The aim of the Early Childhood Hands-On Science (ECHOS) project is to develop and evaluate a comprehensive early childhood curriculum and professional development program. Collaborators include the Miami Science Museum (MSM), the University of Miami (UM), the Miami-Dade County Community Action Agency Head Start Program and SRI International (SRI).

Based on an extensive science content analysis of existing preschool curricula, state and national preschool/kindergarten standards, UM created a blueprint to define both the content of preschool science and the process skills that surround these content areas. This blueprint serves as a guide for the development of the following:

• ECHOS E-I-E-I-O Learning Framework and comprehensive, inquiry-based, early readiness science curriculum
• IRT-based direct assessment of preschool children’s science content knowledge and process skills
• Handheld classroom observation tool used to capture science teaching practices

Next Steps

The next phase of the project will be to conduct a small scale randomized field trial of the ECHOS curriculum:

• Random assignment of 40 teachers to either treatment and control conditions
• Baseline assessment of children’s science readiness and teachers’ science instructional practices
• Delivery of professional development to treatment teachers
• End-of-the-year assessment of children’s science readiness and teachers’ science instructional practices