UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — While COVID-19 restrictions continue to prevent possible education majors from observing youth in local preschool classes, a CI 295 instructor in Penn State's College of Education opted to at least allow her students to walk in the proverbial shoes of those youngsters.
Tania Germino, a student teaching supervisor in elementary and early childhood education, took her 13-member, early field experience class — a prerequisite to the education major — to Discovery Space, a science museum in State College. Typically, these students are placed in a local preschool on campus or in the State College area but haven’t been permitted to do so since the pandemic struck in March 2020.
“Even now, some of the centers aren’t even letting parents into the buildings, so letting students in is out of the question,” Germino said. “It's taken a lot of restructuring on our part as instructors and unfortunately it’s been video content, which we all know is not the same as being with children.”
So Germino lined up the field trip to Discovery Space. Off to the museum they went and what they saw and experienced included hands-on exhibits, including STEM-related materials, that required problem-solving skills and inspired child play. “I wanted (the students) to bring back some of that creativity that they might not have used for a long time to see how children’s brains might work to think about things differently,” Germino said.
Germino said the students were able to enjoy themselves, interact and build conversation, and she noted that it was good for the students to be among the public.
Student Hope Morrison was quick to agree. “The Discovery Museum was extremely eye-opening and engaging for me to not only tour, but get to venture around myself,” she said. “In class, we talk a lot about the importance behind children being able to free-play and discover the way things work around them by themselves. From the second I walked into the museum, I recognized how endless these possibilities were.”
One of the most intriguing aspects behind the child play aspect, according to Morrison, is that the children don't think of the museum as somewhere they are going to learn, they look at it as a place to go have fun.
“When children are having fun, their learning possibilities are endless, whether they look at it as learning or not,” Morrison said. “The importance of children's free-play is immense, and this is the perfect place for teachers or parents to bring their children to do so. The museum also allows for the children to work collaboratively together and use problem-solving skills which is essential in a learning environment. It is through play when children engage and interact with the world around them.”
Fellow student Maria Duiker also appreciated the museum tour and the opportunity to think ahead. “Watching my classmates engage in play with the different STEM exhibits opened my eyes to the joys that come from self-discovery at any age,” she said.
“These exhibits offered insight into how STEM subjects can be approached in the classroom through hands-on activities and projects that build students' sense of confidence and curiosity.”
Germino said the students in CI295 are getting ready to declare a major and she’s heard some of them express fear about “being behind” when they get into student teaching because of not having in-person classroom opportunities.
“I'll reassure them that they're definitely not going to be behind, but working with the other instructors in 295, we try to do the best we can to give them some type of in-person component whether children are involved or not,” Germino said.
“It’s at least an opportunity in a setting that's like a classroom and we usually also take them to the Arboretum, because we talk a lot about nature play and how important it is to bring nature into the classroom and when you go outside, that's an extension to your classroom.”
Germino noted that the CI 295 students became more attuned to advanced technology during the pandemic, and that enabled them to think critically about what they would present to an audience. But, she said, actually seeing the connections to material learned in seminar is much more beneficial and affords the students the opportunity to realize there is purpose behind the discussions, reading materials and other course content.