Professional Support for Early Childhood Educators

Dr. Gary Bingham is leading a project to connect undergraduates with community agencies engaged in program implementation of a professional learning project to support early childhood teachers and children’s experiences with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. This interdisciplinary research project focuses on undergraduates gaining knowledge about professional learning models for teachers, children’s scientific and mathematics learning, and how to leverage data for continuous program improvement. Key research experiences include data collection processes, exposure to experts in STEM education, and research on child and adult learning.

Learning Outcome:

• Scientific Literacy- knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for a career as a scientist, engineer, or technician (Benjamin et al., 2015); the ability to engage with science-related issues, and with the ideas of science, as a reflective citizen (PISA, xxxx)
• Students will be exposed to scientific concepts included in early childhood instruction
• Students will implement the stages of the scientific method as they engage in a research project in partnership with an early childhood organization
• Students will gain the skills need to achieve PISA Skills Level 1C- read and comprehend simple sentences; use numeracy and basic computation; understand the basic components of tables and graphs; apply the basic procedures of scientific enquiry; and interpret simple data sets.
• Data Literacy- is the ability to read, write, and communicate data in context (cite) · Students will be exposed to multiple types of data (survey, observations, psychoeducational assessment scores, interview responses)
• Students will learn about different kinds of data and which types of data are used for decision making Information Literacy- Information literacy is the set of integrated abilities encompassing the reflective discovery of information, the understanding of how information is produced and valued, and the use of information in creating new knowledge and participating ethically in communities of learning (Association of College Research & Libraries, 2016)
• Students will read partner organization reports, webpages, and blogs to extract meaningful information about the goals of the organization