Creative, Arts-Based STEM Learning in Early Childhood

Presented by Dr. Angela Eckhoff, Associate Professor, Old Dominion University, VA
Sponsored by Gryphon House

Watch the Recording

The inclusion of the visual and performing arts in the classroom promotes experiential learning where children build their knowledge and understandings during hands-on, minds-on experiences. In addition, by including visual and performing arts experiences as part of STEM learning, early childhood teachers can build upon student interests and understandings to help support young children as they experience meaningful, relevant connections between each content area. Early childhood educators have important roles in early arts-rich STEM experiences and can act as both a guide and facilitator throughout the planning, implementation, and assessment of the creative, inquiry-based experiences presented throughout this edWebinar.

For young children, arts-rich STEM experiences involve using tools and a variety of arts media and materials, being creative and inventive, developing questions based on observations and first-hand experiences, exploring meaningful content, and sharing their understandings with others. In this edWebinar Dr. Angela Eckhoff, author of Creative Investigations in Early Art, supports your development of creative experiences in the classroom by helping you to:

• Understand the links between the science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics disciplines
• Plan cooperative arts-based STEM lessons that will engage all children in your classroom as individuals or when working in small or whole groups
• Implement classroom experiences that support children’s engagement in integrated, arts-rich learning experiences on an everyday basis
• Recognize the power of the visual and performing arts to support children’s abilities to discover, invent, explore, question, and communicate their understandings of the world
• Document children’s knowledge development with authentic work samples and classroom artifacts

This recorded edWebinar will be of particular benefit to preK teachers.

About the Presenter

Dr. Angela Eckhoff is an associate professor of teaching and learning-early childhood education and director of the Virginia Early Childhood Policy Center at Old Dominion University in Virginia. She holds a dual PhD from the University of Colorado Boulder in educational psychology and cognitive science. She is a coeditor of the Growing in STEM column for Young Children and the Full STEAM Ahead column for Teaching Young Children from the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Dr. Eckhoff researches informal learning environments for children and families, the role of creativity in child development and learning, as well as arts-based early childhood pedagogical practices. This work is currently featured in a STEAM book series from Gryphon House Press, Creative Investigations in Early Science, Technology & Engineering, Math, and the Arts.

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