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JUDY WOODRUFF: One of the major 
movements in American education 
now is to get more students

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engaged and learning 
when it comes to science, 
technology, engineering 
and math, often referred

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to as STEM.

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Hari Sreenivasan has a report 
from Chicago on efforts to 
boost science learning among

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some of the youngest students 
by boosting teacher confidence, 
for our weekly segment

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Making the Grade.

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TEACHER: Who had fun?

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STUDENTS: Me!

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HARI SREENIVASAN: Anyone who's 
spent time with 3-, 4-, and 
5-year-olds knows children

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at this age ask a 
lot of questions.

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Preschool teacher 
Edward Marshall:

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EDWARD MARSHALL, Teacher: 
Kids are very persistent.

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And when they look at me, 
they want Mr. Marshall 
to have all the answers.

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Any question they ask 
me, they want me to 
have the answer to it.

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EDWARD MARSHALL: OK, where 
is my good listeners?

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HARI SREENIVASAN: Marshall, who 
leads a Head Start classroom 
in Chicago, says the children's

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unrestrained curiosity can 
sometimes make him feel anxious 
about teaching certain subjects,

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like science.

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EDWARD MARSHALL: I feel I 
don't want to fail them.

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I don't want to let them down.

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HARI SREENIVASAN: 
Marshall is not alone.

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A recent study from Michigan 
State University found that a 
majority of preschool teachers

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experience the same 
discomfort teaching science.

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EDWARD MARSHALL: I will focus 
more on reading and not really 
look at science, because I

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thought it was complicated.

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ODAISHA MCBROOM, Teacher: I'm 
not good with the science.

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I'm just uncomfortable with it.

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TINA SMITH MILLER, Teacher: I 
wasn't a big science person.

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I remember biology in high 
school, but that's about it.

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HARI SREENIVASAN: With only 38 
percent of the nation's fourth 
graders testing proficient

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in the sciences, some educators 
are looking to the preschool 
years begin addressing the

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problem.

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Here, at the University 
of Chicago, experts in 
science, technology, 
and math are partnering

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with local child care centers 
to boost teacher confidence.

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LIESJE SPAEPEN, University of 
Chicago: We hear all the time 
teachers go into early education

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to avoid math and science 
courses themselves.

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HARI SREENIVASAN: Liesje 
Spaepen and Liz Lehman 
from the University of 
Chicago's STEM Education

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Center say that when teachers 
feel uneasy about a subject 
matter, it can leave a powerful

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impression on students, 
even at an early age.

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LIESJE SPAEPEN: If you're afraid 
of it, if you have anxiety 
around a topic, you're very

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unlikely to want to teach 
it to your students as well.

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The problem is, anxieties 
like that gets passed down.

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If I'm anxious about something, 
my students see that in me, 
they think there must be a

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reason to be anxious about this.

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HARI SREENIVASAN: Lehman 
and Spaepen have been 
coaching preschool 
teachers from Chicago's

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Austin neighborhood, 
where students from 
low-income families are at 
a greater risk of falling

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behind in science and math.

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ODAISHA MCBROOM: We're 
going to see what things 
can roll down this ramp, OK?

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Can you say the word ramp?

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STUDENTS: Ramp.

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HARI SREENIVASAN: At Channing's 
Childcare Academy, teacher 
Odaisha McBroom introduced

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a ramp while the 
coaches observed.

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ODAISHA MCBROOM: Let it go.

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Now, what did it do?

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HARI SREENIVASAN: The exercise 
allowed teachers to use a simple 
activity to teach physics.

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ODAISHA MCBROOM: What's 
that word I'm looking for?

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It's doing something.

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ODAISHA MCBROOM: Roll.

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LIZ LEHMAN, University of 
Chicago: This is really getting 
into some of those physical

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science concepts.

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We're talking about things 
like gravity and friction.

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What do I notice when I 
send something down a ramp?

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Some of them will slide.

