DefinePK

Abstract

In an earlier research project (2014-2015) a university in the southcentral US in collaboration with a local Independent School District (ISD) configured a Curriculum Design Team who designed, developed, and reviewed a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics with integrated arts) based multimodal curriculum. The curriculum was developed on the foundation of social constructivist pedagogical strategies and science and engineering processes and sought to explore the curriculum impact on underserved kindergarten students’ school academic achievement and readiness, inclusive of levels of literacy learning, cognitive development, academic achievement, and consequently, social/behavioral performance. The current comparative, case study examined the effects of the aforementioned STEAM-based integrated hands-on science activities, and on participating underserved kindergarten students’ academic achievement in science content from the context of teacher expertise (expert vs. novice). Two science lessons with the same content were utilized as the reference point for comparison to reveal the science academic achievement of students when delivered by an expert teacher versus a novice teacher. Additionally, the researchers examined how hands-on science activities affected the participating expert and novice teachers’ pedagogical beliefs and practices regarding the inclusion of science in the kindergarten classroom.