEM Working Group. Early STEM Matters: Providing High-Quality STEM Experiences for All Young Learners [R]. Erikson Institute and UChicago STEM Education, Report, 2017, January.
[17] Wang, Xin. A practical study on the effect of STEAM teaching activities in kindergarten middle class on children ’s multiple intelligences [D]. The 2019 Master of Education degree thesis of preschool education major of Shanghai Normal University, instructor: Huang Lian.
[18] Land, M. H. Full STEAM Ahead: The Benefits of Integrating the Arts Into STEM [J]. Procedia Computer Science, 2013, 20, 547-552.
[19] Perignat, E., Katz-Buonincontro, J. STEAM in practice and research: An integrative literature review [J]. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 2019, 31: 31-43.
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    Duhong Peng. (2020). Micro-project Design of STEAM Education for Preschoolers Based on Striking Life Phenomena. Education Journal, 9(3), 59-63. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.edu.20200903.11

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    ACS Style

    Duhong Peng. Micro-project Design of STEAM Education for Preschoolers Based on Striking Life Phenomena. Educ. J. 2020, 9(3), 59-63. doi: 10.11648/j.edu.20200903.11

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    AMA Style

    Duhong Peng. Micro-project Design of STEAM Education for Preschoolers Based on Striking Life Phenomena. Educ J. 2020;9(3):59-63. doi: 10.11648/j.edu.20200903.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.edu.20200903.11,
      author = {Duhong Peng},
      title = {Micro-project Design of STEAM Education for Preschoolers Based on Striking Life Phenomena},
      journal = {Education Journal},
      volume = {9},
      number = {3},
      pages = {59-63},
      doi = {10.11648/j.edu.20200903.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.edu.20200903.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.edu.20200903.11},
      abstract = {As STEAM education has received growing attention in early childhood in recent years, how can we provide young children quality experience of STEAM learning? High-quality STEAM education project resources are a solid foundation for STEAM education quality assurance. The article takes striking phenomena in children's lives as a key point to extract and design micro-projects for STEAM education for young children. The main ideas behind the micro-projects design are as following: (1) Effectively capturing the striking life phenomena that can evoke a strong experience of children. (2) Extracting the key scientific problem and inferring progressive problems behind the phenomena. (3) Defining the micro-project and clarifying the composition of its sub-projects. (4) Realizing the integral elements of STEAM learning, etc. In a word, the micro-project design aims to establish interdisciplinary connections through in-depth exploration based on striking life phenomena and real problems. Taking the fingerprint of preschooler’s fingertips as an example, behind the striking phenomena the key scientific question "What is the genetic secret (e.g., the genetic mechanisms)" can be extracted, and then a series of progressive questions like "What is the fingerprint? Is there any difference in fingerprints among children?" "Is the child’s fingerprint the same as that of his/her parents?", "Does the child look the same as his/her parents?" "How can fingerprint be applied into our lives" can be drawn. To establish and clarify the micro-project and sub-projects based on these questions, and then to define embedded STEAM learning elements and other information. This is the design process and the main composition of a micro-project. These could be an effective way to boost quality project resource exploration for young children’s STEAM education. Issues for further exploration are also discussed.},
     year = {2020}
    }
    

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    AU  - Duhong Peng
    Y1  - 2020/05/27
    PY  - 2020
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    AB  - As STEAM education has received growing attention in early childhood in recent years, how can we provide young children quality experience of STEAM learning? High-quality STEAM education project resources are a solid foundation for STEAM education quality assurance. The article takes striking phenomena in children's lives as a key point to extract and design micro-projects for STEAM education for young children. The main ideas behind the micro-projects design are as following: (1) Effectively capturing the striking life phenomena that can evoke a strong experience of children. (2) Extracting the key scientific problem and inferring progressive problems behind the phenomena. (3) Defining the micro-project and clarifying the composition of its sub-projects. (4) Realizing the integral elements of STEAM learning, etc. In a word, the micro-project design aims to establish interdisciplinary connections through in-depth exploration based on striking life phenomena and real problems. Taking the fingerprint of preschooler’s fingertips as an example, behind the striking phenomena the key scientific question "What is the genetic secret (e.g., the genetic mechanisms)" can be extracted, and then a series of progressive questions like "What is the fingerprint? Is there any difference in fingerprints among children?" "Is the child’s fingerprint the same as that of his/her parents?", "Does the child look the same as his/her parents?" "How can fingerprint be applied into our lives" can be drawn. To establish and clarify the micro-project and sub-projects based on these questions, and then to define embedded STEAM learning elements and other information. This is the design process and the main composition of a micro-project. These could be an effective way to boost quality project resource exploration for young children’s STEAM education. Issues for further exploration are also discussed.
    VL  - 9
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Author Information
  • School of Education, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou, China

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