Spark the use of STEAM in preschool education

“Quality early childhood education and care plays a particularly important role, and should be further reinforced as a basis for future educational success” (Council Resolution on a strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training towards the European Education Area and beyond (2021-2030)). Nevertheless, although Europe has been making progress in recent years regarding early childhood education, finding new innovative ways to support both Educators and Students, the recent events with the general lockdown and consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic redirect the efforts from educators and decision makers in education to different areas of action. For this purpose, this project intended to support early childhood education, in the area of preventive and proactive education that builds STEAM and creativity skills with young learners. The option for the STEAM approach allowed the participating countries – Portugal and Greece – to promote the development of 21st Century skills like adaptability, problem solving, complex communication and system thinking; and, these skills are crucial for children self-development and good predictors for their school performance (Beyond Academic Learning, OECD, 2021).

The overall objective of this project was to lay the foundations for the implementation and uptake of STEAM approach in early childhood education, by making knowledge and activities related with science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics available for early childhood education teachers and children (from 3 to 6 years old). To achieve the aforementioned objective, the following specific objectives were target: >Build the capacity of early childhood education teachers, in promoting children’s interest and excellence in STEAM. >Develop quality resources for STEAM culture in preschools, based on good practices and scientific findings. >Improve the overall quality of the early educational system in Portugal and Greece.

To achieve these objectives, this project developed the following activities: >Run a literature revision and interviews to early childhood educators and researchers, looking for the most recent guidelines on STEAM implementation in early childhood education, with an additional focus on the Portuguese and Greek early school education contexts. >Designed and adjusted a set of activities for early childhood education teachers to implement in the educational environment and adjusted to the lesson plans, capacitating teachers with a new hands-on workshop on STEAM in early childhood education. >Created a project visual identity that was used throughout the project lifespan and promotional and communication materials, decreasing the distance between partners and the project target groups through an image and open educational resources that address both parts’ needs in educational contexts.

The results achieved with this project, and available online for free, are the following: >A total of 4 articles written in English and translated to Portuguese and Greek were developed through literature revision and interviews with educators and researchers in the area of early childhood education. These articles offer an overview of the practice of STEAM in early childhood education, especially in the Portuguese and Greek contexts. >A total of 12 activities written in English and translated to Portuguese and Greek were developed, using a 4 steps process design and all the subjects of STEAM, to deliver ready to use activities forin preschools activities. Each activity is focused on the curricular goals of both countries for early childhood education, as defined by each Education Ministry, and uses open educational resources that are available in the three languages (English, Greek, Portuguese). >A workshop in English for 20 preschool educators to capacitate them with new competencies, linked with Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics; and to allow them to understand how STEAM can be included in the preschool education curricula and daily activities.