Building skills and interest in STEM learning starts in the early years. Young children are natural scientists as they notice their world, test their ideas and share discoveries through a sense of wonder and play.

Educators use the Early Years Learning and Development framework to develop foundational skills in STEM. The framework helps children to:

• develop diverse skills and processes such as problem solving, inquiry, experimentation, hypothesising, researching and investigating
• transfer and adapt what they have learned from one context to another
• find meaning in their own learning through connecting with people, place, technologies and natural and processed materials
• express ideas and make meaning using a range of media
• begin to understand how symbols and pattern systems work
• use information and communication technologies to access information, investigate ideas and represent their thinking.

As the most important people in a child’s life, parents can also make a difference by exploring STEM learning at home.