Enriching STEAM learning in early childhood education via paper circuits

Nowadays, STEAM education flourishes in both formal and informal educational settings, introducing a range of new tools such as paper circuits. However, their impact on preschool children and their integration into traditional teaching methods remain underexplored. Additionally, educators’ perceptions of such innovative means of learning have been limitedly examined. Therefore, this quasi-experimental study presents the findings of a paper circuit intervention, implemented with 137 children aged 3 to 6 years old and 11 educators from Greece. This study captures preschoolers’ and educators’ preferences for paper circuit drawings versus simple drawings in the framework of a learning activity. To enhance the statistical analysis, the application of bootstrapping methods with 1000 samples was employed. The results indicate statistically significant differences in favor of paper circuits as an effective means of enriching simple drawings. Finally, the majority of educators reported that such activities can be utilized for educational purposes in early childhood education.