What are we up to?

The SciEPlay project is a collaboration of Bowdoin College, the Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance (MMSA), and Samara Early Learning. Through research and professional learning with early childhood educators, we are investigating:

• How do preschoolers and kindergarteners engage in science and engineering through play?

• How can educators deepen and extend children's play-based engagement with science and engineering?

Why play?

Play is recognized internationally as the primary way young children make sense of the world and a fundamental component of their development. The benefits of play are numerous, spanning physical, social-emotional, and cognitive growth. Recent studies also suggest that play provides abundant opportunities for science learning.

Why science?

Young children are natural scientists, curious about the world around them. They make observations, pose questions, investigate their surroundings, and design solutions to problems. In other words, children instinctively engage in science and engineering practices, often without prompting from adults. Through self-directed play, children develop their capacity for science sensemaking. This serves as a critical stepping stone for science learning in later years.

How can teachers support science through play?

Early childhood educators can support and extend children’s play-based science engagement through purposeful play environments and responsive facilitation. By adapting the physical space and providing open-ended materials, teachers can set the stage for robust science exploration – both indoors and outdoors. Strategic teacher moves such as guiding questions can further enhance children’s scientific investigation and engineering design.

How can we support teachers?

Our project team will design professional learning materials and host peer coaching sessions for early childhood educators to reflect on – and “play” with – their own teaching practice. Teachers will observe video-based cases and collaboratively build knowledge of effective strategies to extend children’s play-based engagement with science and engineering. By partnering with teachers and leveraging their expertise, we hope to increase access to play-based STEM learning for all children.