Preschool education can have positive impacts on child development (Yoshikawa et al., 2016), student outcomes (Van Huizen & Plantenga, 2018) and later academic success (Clark et al., 2010). Educators need to be familiar with and capable of implementing developmentally appropriate practices for young learners to receive quality and impactful preschool instruction. The use of developmentally appropriate practices, such as inquiry-based learning, is crucial to ensuring that young students remain engaged and motivated to learn in school (Hollingsworth & Vandermaas-Reeler, 2017). By using developmentally appropriate practices like inquiry-based learning, even the youngest students are able to engage in more complex and diverse education, such as STEM learning: the integrated learning of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (Ültay & Aktas, 2020). By using an inquiry-based approach to learning, preschool educators can effectively implement STEM intruction, which has the potential to positively impact student engagement as well as influence teaching practices (McClure et al., 2017).

This study was designed to create, implement, and examine an inquiry-based STEM learning program in the preschool setting. Preschool educators engaged in a professional development experience follwed by the implementation of six inquiry-based STEM learning programs in their classrooms. Teacher participants observed and monitored student engagement and teaching practices (Sullivan & Bers, 2018). Qualitative data was collected using teacher participant interviews, student engagement checklists, and a checking for engagement assessment. The researcher analyzed the data and identified the impacts of inquiry-based STEM learning in preschool.