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Today, our children are entrenched in technology. In many households, Alexa and Siri are familiar names. Children race remote control cars, use tablets and smartphones, brush with electronic toothbrushes and watch smart TVs. Technology plays a big role in their young lives, yet young children have no idea how these things work. I had one of my students express to me that lights work by "magic." Young children have many questions and ideas about the world around them, could there be a better time to introduce electronics, robotics and engineering? Early childhood is a perfect time to foster a love for electronics, robotics and engineering. The learning experiences that these materials allow me to provide my students will introduce STEM in a way that is hands-on, child-driven and engaging. Items such as Fisher Price's Code-A-Pillar and Botley Coding Robot will introduce my children to coding in ways that are age appropriate and concrete. Exploring electricity through material such as Playdoh and Model Magic (squishy circuits) allow children to observe and investigate matter and energy in ways that are uniquely different, yet familiar (my children love Playdoh). I foresee them expanding on their learning and creativity as they use loose parts and open-ended materials to create their own robots, toys or whatever they can imagine. Enriching literacy experiences can only enhance the learning. Children will ask and answer questions, while extracting key details from texts that will provoke richer interactions with the materials. The books requested not only support children's learning, as a lifelong learner myself, I've requested books that will help me facilitate this unit of study to the best of my abilities. The materials requested offer me the opportunity to prepare my children for the 21st century, while helping close race and gender achievement gaps in STEM related fields.
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