Almost everything we do as human beings involves STEM concepts – and understanding this starts in the early years. Jane Murray, Professor of Education at the University of Northampton, found that young children can – and do – engage in the same behaviours as adult STEM researchers, such as, she says, “exploration, conceptualising, basing decisions on evidence and finding solutions”. “Many skills that children acquire while learning about STEM are transferrable to other curriculum areas and to everyday life,” says Jane. “Children who acquire scientific knowledge and skills from an early age have the basis for building STEM learning as they move through education.”

Starting early

Sandra Beale, founder of Toddler and Early Years STEM, agrees scientific explorations are far from beyond developing brains. “Young children are very bright and very curious,” she says. “STEM feeds into that curiosity.” When creating STEM sessions almost 10 years ago “purely as a way of entertaining” her 9-monthold son, Sandra discovered how much interest and creativity it sparked, even in the youngest of children. “In 2019 the BBC heard about my toddler STEM sessions, and could not believe I was doing science experiments with 18-month-olds and 2-year-olds. They came to my house and were amazed at such young children creating chemical reactions with bicarb and vinegar, and other experiments,” she says.

A STEM approach allows young children to explore their natural interests with hands-on learning. “This kind of exploration promotes innovation and makes abstract ideas more tangible,” says Rageena Tahir, Regional Quality Manager at Fennies Day Nurseries. “Introducing STEM early in life helps to remove the intimidation factor often associated with these subjects. Importantly, it can help reduce achievement gaps and empower underrepresented groups by providing all children with the confidence and skills to pursue these fields,” she adds.

Breaking barriers

Historically, a gender bias has suggested a male-centred view of STEM. One study found that 7- to 11-year-old boys were four times more likely than girls to want to be an engineer and nearly twice as many boys as girls wanted to become scientists. Maureen Hunt, Early Years and Primary Education Consultant and owner of Maureen Hunt Consultancy, thinks this is changing. “Practitioners are much more aware of gender bias and are more inclined to focus on the child in front of them, noting what are they interested in and encouraging exploration and curiosity,” she says. “Not every child will be interested in everything, but having equal access to resources is important. However, some people still talk negatively about maths, based on their own experience and a cultural belief that maths is hard,” she adds. “Making sure that you don’t negatively influence children is important.’ Children from the global majority and lower-income families can experience barriers to STEM subjects. “Awareness of these disparities empowers practitioners to ensure every child they work with is engaged in high-quality STEM learning experiences that are attuned to each child’s interests and learning needs,” Jane adds.

Planning and observing

Professionals should ensure STEM activities are both child and practitioner led. “The role of the adult is not to ‘do’ an experiment or demonstrate this to the child, but to enable the child to explore and discover in a safe way, while encouraging their curiosity and investigation,” says a spokesman from Cambridgeshire Early Years and Childcare. Tracy Graham, Early Years Advisory Practitioner for Bath and North East Somerset Council, says observation is crucial (see Scaffolding STEM Learning, above). “The key is to identify what is interesting to the child and follow that interest – increasing the depth and breadth of STEM investigation and adapting along the way,” she says. “Creating a responsive approach to observation and curriculum in this way can seem unplanned and haphazard. But with a clear pedagogy and a well-resourced environment, the adult can support a truly child-led curriculum.” There are many ways to introduce STEM activities into settings (see case studies on this page for inspiration). As Tracy notes: “A STEM curriculum does not require expensive resources or specific training and should Case study: Simple activities underpin everyday experiences that occur naturally in a child’s day. “Practitioners and families should aim to understand the philosophy behind a STEM approach and how to nurture creativity, then they can observe while children are engaged in independent activities and through teachable moments.”

What you need to know and why

• Equipping the learning environment with tools and resources such as measuring cylinders, sand timers, rulers and magnifying glasses will encourage children’s curiosity and equip them with tools to answer questions like “How much?” “What size?” and “I wonder what happens?” and explore concepts such as volume, space and time.
• Continuous provision, such as blocks, beads, stones, fabrics and natural materials, allows a child to think creatively (divergent thinking) and innovate new solutions to problems, as well as exploring cardinality or pattern – developing resilience at the same time as plans fail and different approaches are investigated.
• Adult- supported activities like baking introduce the concepts of measurement, sequencing and observing changing properties of materials and are a lovely way to show that maths is intrinsic in so many everyday activities.

Tracey Graham

Read Tracy’s Q&A here