Enhancing Science and Mathematics Education for Child Care Providers and Preschool Teachers

Purpose

Child care providers and teachers of preschoolers often lack background in science, and do not know how to teach it to the children with whom they work. Lawrence Hall of Science staff, building on their own experience in conducting programs for very young children, designed this project for early childhood teachers and day care providers from low income and minority backgrounds. Through three one-credit community college courses and eight Saturday workshops teachers learn how to get their charges actively involved in science and mathematics, and receive guides and materials to use in their teaching. In the process the teachers themselves learn some science and increase their enthusiasm and comfort in teaching it.

Innovative Features

The project was carried out in cooperation with many organizations in the San Francisco Bay area, including several school systems, networks and advocacy groups for early childhood educators, Headstart programs and Hispanic-American groups. Forms of co operation included providing publicity for the program and instructional sites, and translating materials into Spanish and disseminating them.

The credit courses of 18 clock hours each engage teachers of in activity-based lessons in science, demonstrating and discussing ways to present the materials to young children. The courses also present the philosophy of this educational approach and general methods for implementing it. Participants attend without charge and receive a handbook, teaching guides for each of four activities, and classroom materials. They are expected to try at least two of the activities with their charges and to report results both in writing and in discussion with other students in the course.

For early childhood educators who cannot attend the multi-week courses, project staff present Saturday workshops consisting of three units from the course. The workshops are conducted at public child care centers and preschools that serve urban and minority children. During the FIPSE-funded period, a total of 245 teachers attended these sessions. Written feedback from participants in these workshops and in the longer courses was used to modify the teaching guides in both their English and Spanish versions.

Evaluation

Course participants completed brief comment cards at the end of each week's session to provide formative feedback. They also wrote comments on their success in using each of the activities with their groups of children, and responded to an end-of-course evaluation.

After administering a pre-course survey that showed the frequency with which teachers used science activities with their children, project staff surveyed teachers one and two years after completing the course to see what materials they were still using and how their attitudes toward teaching science had been affected by course participation. Through case studies conducted by the teachers with some of their children, project staff got a sense of the impact of the science units on the children's knowledge and attitudes.

Project Impact

Participants gave high ratings to the courses: no aspect of the experience received an average rating of less than 4.5 on a five point scale, and most average ratings were 4.9 to 5.0. Teacher comment cards showed particular enthusiasm for what the tea chers themselves were learning and for the materials and methods with which course instructors provided them.

In the final course evaluation, 78 percent of the teachers reported teaching more science than before entering the project. Most reported a frequency of two to three times a week, whereas before the course began 70 percent had reported teaching science less than once or twice a month. Even a year or two after completion of the course, nearly all the teachers reported continuing to use the instructional units and materials (95 percent were still using all four units) and to teach science more frequently.

Considering that the participating teachers worked with an average of 15 students each, the project reached at least 1470 children. Teachers described observable attitude changes toward living creatures for at least three-fourths of their students, as well as improved vocabulary and level of questioning.

At the end of the course, 97 percent of the teachers reported higher confidence in their ability to teach science, and two-thirds thought their teaching techniques had improved. The one- and two-year followup surveys found literally all respondents feeling that their confidence in teaching science had continued to increase as a result of the course.

Lessons Learned

This project demonstrates the feasibility of enabling and encouraging those who work with pre- school children to introduce their charges to science. Since these workers often lack preparation in science, the enthusiasm with which this work has been received is all the more remarkable. The principles on which this project is based, the role played by a science museum, and the utility of the materials produced are widely applicable in group child care situations, both public and private.

Project Continuation and Recognition

The course continues to be offered through workshops at the local community colleges and at the Lawrence Hall of Science, with both teachers and parents participating. The teachers' guides have been published and are used in the courses.

Teachers who participated in the courses and workshops continue to share their learning with colleagues in both formal and informal ways. The project has been presented to early childhood educators and college faculty at many conferences, both in California and nationally. Project staff have developed a regional network of people and agencies interested in promoting pre-school science education.

Based on the curriculum developed for this project, a National Science Foundation grant is supporting longer courses designed for four-person teams of pre-school and kindergarten teachers representing area school systems.

Available Information

Curriculum materials and handbooks from this project, known as Pre-School Exploration for Adults, Children and Educators in Science (PEACHES), and the successor program, Great Expectations in Math and Science (GEMS), are available from:

Kimi Hosoume
Lawrence Hall of Science
University of California at Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720
510-642-9633

Inquiries about the project newsletter, curriculum materials, and the handbook for the GEMS project should be addressed to Bernadette Luraya, at 510-642-8963.

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