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Some of them will roll.

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Some of them will 
not move at all.

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ODAISHA MCBROOM: Now, 
what you going to have 
to do to make it move?

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You got to push it, right?

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So, if you push it, is 
it going to slide down?

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STUDENT: No.

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ODAISHA MCBROOM: 
They were curious.

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They wanted to see 
what's going to happen.

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That's what -- they love 
to know what's going on.

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HARI SREENIVASAN: Later in 
the day, Lehman and Spaepen 
observed children who gathered

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around a water tank at Betty's 
Day Care Academy to test 
which objects sink or float.

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TINA SMITH MILLER: When you 
put it in the water, what 
do you think is going to it?

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STUDENT: It's going to float.

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TINA SMITH MILLER: 
What did it do?

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STUDENT: It float.

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TINA SMITH MILLER: 
It float, yes.

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LIESJE SPAEPEN: The science 
content there is around 
density and properties of water

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and properties of materials.

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We aren't expecting children 
to learn the word density, 
were you just want 3-year-olds

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to have those 
experiences to draw on.

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If you can say, oh, 
yes, I remember this 
when I was a little kid, 
I dropped things into

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the water and some floated and 
some didn't, oh, that's density.

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EDWARD MARSHALL: 
It's going to float.

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HARI SREENIVASAN: Even with this 
simple activity, the teachers 
had moments of doubt, like when

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Marshall realized he 
didn't fully understand the 
properties of the materials.

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EDWARD MARSHALL: I wanted them 
to stick their hand in the 
bag and then ask, what do you

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think it's made out of?

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And when I got to that 
part, I'm like oh, my God, 
I don't know what this is.

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HARI SREENIVASAN: Later, 
he talked to the coaches 
about his insecure feelings.

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EDWARD MARSHALL: Some of the 
objects, I didn't know what 
they were made of, so I was kind

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of thinking of, should 
I ask that question?

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LIESJE SPAEPEN: I'm a 
big believer that it's OK 
for teachers to say they 
don't know something.

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You know what, you guys?

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I don't know.

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We will have to 
investigate this, right?

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That's OK.

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TINA SMITH MILLER: 
So, I have a question.

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LIESJE SPAEPEN: Yes.

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TINA SMITH MILLER: Why 
didn't the branch sink?

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HARI SREENIVASAN: Marshall's 
teaching partner, Tina Smith 
Miller, had science questions of

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her own.

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TINA SMITH MILLER: The kids were 
saying it was going to float.

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I thought it was going to sink.

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I didn't tell anybody I 
didn't know the answer either.

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I was keeping it to myself.

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LIESJE SPAEPEN: It's not an 
easy shift for teachers to make.

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It's something you feel as if 
you should know the answers 
to these things when kids ask

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you.

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HARI SREENIVASAN: The university 
coaches do not teach science.

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Instead, the goal is to 
promote science inquiry.

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LIESJE SPAEPEN: If you feel 
uncomfortable about the answers, 
about giving the answers,

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or finding the answers, you're 
going to avoid those questions.

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What we always tell teachers 
is, use those opportunities.

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It's OK if you have to say, 
let's figure this out together.

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EDWARD MARSHALL: They gave 
me the courage to ask more 
questions, and it wasn't a wrong

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answer, or I didn't feel 
silly or scared or afraid.

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So, I think they helped 
me be more courageous.

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TINA SMITH MILLER: I learned 
a lot about exploring, 
finding things out, doing 
a lot of investigating.

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We had a lot of trial and error.

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ODAISHA MCBROOM: I should have 
learned it a long time ago.

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But I'm so glad that 
we got involved in this 
program, because I say, 
OK, I need some help

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on that.

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Everything else, I got it.

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This, I didn't have.

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HARI SREENIVASAN: The teacher 
coaches hope to expand their 
early learning project in

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the coming years.

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In Chicago for the "PBS 
NewsHour," I'm Hari Sreenivasan.