JoinAll Blog Posts
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Inform Your Vote: NSTA Governance Revision and New Bylaws 2023
By Erika Shugart, Ph.D., NSTA Executive Director
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Multiple Pathways to Recruit and Retain a Strong, Diverse Science Teaching Workforce
By Felicia Moore Mensah
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Developing a Strong, Diverse Science Teaching Workforce Is Critical
By Latrece Johnson, MEd, MS
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Using rain to manipulate art media, and modeling rain
A day where the rain had lasted so long that the playground became soupy led to an investigation of the properties of art media—tempera paint and oil pastels. As a science investigation we (most of us) followed my procedure of using tempera paint o...
By Peggy Ashbrook
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Nature of science: a new NSTA position statement
Winter weather often makes us wonder how wild animals survive without a heated environment....
By Peggy Ashbrook
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Play—outdoor, in-door recess, and science
Children move eagerly to get their winter wear gear, stream out the door, across the street and onto the playground....
By Peggy Ashbrook
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Engineering in early childhood continues
Engineering was celebrated last week but it continues to happen spontaneously, and with teachers’ support, in early childhood settings. Engineering happens when young children try to solve a problem by designing and testing a solution....
By Peggy Ashbrook
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Supportive communities for teaching science in the early childhood years
There are times when educators miss opportunities to support young children’s interest in exploring and learning about natural phenomena. We might be otherwise engaged, too focused on the next activity, or uncomfortable with what is happening....
By Peggy Ashbrook
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Engineering in early childhood
In early childhood settings both educators and young children solve problems using available materials and an engineering design process. The process is not step-by-step because it looks different depending on the age of the children, the time availa...
By Peggy Ashbrook
Blog Post
Early childhood science education at conferences
When a conference has plenty of sessions about science and engineering learning in early childhood—so many that each time slot has 2 or more such sessions—it shows that preschool, kindergarten, and first and second grade teachers are inter...
By Peggy Ashbrook
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Local nature experiences help children relate to other environments
My side of the street is shaded for hours longer than the opposite side which gets full sun for more than 6 hours a day, even in winter. The differences in sunlight affect the plant growth in these “microclimates.” On the “sunny side of t...
By Peggy Ashbrook
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Myths about Science, with an early childhood focus
The National Science Teachers Association website has a section for families titled, “Help Your Child Explore Science.” Here’s my adaptation of the “Myths about Science” page in that section, giving it an early childhood focus.&n...
By Peggy Ashbrook
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Digital Technology in the Early Childhood Classroom: When is a child ready?
Guest blogger Carrie Lynne Draper shares resources and discusses the use of digital technology in early childhood programs....
By Peggy Ashbrook
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Tinkering: How open-ended should it be in early childhood?
The easy answer to this question is “it depends.” It depends on the reason for providing the experience and the particular materials for young children to use. Of course children often set up their own tinkering experiences using materials at han...
By Peggy Ashbrook
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Choosing resources for early childhood science learning
Choosing resources for early childhood science learning that are scientifically accurate, developmentally appropriate, and reference research about learning, requires educators to have time to review resources ourselves, or access to reviews by exper...
By Peggy Ashbrook
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Engineering in Early Childhood: Learning from conference sessions
One of the conference sessions on engineering I attended at NAEYC quoted children in the title: “Don’t Call Us Kinders, We’re Engineers!” To introduce an engineering design process to children in kindergarten up to second grade, Emily P...
By Peggy Ashbrook
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Math is integral to early childhood STEM learning
July has brought my happy place (where the worlds of early childhood educat...
By Peggy Ashbrook
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Early Childhood and Lower Elementary Teachers Need to Attend the 6th Annual STEM Forum & Expo
Come join us at the 6th Annual STEM Forum & Expo. It is the event where early childhood and lower elementary teachers need to be. It is a unique event where you will find a great deal of focused ideas on how to engage, nurture, and teach what our...
By Korei Martin
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When early childhood educators conference & talk about science education
The National Science Teachers Association’s annual conference brings educators from many places in the world together to build their science teaching skills, science content, reaffirm connections with colleagues and make new connections....
By Peggy Ashbrook
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The Early Childhood STEM Institute
Guest blogger Cindy Hoisington is a Senior Curriculum/Instructional Design Associate with Education Development Center. Hoisington believes that authentic, cognitively challenging science experiences can be transformative for young children....
By Peggy Ashbrook
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Positive environments: Early childhood education conferences
Two early childhood conferences I attended this month, a national conference and a local regional conference, were awash with sessions on science, STEM, and STEAM education. Although science education is my main focus, I enjoy attending conferences b...
By Peggy Ashbrook
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Investigating water with Early Childhood educators
“At what age can a child begin science learning?” asked one participant at an early childhood education workshop on investigating the properties of water in a fun, scientific way using observation, documentation and reflecting on that work. The g...
By Peggy Ashbrook
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Wooden unit blocks and representing their use in early childhood education
Working with and reading about the work of other educators is inspiring. While observing or mentoring in different programs I am given an education and opportunity to reflect on my own practice....
By Peggy Ashbrook
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Meeting with others about early childhood STEM education–at a conference, at the White House
The powerful learning that comes of getting together with others who are interested in the same topic can lead to action that increases opportunities for all children to engage in science and engineering explorations. Let’s not leave out using tech...
By Peggy Ashbrook
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Early Childhood at the NSTA 2016 national conference: Elementary Extravaganza and more!
When I search any conference schedule to choose sessions to attend I am always suspicious of those that are listed as for PreK-12....
By Peggy Ashbrook
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System exploration in early childhood
When winter sets in, teachers set aside time in the schedule for children to remove and store their winter outwear. Such a variety of clothing systems appear! Coats and jackets with zippers, hoods, snaps and Velcro, mittens and gloves, hats that pull...
By Peggy Ashbrook
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Recommend a resource for early childhood science and engineering education
Guidance for effective science and engineering teaching can be found in the NSTA position statement on Early Childhood Science Education. Materials for science and engineering science explorations, such as teacher resource books, can sup...
By Peggy Ashbrook
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Richmond, Virginia and science in early childhood 2014 NSTA area conference
Here are some glimpses from the NSTA 2014 Richmond, Virginia area conference where teachers shared their work and learned from others. The location is excellent—beautiful train station, hotels just across the street from the convention center, easy...
By Peggy Ashbrook
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Learning from the online Early Childhood community
Do you have colleagues with whom you can share ideas for teaching science and engineering concepts? Do you have resources to develop science lessons? Does your program or district support the science and engineering curriculum that you know is best p...
By Peggy Ashbrook
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National Science Teachers Association and NAEYC Join Forces to Enrich Early Childhood Science
The world of a young child is full of “wow.” Children are constantly observing, exploring and discovering phenomena around them. From those activities they build models of how they think the world works and make predictions from those models. Tha...
By Juliana Texley
Blog Post
The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) has endorsed the National Science Teachers Association’s (NSTA) new position statement on Early Childhood Science Education. Thank you to all the individuals who brought these tw...
By Peggy Ashbrook
Blog Post
NSTA National Conference in Boston–early childhood too!
I’m looking forward to learning, collaborating, meeting, laughing, learning, sharing, and getting a break from the usual schedule while attending the National Science Teachers Association’s conference in Boston. It’s one of several ...
By Peggy Ashbrook