BY LAUREN DIXON
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- Pacific Oaks College integrates STEAM in early childhood education by combining science, technology, engineering, arts, and math through hands-on learning.
- Teachers use an emergent curriculum that follows each child’s interests to nurture curiosity, creativity, and problem-solving.
- Natural materials are central to learning, giving children open-ended ways to explore real-world STEAM concepts.
Science, technology, engineering, arts, and math, known as STEAM, shape how children learn to think, explore, and solve problems. At Pacific Oaks College, these principles guide hands-on, emergent learning that helps both teachers and young students grow together. “It’s important that you start that young, because in the first 5 years, that’s when 90% of our brain develops,” says Judy Krause, Ed.D., executive director of Early Childhood Education and program director for the Doctor of Education in Early Childhood Education program. Pacific Oaks offers STEAM courses, certificates, and classroom experience through the Pacific Oaks Children’s School, preparing educators to bring creativity and problem-solving into every lesson. These approaches form a STEAM curriculum for young learners that connects creativity with foundational academic skills.
Here are seven ways Pacific Oaks College integrates STEAM in early childhood education.
1. Pacific Oaks makes hands-on, emergent learning central at every age.
Students and teachers learn by doing through field trips, art, and nature exploration that connect STEAM concepts to real-world experiences.
The students at Pacific Oaks College go on STEAM-focused field trips to get ideas of what to bring back to their classrooms of young children at the children’s school. For example, they recently went to the Norton Simon Museum to look at art, brainstorming activities to do with their students. They have also gone to natural areas to walk along trails and spend time in the natural world to inspire ideas of how their students might interact with nature.  “Hands-on learning supports deeper understanding of building confidence and aligning with our beliefs of honoring the children as capable and competent learners,” says Graciela Monroy, adjunct professor in the Department of Early Childhood Education.
Pacific Oaks also uses an emergent curriculum, which prioritizes the interests, needs, and developmental stage of each child. Rather than an out-of-the-box curriculum, teachers tailor lessons and activities to the student to continually spark their interest and help them gain new skills through early childhood STEAM education.
2. Students guide their learning while teachers facilitate STEAM exploration.
Educators observe each child’s interests and design activities that balance curiosity, challenge, and developmental readiness.
Emergent curriculum is at the core of teaching STEAM concepts in classrooms, where curiosity drives discovery. “It’s a mixture of knowing what they’re interested in and where they are developmentally,” Dr. Krause says. The experiences the teacher provides should be challenging but not so difficult that the student gets overly frustrated. The activities shouldn’t be too easy, either, or the student will get bored. This requires really knowing the child, then introducing more STEAM concepts and exploration.
Dr. Krause describes one class she had that started its project in a sandbox where 4-year-old students had dug a ditch and filled it with water. From there, they learned scientific concepts of how water moves, how to connect streams, and what an estuary is. “I learned more about rivers and streams than I ever would know,” Dr. Krause says.
3. Natural materials help children connect play to real STEAM concepts.
Wood, water, sand, and leaves inspire open-ended investigation in science, math, and art through sensory, hands-on discovery.
Dr. Krause emphasizes that children spend a lot of time outdoors around water, trees, leaves, and sand, playing with bubbles, blocks, and other manipulatives. “Think natural, think outside, think what kids are going to encounter in their environments,” she says.
Monroy focuses on activating the five senses and encouraging children to explore, especially with natural materials, which have seemingly endless learning opportunities. “It brings more than just a set idea. I’m big on open-ended exploration,” she says. Natural materials help make STEAM education tangible for young children. An early childhood STEAM education activity can be as simple as showing the students sticks of varying lengths. Monroy says that children can think about the scientific reasons of why some are bigger, others are smaller, and why their textures are different, an example of STEAM learning through nature-based play.
4. Math skills grow through simple, playful daily activities.
Color mixing, pattern recognition, and matching games introduce measurement and comparison in ways that feel like play.
Color theory is a mathematical concept that fascinates young children. “If a young child is mixing blue and yellow, and they discover that it’s green, they think they’re the only one in the whole world who knows this,” Dr. Krause says.
Dr. Krause talks about a student of hers who did a color-based activity with the 3-year-olds in her classroom. She gave them cards that were different shades of green and brown, which the students were to match with their outside world, like matching brown with bark on a tree or dirt on the ground. A child from another class witnessed them doing this exercise, inspiring the child to find a piece of blue craft foam and hold it up to the sky. This hands-on STEAM activity for young children is just one of many ways Pacific Oaks College students teach these concepts to their students.
5. Pacific Oaks uses technology with intention and in age-appropriate ways.
Digital cameras, photos, and tools support creativity and reflection while keeping screen time developmentally suitable.
Technology plays a role in STEAM in early childhood education when used intentionally and in age-appropriate ways, guided by the National Association for the Education of Young Children’s position statements on what is developmentally appropriate, Dr. Krause says. One example of how she uses technology in the classroom is by encouraging students to take photos to accompany their projects. She had a class of 3-year-olds that worked on building a structure over the course of a few days, taking photos along the way. Over the weekend, there was an earthquake that demolished the project. In the process of rebuilding, the students referenced their pictures.
Monroy says that technology can also be related to tools. If a child is building something and needs a hammer but doesn’t have one, they can troubleshoot what else might work instead of a hammer. Materials being open-ended helps spark creativity and problem-solving.
6. Trial and error build problem-solving skills and resilience.
Children test ideas, learn from failure, and strengthen reasoning, which are core benefits of STEAM in early childhood education.
Trial and error are central to any STEAM curriculum for early learners, helping them link experimentation to understanding. When young students build with blocks, they learn geometry while testing scientific concepts. They theorize, asking themselves things like how high they can build a structure before it falls. They learn to be resilient and gain information each time they fail. This kind of problem-solving sets children up for future success.
Dr. Krause points to how rote memorization helps preschool children perform better in school at first, but by the time they reach third grade and are expected to problem-solve, they have challenges. However, children who in emergent education programs that prioritize hands-on learning excel throughout their schooling.
7. Culturally responsive teaching helps every child see themselves in STEAM.
Lessons reflect each student’s background and community, connecting cultural traditions to science, art, and storytelling.
Part of the emergent curriculum is understanding children and the world around them, including their culture and environment. “Before we plan any activities for children, we look at where they’re at, who they are, and what they’re interested in,” Dr. Krause says.
Monroy focuses on being culturally responsive in her classroom, starting with being open-minded to the cultures around her. “Seeing and valuing the diverse cultural knowledge children bring to the classroom is an add-on to their experience,” she says. Monroy thinks back to a 3-year-old child whose family is Chinese American. Around Chinese New Year, the child’s mother came to the classroom to share a book about the holiday, talking about traditions and foods that accompany the celebration. The child felt honored and valued and was happy to have her mom come in to share more about their culture. “She couldn’t stop talking about it the rest of the day,” Monroy says.
Start Your Career in Early Childhood Education
A career in early childhood education begins with the right foundation. At Pacific Oaks College, you can learn how to integrate STEAM teaching and curriculum design in early childhood education through programs designed for hands-on, real-world teaching. Whether you’re new to the field or expanding your expertise, our Early Childhood Education degrees and STEAM Certificate prepare you to guide young learners with confidence and creativity. Fill out the short form below to learn more and take the first step toward your future in early childhood education.
