The start of a new year often brings significant transitions for children. These may include moving from home to an early learning setting, changing rooms within a service, or stepping up from preschool or kindergarten to primary school.
Positive transitions matter. When children feel secure and supported during these changes, they develop a sense of belonging, stronger wellbeing, and trusting relationships with educators and peers. These factors foster active and engaged learning. Read on to learn how inquiry-based STEM supports smooth transitions in early childhood and for real-world examples from Little Scientists’ national network of educators.
Join Little Scientists’ Facebook group “Early STEM Educators Network” to share your experience supporting children’s transitions and STEM ideas with educators all over Australia.
Five Ways Inquiry-Based STEM Supports Transitions
1. Builds Strong Educator–Family Partnerships
Inquiry-based STEM creates authentic opportunities for conversation. When educators share children’s questions and explorations with families and invite insights from home, they strengthen relationships that are open, honest, and focused on each child’s unique interests.
2. Fosters Responsive Relationships with Children
Observing children’s inquiries and engaging in an inquiry cycle demonstrates that educators are attuned to individual interests and committed as partners in learning. This responsiveness helps children feel safe and valued.
3. Creates Engaging, Collaborative Environments
Inquiry-based STEM spaces are play-based, hands-on, and shaped by children’s own ideas. These environments motivate and connect children with their peers, educators, and surroundings, building confidence and belonging.
4. Values Diversity and Inclusion
Inquiry-based STEM reflects each child’s experiences and culture, promoting respect for different perspectives. Flexible approaches ensure every child can participate meaningfully, supporting adaptability and confidence.
5. Strengthens Family Trust and Belonging
When families see their child’s ideas and questions valued, they feel connected to the service. This sense of belonging reinforces children’s comfort and security during transitions.
Looking for inspiration?
These examples are drawn from services that have submitted projects for previous Early STEM Education Awards or are part of our Little Scientists House network. Each has been recognised for excellence in inquiry-based STEM and demonstrates how STEM can strengthen transitions by engaging children, families, and educators in meaningful learning. You can learn more about inquiry-based STEM projects and the project inquiry cycle here.
Project: “How can we help Mr. Hippo to come down safely?
Ruth Landau Harp Early Learning (WA)
Over four months the children explored the question, “How can we help Mr. Hippo to come down safely?”, inspired by the book There’s a Hippopotamus on Our Roof Eating Cake. As part of the research and experimentation stage, the children explored ways to entice Mr Hippo to come down off the roof, including by building different structures and designing special cakes.
Throughout the project families were engaged through daily posts that included photographs and descriptions of the learning.
As one educator explained: “parents would often come in to make enquiries or share stories of their own wonderings over how to help Mr Hippo.”
At the culmination of the project, parents were invited to the service to meet Mr Hippo, view children’s structures and, “taste the cake that the children had designed and made themselves.”
Project: “What makes an airplane fly?”
Seedlings & Co, Calamvale (QLD)
This award winning project explored the research question “What makes an airplane fly?” over nine weeks. To begin, the children played with a variety of wind-powered objects — kites, wind-powered cars, parachutes, rockets, and windsocks — to investigate how air and wind affects movements and stability.
After watching videos about airplanes and flight, the children were inspired to design and make their own paper airplanes. Each day, they refined their prototypes by experimenting with different airplane designs and throwing techniques, documenting their tests through video recordings. Watching the footage back in slow motion allowed the children to closely observe each plane’s flight and analyse its performance.
As part of their family engagement, the educators gave parents “Science Challenge” packs to take home with materials, instructions, and prompts to extend inquiries about airplanes and flight with their children.
Children were then encouraged to share their findings and explorations Seedling & Co’s documentation platform and during “Show & Tell Home Science Explorations”.
References:
Australian Government Department of Education [AGDE] (2022). Belonging, Being and Becoming: The. Early Years Learning Framework for Australia (V2.0).
Australian Children’s Education & Care Quality Authority. (2025). Continuity of learning and transitions (EYLF resource).
Develop your STEM skills with pedagogy-based STEM PD:
- Browse our in-person STEM workshops.
- Browse our online STEM workshops.
- Browse our online STEM Hours.
- Book an in-service workshop for your team.
- Book a STEM Family Workshop for your families.
