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The article explains how early STEM learning naturally arises from dramatic moments, and how storytelling and STEM processes share the same focus on challenge, strategy, and perseverance. It also summarizes research-backed insights and references a report funded by the National Science Foundation.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/wheres-spot-finding-stem-opportunities-for-young-children-in-moments-of-dramatic-tension/591584/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/wheres-spot-finding-stem-opportunities-for-young-children-in-moments-of-dramatic-tension/591584.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"supergirl","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-09","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":14},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What role does dramatic tension play in early STEM learning in the article?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"Dramatic tension frames STEM tasks as unfolding challenges, centered on the question “Will it work?” Supporting children through the highs and lows helps sustain STEM practices.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How does the story connect storytelling to STEM processes?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"The article argues that narratives revolve around a challenge or barrier and a strategy to overcome it, which mirrors the core tension in STEM experimentation.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What was the purpose of the team’s 2015 research project?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"The project, funded by the National Science Foundation, aimed to help researchers, educators, and policymakers better understand how to infuse STEM experiences into early childhood.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},591584,1792072775,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":14,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":24,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":129,"read_time":143,"preview_page_count":4},962088121634,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_9964176cb1d06d4a9deccf72a44ae3dc","ILLUSTRATIONS BY LIZA FLORES  \nWhere’s Spot?  \nFinding STEM Opportunities for Young Children in Moments of Dramatic Tension  \nBy Elisabeth McClure, Lisa Guernsey, and Peggy Ashbrook  \nt is a Friday morning at Liberty Elementary School in Baltimore, and a group of first-graders are hard at work at a  \nIsaence cavy sweenter on tater andhbeaseconggy jeo,ogrra. Cbraistbinfil,laelidlietbhoyplan  \ntic tracks for building bridges and roadways.“Hey Malaya, come on!” he says to a classmate in a yellow shirt and pigtails.“Let’s build a track!” Christian works quickly, laying out each piece, rifling through the bin to find exactly the sizes he’s looking for.  \nElisabeth McClure is a research specialist in creativity, play, and learning at the LEGO Foundation and a former research fellow at the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop. Lisa Guernsey is deputy director of New America’s Education Policy program and director of its Learning Technologies Project. Peggy Ashbrook is an early childhood science educatorand author of the Early Years column in the National Science Teachers Association’s journal Science and Children.  \nMalaya plops down on her knees next to him to help. Christian talks as he works and describes his growing structure, which now includes a series of inclined tracks. The two students work side by side, until they are finally ready to attach their two sections together.  \nOnce they do so, they step back to admire their work. Christian picks up a little plastic ball and holds it in suspension just above the tallest rampin their track structure.“Let’s test this out!”Malaya looks at Christian, and they smile.  \nAt that moment, both kids are electric with anticipation, nearly holding their breath. What is going to happen? Will the ball make it all the way down the track to the edge of the carpet? Will it get stuck along the way? How fast will it go?  \nItis a moment of drama among many moments of drama that play out every day at Liberty, where this science center declares itself with a big banner that says “Idea Lab” and the shelves are lined with science books, jars of beads and balls, cartons of colored pencils, cardboard boxes, and bins filled with interlocking plastic blocks. Four desktop computers are open for playing Mine-  \n12 AMERICAN EDUCATOR | FALL 2017  \ncraft, rugs are spread out on the floor for building with blocks, and tables offer laptops for drawing shapes and diagrams using computer graphics.  \nThis school has embraced a truth that is difficult for many people to see: the potential for integrated science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) learning really is all around us. And the moments of intense drama these children experience when they test out a new design are the engines that drive STEM practices; it’s what keeps scientists, programmers, engineers, and mathematicians up at night, wanting to try just one more possible solution to a problem. STEM is full to the brim with drama.  \nThe converse is also true: dramatic storytelling is full to the brim with STEM. While we rarely recognize it, STEM processes are atthe heart of the narratives we love. Stop for a moment and consider your favorite novel or movie. What’s at the heart of the story? What makes you turn the page or keep watching? At their core, narratives are almost always about the dramatic tension created when someone faces a challenge or barrier and attempts some strategy to overcome it. A great mystery hangs in this implicit question,“Will it work?”—whether it’s asked about asocial interaction or a physical experiment—and this tension is the heart of STEM.  \nWhen our team started its research on early STEM learning in 2015, this focus on drama and storytelling was not the expected result. Our project, funded by the National Science Foundation, was designed to help researchers, educators, and policymakers gain more insight into how they could work together to infuse STEM experiences into early childhood. The outcome was a major report, c","cbCaihMhqpMsRpmK","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaihMhqpMsRpmK","pdf",321097,"English","# STEM experimentation and dramatic tension\n## Designing and testing in the “Idea Lab”\n## Storytelling as a STEM process\n## Research origins and report recommendations","[{\"question\":\"What role does dramatic tension play in early STEM learning in the article?\",\"answer\":\"Dramatic tension frames STEM tasks as unfolding challenges, centered on the question “Will it work?” Supporting children through the highs and lows helps sustain STEM practices.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the story connect storytelling to STEM processes?\",\"answer\":\"The article argues that narratives revolve around a challenge or barrier and a strategy to overcome it, which mirrors the core tension in STEM experimentation.\"},{\"question\":\"What was the purpose of the team’s 2015 research project?\",\"answer\":\"The project, funded by the National Science Foundation, aimed to help researchers, educators, and policymakers better understand how to infuse STEM experiences into early childhood.\"}]","Where’s Spot? - Finding STEM Opportunities for Young Children in Moments of Dramatic Tension | PDF",13]