When I began as a Jewish preschool teacher 34 years ago, my curriculum focused on holidays and traditional activities. At the time, as a novice teacher, I believed my classroom was perfect and my theme-based weekly plans would effectively teach the children. Little did I know how much I would grow alongside my young students.
Observing young children is a privilege. We get to witness the magic of how they view the world in multiple ways. With meaningful observations, we can develop curriculum around their interests and developmental stages, gaining valuable insight into how they think about the world.
Students in my J-STEM class this past semester shared the value of observations and STEM:
- "I can watch how it cultivates curiosity and wonder, the building blocks on which future learning, development, and creativity are based."
- "I see my class make mistakes, do it over and over, and learn to understand this is helping develop their critical thinking skills."
- "When I observe a child, I see how they see the world."
- "When they tinker, invent, and create, they are making new connections in their brains that help develop future ability for cognitive function."
- "When children are playing, we can see it supports confidence, increased self-esteem, and social-emotional development."
Young children think in concrete terms and learn best in the context of play. When we build on what children already know, we create a pathway to increase their understanding of concepts. For example, when we observe children in the block area building a Sukkah, are they just building? Through our observations, we see STEM at work! They are using math concepts such as length, shape, measurement, estimation, balance, and problem-solving while connecting it to what they know about a Sukkah. Block play offers opportunities to build scientific reasoning, test assumptions, and engage in physics.
All those years ago, when I created a space for learning, I was actually doing it right, even if I didn't understand all the dimensions of it. I needed to trust the children to guide their learning, and I needed to observe, facilitate with materials, and scaffold to build upon what they already know.