Instructional Perseverance in Early-Childhood Classrooms: Supporting Children’s Development of STEM Reasoning in a Social Justice Context

In early childhood education (ECE) classrooms, teachers navigate practices about how to allow space for students to make sense of new STEM-based ideas. We posit that such pedagogical moves require ample in-the-moment perseverance by the instructor. In this paper, we seek to explore the nature of suc...

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Main Authors: Jennifer Ward, Joseph DiNapoli, Katie Monahan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2022-02-01
Series:Education Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/12/3/159
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author Jennifer Ward
Joseph DiNapoli
Katie Monahan
author_facet Jennifer Ward
Joseph DiNapoli
Katie Monahan
author_sort Jennifer Ward
collection DOAJ
description In early childhood education (ECE) classrooms, teachers navigate practices about how to allow space for students to make sense of new STEM-based ideas. We posit that such pedagogical moves require ample in-the-moment perseverance by the instructor. In this paper, we seek to explore the nature of such instructional perseverance in ECE classrooms and how it manifests when ECE educators are supporting young children to develop their STEM reasoning, with a primary focus on the mathematics discipline in a social justice context. Working with a dataset consisting of four ECE classroom episodes, we employed an analytical framework that captured evidence of instructional perseverance. We found that the instructional perseverance of the ECE teacher was integral to the development of STEM reasoning of her young students. We present an illustrative case that details the instructional perseverance of the ECE teacher and the related STEM reasoning of her students in the context of exploring income variance by race. We argue that teacher education development must address how ECE teachers can plan for and navigate in-the-moment instructional obstacles in order to support young students’ STEM reasoning development, which positions students for productive STEM-based outcomes.
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spelling doaj.art-7340df328afe468bb1ce6ab76e9b98af2023-11-30T21:00:18ZengMDPI AGEducation Sciences2227-71022022-02-0112315910.3390/educsci12030159Instructional Perseverance in Early-Childhood Classrooms: Supporting Children’s Development of STEM Reasoning in a Social Justice ContextJennifer Ward0Joseph DiNapoli1Katie Monahan2Department of Elementary and Early Childhood Education, Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, GA 30144, USADepartment of Mathematics, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ 07043, USADepartment of Mathematics, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ 07043, USAIn early childhood education (ECE) classrooms, teachers navigate practices about how to allow space for students to make sense of new STEM-based ideas. We posit that such pedagogical moves require ample in-the-moment perseverance by the instructor. In this paper, we seek to explore the nature of such instructional perseverance in ECE classrooms and how it manifests when ECE educators are supporting young children to develop their STEM reasoning, with a primary focus on the mathematics discipline in a social justice context. Working with a dataset consisting of four ECE classroom episodes, we employed an analytical framework that captured evidence of instructional perseverance. We found that the instructional perseverance of the ECE teacher was integral to the development of STEM reasoning of her young students. We present an illustrative case that details the instructional perseverance of the ECE teacher and the related STEM reasoning of her students in the context of exploring income variance by race. We argue that teacher education development must address how ECE teachers can plan for and navigate in-the-moment instructional obstacles in order to support young students’ STEM reasoning development, which positions students for productive STEM-based outcomes.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/12/3/159early childhood educationinstructional activities and practicesmathematics educationinstructional perseverance
spellingShingle Jennifer Ward
Joseph DiNapoli
Katie Monahan
Instructional Perseverance in Early-Childhood Classrooms: Supporting Children’s Development of STEM Reasoning in a Social Justice Context
Education Sciences
early childhood education
instructional activities and practices
mathematics education
instructional perseverance
title Instructional Perseverance in Early-Childhood Classrooms: Supporting Children’s Development of STEM Reasoning in a Social Justice Context
title_full Instructional Perseverance in Early-Childhood Classrooms: Supporting Children’s Development of STEM Reasoning in a Social Justice Context
title_fullStr Instructional Perseverance in Early-Childhood Classrooms: Supporting Children’s Development of STEM Reasoning in a Social Justice Context
title_full_unstemmed Instructional Perseverance in Early-Childhood Classrooms: Supporting Children’s Development of STEM Reasoning in a Social Justice Context
title_short Instructional Perseverance in Early-Childhood Classrooms: Supporting Children’s Development of STEM Reasoning in a Social Justice Context
title_sort instructional perseverance in early childhood classrooms supporting children s development of stem reasoning in a social justice context
topic early childhood education
instructional activities and practices
mathematics education
instructional perseverance
url https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/12/3/159
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AT katiemonahan instructionalperseveranceinearlychildhoodclassroomssupportingchildrensdevelopmentofstemreasoninginasocialjusticecontext