STEM education in early primary years: Teachers’ views and confidence

Kleopatra Nikolopoulou; Ioannis Tsimperidis

doi:10.30935/jdet/12971

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Kleopatra Nikolopoulou ¹ ^* , Ioannis Tsimperidis ²

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¹ Department of Early Childhood Education, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, GREECE² Computer Science Department, International Hellenic University, Kavala, GREECE^* Corresponding Author

Abstract

Pre-school and first years of primary school provide the basis for future learning in STEM, and teachers’ views-confidence are important for effective classroom practices. This study investigated teachers’ views and confidence in implementing STEM education in early primary years. The participants were 140 Greek teachers who completed an online 35-item questionnaire. Teachers expressed positive-strong perceptions and confidence in implementing STEM education in early primary years. Over 80% of the sample expressed agreement in that they feel comfortable-confident when they facilitate inquiry-based learning activities within mathematics or science topics. The practical obstacles of resources-material and time to explore STEM topics and implement learning activities were reported. The findings have implications for educational policy and practice.

Keywords

STEM
early primary years
teacher views
perceptions
confidence

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

Journal of Digital Educational Technology, Volume 3, Issue 1, January 2023, Article No: ep2302

https://doi.org/10.30935/jdet/12971

Publication date: 20 Feb 2023

Article Views: 5745

Article Downloads: 3459

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How to cite this article

APA

Nikolopoulou, K., & Tsimperidis, I. (2023). STEM education in early primary years: Teachers’ views and confidence. Journal of Digital Educational Technology, 3(1), ep2302. https://doi.org/10.30935/jdet/12971

Vancouver

Nikolopoulou K, Tsimperidis I. STEM education in early primary years: Teachers’ views and confidence. Journal of Digital Educational Technology. 2023;3(1):ep2302. https://doi.org/10.30935/jdet/12971

AMA

Nikolopoulou K, Tsimperidis I. STEM education in early primary years: Teachers’ views and confidence. Journal of Digital Educational Technology. 2023;3(1), ep2302. https://doi.org/10.30935/jdet/12971

Chicago

Nikolopoulou, Kleopatra, and Ioannis Tsimperidis. "STEM education in early primary years: Teachers’ views and confidence". Journal of Digital Educational Technology 2023 3 no. 1 (2023): ep2302. https://doi.org/10.30935/jdet/12971

Harvard

Nikolopoulou, K., and Tsimperidis, I. (2023). STEM education in early primary years: Teachers’ views and confidence. Journal of Digital Educational Technology, 3(1), ep2302. https://doi.org/10.30935/jdet/12971

MLA

Nikolopoulou, Kleopatra et al. "STEM education in early primary years: Teachers’ views and confidence". Journal of Digital Educational Technology, vol. 3, no. 1, 2023, ep2302. https://doi.org/10.30935/jdet/12971