Grow to learn: a metacognitive approach to early childhood teachers’ science professional development

ABSTRACT

Background

Science is an overlooked subject domain in early childhood education in the U.S. particularly in rural areas. The current state of early science education could be a result of insufficient teacher training and professional development (PD). Thus, we created an experimental PD program based on research about metacognition – Grow to Learn (GTL). GTL promotes preschool and kindergarten teachers’ and children’s holistic understanding of plant science concepts and the scientific discovery process through an immersive, hands-on sweet pea growing project.

Purpose

This study aims to determine the effect of GTL. Specifically, we examined the effect of GTL on preschool and kindergarten teachers’ science teaching efficacy and metacognitive awareness, and children’s cognitive skills and learning motivation.

Design and method

A mixed methods quasi-experimental design was used to determine the effect of GTL. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected before and after the PD program implementation using validated measurements.

Sample

A total of 11 preschool and kindergarten teachers and 76 children (M_age = 4.13 years) predominately from rural areas in North Idaho, U.S. completed the study.

Results

Results from multilevel repeated measures ANCOVA showed an increase in teachers’ procedural knowledge and children’s cognitive skills and learning motivation upon completing the program. A thematic analysis method was used to analyse qualitative data. Qualitative data analysis revealed evidence of children’s knowledge and learning skills gain, and teachers’ possible needs for classroom management training.

Conclusions

This study demonstrates the potential of conceptualizing early science education in the metacognition framework. Our results suggest that early childhood science teaching and learning could be improved by integrating metacognitive teaching and learning strategies in a PD program and by using immersive, hands-on activities as the broader inquiry learning context.

KEYWORDS:

• Science education
• early childhood
• metacognition
• professional development
• rural

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to express their sincere gratitude towards the American Psychological Association – Division 15 Educational Psychology for funding this study. We would also like to thank the teachers and children who participated in this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Consent statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests. The authors have worked collaboratively on the research and manuscript preparation. All authors agreed with the content and gave consent to submit. Approval from the university ethics committee was obtained prior to data collection. All participants individually filled in informed consent forms.

Data availability statement

Data can be shared upon request from the corresponding author.

Ethical statement

The authors confirm that this research article has not been published elsewhere and is not under consideration by another journal.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the American Psychological Association—Division 15 Educational Psychology 2020 Annual Early Career Research Grant.