It might seem a bit early to start science and math-based activities in your child’s early education. However, it is incredibly vital to train their minds as early as possible in creativity. According to the National Science and Technology Council, early exposure to STEM is extremely important in order to create an ideal learning capacity for your child’s future. They could end up being the next person to cure an illness or run their own laboratory.

STEM is critical to learn as early as possible for childhood development. Even if children don’t pursue STEM, it’s important they still take part in learning it.

STEM stands for Science, Engineering, Technology, and Mathematics. Each one of these areas is essential in every day life, not just within an academic setting. Learning these subjects can stand many individuals in better stead when they decide on their career path.

A person who shows an interest in science may decide to work in a lab with a whole host of essential medical equipment, take a look here to see what some of these are and how they can be beneficial, to help determine diagnoses as well as create vaccinations. Those in technology can develop new robots and programs making life easier on companies and individuals. Engineering has multiple fields that contribute to environmental studies, and studying mathematics can mean working in financial analysis all the way to being a meteorologist.

Learning about STEM can do a lot for someone, so starting them young is one of the most beneficial things a parent can do. Introducing them to each sector can bring about a fascination within them as well as a potential decision about what they would like to do. If you are someone who works in one of these fields, then you may be taking a heightened interest for your own family, especially as you are already aware of the benefits.

Here are four reasons STEM is important in early childhood education.

STEM is Skills-Based

Your child’s’ success in math, science, engineering, and technology is heavily reliant on how much information they can grasp, and how they can apply it to their daily lives. It involves both knowledge, comprehension, and application. Based on how well your child can adapt to new information and apply it to new problems, the better they are likely to succeed in the classroom. 

To help hone this, you can try to develop your child’s skills in STEM as much as possible. You can do this in several ways. You can sign them up for after-school tutoring with a local high school student looking to make extra money. Or, you can enroll them in the Academies of Math & Science that will hone their STEM skills early-on. You can even rent STEM-based books from the library, and help them go through it yourself if you have the extra time. There are many ways to make sure your child develops skills in STEM, and are ahead of the curve. 

STEM is Hands-on

In several studies by the National Science Teachers Association, it proves that young children learn best through active exploration. This includes the drive to interact, observe, discover, and explore. These different actions are all critical for their development, not only as students but also as people in general. Your child’s’ skills can be honed like this in exploring the scientific process–noticing a problem, creating a hypothesis, and finding a solution through testing various results. 

Through exploring the world and all the beauties and intricacies it has to offer, your child will be able to have a hands-on experience and be actively engaged in their learning. The scientific inquiry process should be part of your child’s life and should be actively applied in their day-to-day school activities. 

For example, play-based learning has been shown to be effective for early learning. This can be implemented in other actions not typically based in STem. For example, you can include activities that develop your child’s’ motor skills, like cleaning up after themselves or playing with Legos as a way to establish play in their daily lives. 

STEM is Relevant 

STEM will always be relevant. In an era of rapidly-increasing technology, students will always find something new to do in STEM. Science and technology are always progressing forward, so there will always be something new in the industry–a new way to apply their creativity. 

Therefore, it is important you start building the foundation for your child’s learning in STEM early, as they will continue to use it and study it for the rest of their academic lives. It’s important they have a strong and solid foundation in the beginning that they can build off of.