Bush Kinders: The place to commence children’s STEM learning

Speakers: Chris Speldewinde and Professor Coral Campbell (Deakin Uni, Australia)
Chairperson: Dr Lynda Ball
Moderator: Emma Every
STEM pedagogy applied in early years’ education has received increasing focus in recent years. The focus on STEM education has recently turned to the growing movement of early childhood nature-based settings, such as forest schools and nature kindergartens. In Australia, nature-based early childhood education and care settings, influenced by European forest school approaches, have begun to gain popularity. One such example which emerged in the 2010s is ‘bush kinder’ where preschool children experience and learn from nature. Our presentation arrives at an innovative conceptualisation of STEM teaching and learning in bush kinders. Through analysing relevant research, we propose a teaching and learning process that is replicable for similar nature-based early childhood education and care settings. Drawing on vignettes from ethnographic fieldwork data, the conceptualisation of an integrated approach to STEM teaching in bush kinders is illustrated. To frame the approach to STEM teaching, this analysis builds on the notions that STEM teaching and learning can take the form of a five-phased cyclical process.