Preschool math and science professional development fails to improve learning
 

A new article published in the Journal of Educational Psychology describes a study into the impact of professional development on math and science learning in early childhood education.
 

For the study, 65 staff from 34 varied early childhood settings in Ohio were randomly assigned to experience 10.5 days (64 hours) of training on math and science or an alternative topic (art and creativity). The math and science training was adapted from the Core Knowledge Preschool Sequence, which provides a developmental progression based on early childhood research and theory.
 

The study looked at both math and science learning opportunities, and the math and science learning gains of the children (n=385). In terms of opportunities, the authors found that the professional development significantly impacted the provision of science learning opportunities, but not math. However, in terms of learning gains, none were observed.
 

The authors suggest a number of factors that may have contributed to the outcome. These include the fact that, although educators were provided with hands-on opportunities to try new math and science activities during training, there were no systematic means of ensuring they had regular opportunities to apply these in their classrooms. Also, changes in practice may be difficult to achieve as the emphasis on these subject areas is relatively new in early childhood education.

Johns Hopkins University 

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