STEM in Early Childhood Education: We Talk the Talk, But Do We Walk the Walk?

Abstract

The chapter reviews previously published articles and summarizes trends in STEM research in early childhood education over the last twelve years (2000-2012) by employing a content analytic procedure. The specific purposes of the study are to determine the general characteristics of the STEM research in early childhood education, to identify the research designs being applied in articles, and to reveal the common research topics/issues on STEM education in the field of early childhood education. A total of 41 articles are extracted from a wide range of publications. Thematic analysis reveals two main themes and nine subthemes on research topics/issues, including policy, management, equity issues, STEM schools, theories, models, professional development, teacher support, program development and evaluation, learner and teacher attributes, and pre-service teacher education.