爱朗慧才苑STEM课程，把工程学带进学前课堂

 ——罗斯玛丽·伯顿教授

传统意义上，幼儿教师一直认为，在STEM教育方面，数学、科学，甚至技术的使用都可以介绍给幼儿，但是工程学太难了，应该留给高中或大学。然而我和一些美国同事研究发现，工程学确实可以教给4岁和5岁的孩子。事实上，学龄前儿童发现工程项目既简单又有趣。创建一个工具或结构来解决一个问题的想法对小孩子来说似乎是很自然的，也是他们非常喜欢的。我们发现孩子是天生的工程师。他们可以探索材料的性质，得出关于什么样的材料可以用来解决什么样的问题的结论，然后可以构建一个工具或结构来解决一个发挥他们想象力的问题。我写了一本书，书名叫做《STEM早期学习的开始》，专门讲述如何通过故事自然地向学龄前儿童介绍工程设计过程。

我们已经将我书中的想法融入了爱朗慧才苑的幼儿园课程之中。在大班，我们会从故事中发现一个工程问题，并介绍给孩子们。比如，我们如何建造一所大灰狼无法摧毁的房子？我们如何造一把雨伞来挡雨？我们如何制造一架能成功地在房间中飞越的飞机？我们如何在水桌里建造一个大坝让水保持在水桌的一端？

孩子们讨论问题，然后画出设计图来说明他们解决问题的初步想法。接着他们分成小组，得到各种各样的自然材料。老师们不会提前指导孩子们如何建立一个结构来解决眼前的问题。孩子们探索他们面前材料的属性。他们一起努力创造一个他们认为可以解决问题的原型。然后他们测试他们的原型。如果成功了，他们会一起庆祝。如果它不起作用，他们会“回到设计阶段”，修改他们的原型，改进它，然后再次进行测试。大多数情况下，第二次测试会成功，孩子们能够自信地认为，现在他们知道了哪种材料最适合解决哪种类型的问题。他们了解到工程需要思考、规划、团队合作，了解到材料如何以不同方式发挥作用。他们还认识到第一个原型可能并不总是会起作用，但是坚持尝试是工程项目的一个重要过程。

这种教授儿童工程学的方法，还有一个非常重要的方面，就是在孩子们谈论、规划、构建、测试、回忆和总结的过程中，他们也谈论了数学和科学。他们学会量化和测量。他们学习科学概念，包括但不限于能渗透的和不能渗透的、重力、摩擦力、气流、平衡和对称。他们使用口语和书面语言来描述他们将要做的事和已经做的事。他们学习使用技术来解决问题。他们学会了与其他人一起进行团队工作。

工程学，事实上，已经被证明：与学前课堂是完美组合。我们已经看到了孩子们的巨大成长，这些成长将有助于他们在未来的学校生涯中自信地解决问题。

罗斯玛丽·伯顿教授

发表于2019年9月22日

Traditionally, it has been the thinking of early childhood teachers that, with regard to STEM education,  math, science and even the use of technology can be introduced to young children but that engineering was too hard and should be left to high school or college.  I, together with some American colleagues, discovered that engineering can indeed be taught to 4 and 5 year olds.  In fact preschool children find engineering projects to be easy and fun.  The idea of creating a tool or a structure to solve a problem seems to come naturally to young children.  They love it. We discovered that children are natural engineers.  They can explore the properties of materials, come to conclusions about what kinds of materials can be used to solve what kinds of problems, and then can build a tool or structure to solve a problem that captures their imagination.  I wrote a book about this called, “The Beginning of stEm Early Learning”.  My book talks about how to introduce the engineering design process to preschool children naturally through the use of stories.

We have incorporated the ideas in my book into the curriculum at Imagine preschool.  In kindergarten, children are introduced to an engineering problem in a story.  How do we build a house that the big bad wolf cannot blow down?  How do we build an umbrella that will keep the rain off our head?  How do we build an airplane that will fly successfully across the room?  How do we build a dam that will keep the water on one side of our water table?  Children talk about the problem and then design pictures that illustrate their initial ideas on how to solve the problem.  Then they divide into teamsand are given a variety of natural materials.  The teachers have no advance direction for the children on how to build a structure to solve the problem at hand.  The children explore the properties of the materials in front of them.  They work together to create a prototype that they think will solve the problem.  Then they test their prototype.  If it works there is a celebration.  If it doesn’t work, they go “back to the drawing board” and rework their prototype to improve it.  And then there is another test.  Most times the second test will be successful and children can feel confident that they now understand what kinds of materials work best to solve each type of problem.  They learn that engineering requires thought, planning, teamwork, and a knowledge of how materials work in different ways.  They also learn that the first prototype may not always work but that persistence in trying again is a part of the engineering process.

What is also important about this approach to teaching children engineering is that, in the process of talking, planning, building, testing, recalling, and summarizing, they talk about math and science.  They learn to quantify and measure.  They learn scientific concepts including but not limited to porous and nonporous, gravity, friction, air flow, balance and symmetry.   They use both oral and written language to describe what they are going to do and what they have done.  They learn the uses of technology to solve problems.  And they learn to work together with others as a team. 

Engineering, in fact, has proven to be a perfect match for the preschool classroom.  We have seen some great growth in the children that will help them as they tackle problems confidently in their future school careers.

--Dr. Rosemary Burton

September 22, 2019

         爱朗慧才苑通过整合中西方教育的精华，在中英文教育上是采用的全语言教育法（whole language），是把听说读写按一个整体的方式来进行语言发展和学习的教育理念，而不是人为的把这些割裂开来，这个教育法已经成为国际幼儿语言教育的代表性理论，在美国、加拿大的小学及幼儿园得到广泛普及。

         爱朗慧才苑英文、中文的学习都采用这种教学法，在幼儿的一日生活中会提供各种各样真实的材料，让幼儿在参与阅读及语言表达的真实过程中，自然地获得语言能力的发展。     

        幼儿语言的学习是主动建构的过程，我们视幼儿为小小作者，为幼儿提供时间和材料，协助幼儿自己去学习并创造，而不是直接教他们写什么，如何写。这样培养出来的孩子，才是真正具备语言表现力的，也会从内心喜爱用语言来表达自己的想法和情感。

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