STEAM Concepts for Infants and Toddlers by Nichole A. Baumgart

Author:Nichole A. Baumgart
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781605545554
Publisher: Redleaf Press
Published: 2018-07-01T16:00:00+00:00

Infants can observe, touch, and mouth light sources that are childproof. Notice the light from an infant’s perspective and how this light setup reflects off its nearby surroundings.

The way that light is explored and set up can promote a strong understanding of circuitry for young children as their learning becomes more complex and they encounter circuits in preschool. There are many parallels between how infants and toddlers explore turning lights on and off and how older preschoolers create simple circuits. Similar methodology is used to encourage preschoolers to connect with the materials more abstractly. The cause-and-effect relationship is still a central theme for learning about circuits. Preschoolers may draw on strategies they used in infancy in their new experiences with light.

Extending Light Understandings across Multiple Media

The vignette below describes how an eleven-month-old uses fabric and metal to alter the light’s projection through space. With each exchange, she learns more about the properties of light in connection to other earthly materials. She engineers social experiences and visual puzzles centered around her knowledge of light. Paying careful attention to the material’s affordances and available resources, she explores more questions about light. Additionally, we will see elements of art and design in this vignette. After observing Isabel’s interaction with the light source, many questions arise around what Isabel was pursuing in her experience with light. Was she noticing the different colors being projected while covering the light with the different colored silky fabrics? What motivated her to explore this particular part of the light provocation? Did she want to play hide-and-seek with the light, or was she exploring the silk’s transparency properties? Or was it both? What should the teachers do next to extend or affirm Isabel’s newly acquired experience?

Isabel, an eleven-month-old, picks up a light device and looks at it intently. She notices how far the light is being projected out from the device and turns the light on and off. She doesn’t seem as interested in what makes the light work as in how the light travels. She stares at the moving light and intently explores the light’s projection in more detail. A nearby light covered by a silk scarf catches her eye. The light’s projection is different from the one in her hand. Isabel drops the light in her hand. Next she lifts up the silk scarf to uncover the light underneath. After some time, Isabel places the light back under the fabric. She repeats this process a few more times before finding a different colored fabric to tinker with. She continues uncovering and covering the light with this fabric. Toward the end of this exchange, Isabel picks up a different light source and examines it. The reading light functions differently than the push-button light, and Isabel notices that the stem of the reading light bends. Isabel tries the same methodology with her new light by placing fabric on and off it.

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