Early Childhood Education Teachers' Views of STEM Education

STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education is gaining an increasing attention recently in every level of education field. Even though the significance of early introduction of STEM subjects is being... [ view full abstract ]

STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education is gaining an increasing attention recently in every level of education field. Even though the significance of early introduction of STEM subjects is being recognized and stressed recently by a great number of research, serious initiative for national regulations, appropriate curriculum, teacher preparation and guidance is still lacking for early childhood education in most of the countries including Turkey (Soylu, 2016). For these reasons early childhood teachers may feel reluctant or unwilling to implement STEM subjects in their classes. In this research it is aimed to reveal the early childhood teachers' views, and understand their needs and requirements regarding to implementing STEM in early childhood. 
In order to reveal the teachers' views about the STEM education , semi structured interviews conducted with 12 early childhood teachers working in 2 public preschools and 2 private school. The teachers selected via purposeful sampling.An interview protocol is formed via consulting with experts and academicians working on the STEM education field.  The trustworthiness of the findings is ensured by  triangulation, another colleague examined the data. The results indicate that early childhood teachers need in service trainings, mentors assigned to discuss the questions and ideas, mandatory or elective courses offered in university level, support from government or institutions, and guidebooks related to the STEM education in early childhood.The teachers' positive attitudes towards implementing STEM education in their classes signifies the importance of teacher education programs and the need for serious initiative from the government in order to enhance their knowledge, ability and self confidence to implement these subjects in their classes more frequently and with an appropriate approach.