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The Pre-K STEM Enrichment Program is a unique, long-term partnership between the New York Hall of Science (NYSCI), the New York City Department of Education's Division of Early Childhood Education, and the Mosaic Pre-K Center at Q369. The program is designed to complement the pre-K center's pedagogical framework using NYSCI's Design-Make-Play approach to STEM learning, which uses compelling and playful experiences as an anchor for exploration, skill-building, and problem-solving, drawing on research in developmental and cognitive psychology and the learning sciences.
The program utilizes a co-collaboration model that engages the entire school ecosystem — school leaders, teachers, students, and families — through multiple interconnected bodies of work that aim to support and deepen children's early STEAM learning experiences across community settings (at the Pre-K Center, at NYSCI, and at home).
Program elements include:
Lesson development and implementation using the STEAM Stories Pre-K Activity Guide to support integration and alignment with NYCDOE Pre-K standards.
Specialized class trips to NYSCI that incorporate museum resources unique to an informal learning environment, reinforces Pre-K STEM content and skill building, and spark students’ interest, curiosity and persistence in engaging in science.
Family Days throughout the school year to engage families in multi-generational learning and invite parents/caregivers to engage with NYSCI STEM resources from their child's first experience at school.
Additional funding from Stella and Charles Guttman Foundation has also allowed us to expand these offerings to two other Mosaic Pre-K Centers near NYSCI, and funding from the Simons Foundation has supported ongoing family engagement events and the formation of advisory groups to guide our future work.
Over the past two years, the program has enabled NYSCI to cultivate a strong relationship with Pre-K families from the local community and engage in multi-faceted STEM learning experiences that are unique in an informal learning environment. Culturally responsive approaches are embedded in the design and implementation of family days creating a learning environment where families feel welcomed and celebrates the diversity of STEM. Teachers that participate in the program indicate a strong increase in confidence and competence teaching STEM to young learners through the professional learning, lesson modeling, and reflection on practice sessions provided throughout the year.
Pre-K STEM Enrichment Program Overview, March 2024
Additional lines of work associated with the program
Alongside this long-term partnership, NYSCI has engaged in co-design efforts with both teachers and caregivers affiliated with the Q369 Pre-K Center to develop culturally responsive strategies for supporting family engagement in early STEAM learning (funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation, grant no. 2215353).
Support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York supported NYSCI in documenting lessons learned during the early phases of NYSCI's partnership with Q369, and hosting an in-person convening with Mosaic Pre-K Centers Leadership staff and other NYCDOE partners to identify promising directions for future research.
For more information regarding the Pre-K STEM Enrichment Program model or interest in professional learning or science coaching for your school or district, please email Sylvia Perez: sperez@nysci.org
For more information regarding research projects associated with the Pre-K STEM Enrichment Program, please email Suzy Letourneau: sletourneau@nysci.org
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