STEM Education and Cognitive Activity of PreSchool-Age Children
Abstract
The research issue of the article focuses on presenting the specificity of STEM education as a space conducive to the development of cognitive activity of a child at the pre-school age. The aim of the research is to recognize the dimensions of the child’s reality, which are important scientific experiences for him/her. The subject of the analysis included the utterances of 54 older preschool children from a big city. The children’s utterances took the form of questions. The research method was content analysis. The background for the research is the presentation of the essence of the transformations taking place in the space of education. The direction of change is determined by the STEM concept, which was created to increase the effectiveness of education and improve its quality. Its scope includes science, technology, engineering and mathematics. STEM education emphasises the ability to respond flexibly to change, and to cope with its unpredictability. It is desirable to develop an interest in STEM education from an early age. Education based on STEM themes becomes a space that triggers creativity and involvement of learners. It becomes a generator of ideas and an impulse for innovation. The last part of the article presents reports from the research on the cognitive curiosity of older preschool children expressed in the questions of the respondents. In order to illustrate the content of children’s experiences related to science, the respondents’ statements were referred to. The conducted analyses show the scientific potential of the child and constitute a recognition in the direction of personalization of the content in education.
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