Young Children’s Learning and Development in STEM: The Role of Digital Media, Tools and Resources for a Postdigital Generation
A special issue of Behavioral Sciences (ISSN 2076-328X). This special issue belongs to the section "Educational Psychology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2026 | Viewed by 2305
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Young children are naturally curious. Their daily experiences and explorations involve engagement with STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). STEM learning takes place when two or more of these domains are present in an experience.
There is a growing body of research that recognises and describes the importance of building and fostering young children’s skills with STEM thinking and learning (Donohoe, 2019; Johnston et al., 2022). Internationally, there are also a number of recommendations and initiatives that recognise children’s capacity and proclivity for STEM-related learning (Campbell & Speldewinde, 2022; Education Council, 2015). In the last decade, digital technologies were often viewed as a new or emerging presence in children’s lives; however, most children have always experienced a world where digital technology is seamlessly integrated into their experiences. Many children have only ever known a world that is connected to the Internet, where digital media is accessible, prevalent and a normal part of daily experience. This has arguably shifted the role of technology in STEM.
In the postdigital world, digital technology is no longer seen as a novelty; rather, it has become so embedded and integrated into people’s lives that it is no longer distinguished from non-digital novelty (Edwards, 2022; Kramer, 2014). However, digital technology is a key tool and resource within STEM, enabling investigations in ways that may not otherwise have been possible. Educators and teachers, including initial teacher education students, need to see the potential of digital technology and STEM learning.
For this Special Issue, we invite papers that provide new ideas on how digital technologies inspire, support, and extend STEM-related learning and development for children from birth to the age of 8. This can include (but is not limited to) the following:
- Digital media that is often consumed in an interactive way as a source of information in STEM-related learning;
- Digital technology as a resource that is used to support STEM-related investigation and exploration in STEM-related thinking and learning;
- Theories that underpin STEM thinking and learning in early childhood and how these help us to understand how and why we use digital resources.
References
Campbell, C. & Speldewinde, C. (2022). Early childhood STEM education: An international perspective of a developing field. In M. A. Peters (Ed), Encyclopedia or Teacher Education. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8679-5_437.
Donohue, C. (2019). Foreword. In L. Cohen, & S. Waite-Stupiansky (Eds). STEM in Early Childhood Education: How science, technology, engineering and mathematics strengthen learning. Taylor & Francis.
Edwards, S. (2022). Concepts for early childhood education and care in the postdigital. Postdigital science and education, 5, 777-798. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42438-022-00356-7.
Education Council. (2015). National STEM School Education Strategy. https://www.education.gov.au/australian-curriculum/resources/national-stem-school-education-strategy.
Johnston, K. Kervin, L., & Wyeth, P. (2022). STEM, STEAM and makerspaces in early childhood: A scoping review. Sustainability, 14(20), 13533. https://doi.org/10.3390/su142013533.
Kramer, F. (2014). What is ‘post-digital’? A Peer Reviewed Journal About, 3(1), 10-24. https://doi.org/10.7146/aprja.v3i1.116068.
Dr. Kelly Bittner
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- early childhood
- early STEM
- learning and development
- early mathematics
- early science
- early engineering
- digital technology
- digital media
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