Exploring STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) toys in kindergarten: Teachers' pedagogical approaches, perspective and effect on Children's brain development: A systematic literature review

Abstract

This systematic literature review explores pedagogical approaches of kindergarten teachers' to facilitate children's play with STEM toys. This review summarises teachers' perspectives on the utilisation of STEM toys in children studying in kindergarten and describes the outcomes of children's development resulting from playing with STEM toys. The present systematic literature search was performed in accordance with the PRISMA-2020 checklist. The search engines used were Google Scholar, PubMed, PubMed Central, Scopus, and other journal databases including ScienceDirect, Springer, Taylor & Francis etc. for papers published between 2010 and 2024. These searches yielded 2352 peer-reviewed articles. The application of the selection and rejection criteria led to the formation of a shortlisting 32 papers, following the initial evaluation. The findings revealed the various approaches that teachers can employ during play sessions with STEM toys while teaching. Kindergarten teachers take on the roles of facilitators and mediators, promote collaborative work, and encourage children to perform experiments and learn from failure. Furthermore, the findings of this study revealed that kindergarten teachers generally maintain favourable and constructive perspectives regarding the utilisation of STEM toys. The results underscore positive impacts on cognitive abilities of children like problem-solving and critical thinking, and socio-emotional skills like verbal communication from using STEM toys. Comprehensive teacher training is emphasised to identify methodologies that complement the technology, maximizing teaching-learning benefits for children's brain development.