Mathematics curriculum framework for early childhood education based on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)

Abstract

Background: Nowadays, the attention to integrate Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education to the existing curriculum is widely increasing around the world. In the early childhood education settings, many researchers have discussed the importance of early introduction to STEM education for children. However, the initiatives for curriculum development, teacher’s preparation and standardisation in the early childhood setting are still limited in Malaysia. Therefore, this study aims to develop mathematics curriculum framework and activities for early childhood education based on STEM specifically for three- to four-year old children. In this study, the mathematics curriculum frameworks and activities based on STEM were developed according to the ADDIE model. A total of eight respondents consisting of experts and teachers participated in this study. The evaluation forms were distributed to the respondents to gather their feedback on the developed mathematics curriculum framework and activities for early childhood education based on STEM Results: From the data obtained, it can be concluded that the respondents give positive feedback on the developed mathematics curriculum framework and activities. However, there are still some rooms for improvement, the comments and recommendations from the respondents that will be used for future improvement of the developed products. Conclusions: Hence, from this study, it is hoped that more efforts and studies could be conducted by many parties to promote STEM in early childhood education.