While, fortunately, math and science instruction gains ground in elementary and secondary grades, this alas is not yet the case in a vast majority of preschools and early childhood settings. According to a study that observed preschool classrooms during a six-hour day, only 58 seconds were devoted to mathematics. Another research in a prekindergarten classroom revealed that – in a day – only 3 percent of the time was spent teaching math, and only a miserable 1 percent to science. In a third study, the evaluation of six different classrooms during 49 hours found even no math teaching at all.
In their defense, the early childhood educators involved in the study said they would like to provide more STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) teaching but they are lacking the training and experience to do it. The widespread anxiety about STEM subjects among educators (and parents as well) is probably one of the main reasons for the deficiencies in those matters in the early years. Research has shown that the largely dominant attention given to literacy and social-and-emotional early learning leads to the exclusion of other subjects – which are though of the greatest importance.
Picture: Branches of Science (Wikipedia, w/Effects)
