Introduction
E.J. Bahng and John M. Hauptman
This is the second entry in the Humanizing Science through STEM and the Arts (STEAM) interdisciplinary project. For this series, we collaborated with a cohort of future teachers in a science methods class who were majoring in Early Childhood Education (Kindergarten to 3rd grades).
Together in a circle, each one of us took turns to read aloud parts of “The Three Sisters” chapter in Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. After that, each of us selected another chapter and wrote an inspirational, reflective children’s story and produced a multimedia video clip by reading aloud each story. A total of 17 children’s stories were written along with a read-aloud multimedia video clips linked to our YouTube channel, Humanizing Science thru STEAM.
The U.S. Department of Education advocates “reading aloud to children” as the single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading. Reading aloud to a child by a significant narrator (e.g., teacher, caring adult, parent) is also considered as foundational for literacy development. Here are two of the greatest gifts our future teachers give to children around the world: authoring and reading aloud to children.
