Trends, Opportunities, and Pipelining in Preschool STEM Education: A Scoping Review

Abstract

This study was planned with the aim of conducting a comprehensive literature analysis of preschool STEM education research and evaluating future opportunities. Scoping Review was conducted by analyzing 29 articles in journals published by Springer, Taylor & Francis, Elsevier, and SAGE, which were obtained using combinations of the keywords “STEM,” “STEM education,” “kindergarten,” and “preschool.” The results show that the literature on STEM research in preschool, which has largely developed in the United States, has grown in recent years, forming a relatively new and expanding field. It is concluded that preschool STEM education research promises to be a popular field in the future. Studies in which different STEM activities were carried out were identified along with the examinations. In these studies, activities focus on games, teacher roles, or program and model development. For such activities, factors such as the role of sample groups in the process and their impact on the process should be determined. In other words, there is a need for studies focusing on the evaluation dimension of STEM education in preschool education.