Parent pedagogical positioning to create conditions for preschooler STEM learning using a Conceptual PlayWorld approach

Abstract

STEM education has become a national priority, critical to the future of the workforce and the building of competitive economies across the globe. The literature suggests that early engagement with basic STEM concepts supports mastery of STEM subjects in later school years and in the professions. This has generated a need to better understand the ways children learn STEM concepts in family settings where it is understood that much of children's conceptual development takes place. This paper seeks to examine how parents can pedagogically position themselves to create motivating conditions for STEM learning. Various cultural-historical researchers have theorised that imagination is useful in the development of children's thinking. This paper reports on how an evidence informed model for STEM learning, which uses collective imagination to support conceptual development, when introduced as an intervention into family practice, provided opportunities for a parent to begin positioning themselves with pedagogical impact. Participating families engaged in six Conceptual PlayWorld sessions via zoom with children aged 4 years and 6 months. Through analysis of playful family interactions, the findings show four pedagogical positions or ‘interactional themes’ initiated by the parent (‘above’/’primordial we’, ‘equal’, ‘independent’ and ‘below’) each of which created different possibilities for collective imagination and conceptual thinking.