Amaya moved the mouse and clicked on the words and pictures on the screen, and Jada poked the monitor. “It helps do science,’’ said Amaya, “and playing and rhyming.’’
But some educators, such as Worth of Wheelock College, oppose saturating preschools with computers. She believes the most effective way to teach young children about the sciences is to have teachers guide them as they experiment with the simplest objects, such as using blocks to construct a mountain.
As much as she supports it, Worth said there is no evidence that starting science, technology, engineering, and math in preschool, elementary school, or even middle school primes the pipeline for engineers.
Still, many technology companies are investing millions of dollars in the hopes it will.
John Stuart, senior vice president of education for PTC, a Needham software company, said it is essential to get children interested in the STEM subjects early, so they consider those subjects for future careers.
PTC focuses much of its outreach on elementary school students and has donated $1 million to expand an after-school program that includes a contest in which students use LEGO blocks to build robots. In the more than 20 years the software company has been involved in science education, Stuart said, company officials have increasingly targeted younger students.
“If you haven’t started to hook kids early on,’’ he said, “you could lose them.’’
Michael B. Farrell can be reached at michael.farrell@globe.com.
