STEM Education Needs STEM Talk

ABSTRACT

Rose et al shared their experiences in designing, teaching, and learning from a virtual STEM after-school enrichment program for young multilingual children in a new immigrant community during the COVID-19 pandemic. Responding to a larger pattern observed as children and PSTs completed design tasks in a virtual setting, they showed an example case of highly visual and material-rich ways of successfully engaging in block coding to design wearable technology. They also recognized how the integration of more specific multilingual STEM talk was needed to make learning visible. Focusing on helping children see themselves as capable STEM learners, they presented three classroom recommendations that provide continued ways to recognize and cultivate the multiple and creative ways children already make sense of the designed world while also supporting children in expanding ways of making these ideas known. Their aim is that through intentionally linking teacher and child language in multilingual and multimodal STEM interactions, they create multiple pathways for children's ideas about STEM to matter and be recognized by their peers, teachers, and families.