Ice melting in Early Childhood Education: a case of the designing and implementing a STEAM Project about water state changes

MICHALIS IOANNOU

Abstract

This paper examines the water state changes in Early Childhood Education. Particularly, the designing and implementation of STEAM activities regarding the melting of the ice is presented with the use of the Engineering Design Process. It also presents the results of this qualitative study where 15 children between five and six years old engaged in pre-and post-tests as well as in a 4-staged STEAM teaching intervention. The children followed four stages to solve a real-life problem, firstly they identified the problem and then developed ideas, and solutions designed their own solutions, and tested them while presenting the final outcomes at the end. The analysis of the results revealed that children at this age are able to understand the water state changes and link the ice with water under specific designated STEAM activities.

Keywords

Science, Early Childhood Education, STEAM, water state changes, ice, melting, Engineering Design Process

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.26220/mje.4478

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Mediterranean Journal of Education | ISSN: 2732-6489 |  Department of Educational Sciences and Early Childhood Education - University of Patras.

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