Early-Childhood STEM Specialist Shares Expertise With Faculty

St. Margaret’s Early Childhood Development Center faculty welcomed Beth Van Meeteren to campus earlier this month, leading a two-day professional development session centered around early-childhood STEM education.

Dr. Van Meeteren is the director of the Regents’ Center for Early Development Education at the University of Northern Iowa. She serves alongside St. Margaret’s ECDC Director Cris Lozon on the board of directors for the Association for Constructivist Teaching, and has more than 25 years of experience in early-childhood education with a focus on STEM literacy and engineering.

“The work that Dr. Van Meeteren does closely aligns with the constructivist practices of Reggio Emilia,” said Dr. Lozon, referring to the early-childhood educational philosophy St. Margaret’s practices. “Dr. Van Meeteren was able to provide research and information for our teachers to better understand STEM and block play.”

Dr. Van Meeteren explained how something as simple as play with blocks and ramps can provide meaningful physical science lessons for young children, as the fun activity works on concepts such as balance, gravity, speed and spatial reasoning.

In her two-day visit to St. Margaret’s, Dr. Van Meeteren worked with the entire Preschool staff, as well as meeting with Lower School science teacher David Beshk, ICE Lab manager Angela Mackenzie and Lower School art teacher Mary Mayer-Grubb. She observed preschool and kindergarten classrooms and led professional-learning opportunities centered around the STEM curriculum of ramps and pathways she helped developed at Northern Iowa.

Dr. Van Meeteren said she came away impressed with the vision of St. Margaret’s early-childhood program and its faculty.

“There’s a thirst to know more among the teachers here,” Dr. Van Meeteren said. “That’s the sign of a healthy and vibrant faculty. The ultimate goal here is what’s best for the children.”