Beth Van Meeteren

Beth VanMeeteren is a Professor and Director of the Iowa Regents’ Center for Early Developmental Education (IRCEDE) at the University of Northern Iowa (UNI) in Cedar Falls, IA. She holds an ED.D. in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis on early STEM and early engineering (2014), and an M.A.E. in Literacy (1992) from the University of Northern Iowa, and a BA in Social Sciences (1983) from Northwestern College. Growing up on an Iowa farm working with animals, machinery, and field work, she experienced connective concepts within integrative learning which she brought into her own teaching practices as a first-grade teacher for 24 years and as a researcher in higher education. VanMeeteren developed and piloted Ramps & Pathways experiences in her own first grade classroom under the guidance of Dr. Rheta DeVries, a seminal researcher in early childhood. VanMeeteren’s work was used extensively in a National Science Foundation grant that examined the impact of Ramps & Pathways on young children’s conceptual development of force and motion. She went on to design professional learning for teachers in early STEM experiences through a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) grant. As Director of the Iowa RCEDE, she designs early STEM materials and professional learning and oversees the implementation of professional learning in early STEM experiences across the state of Iowa to now over 1,000 early childhood educators. This work has resulted in the publication of the series, STEM for Our Youngest Learners through Teachers College Press. She serves as a consultant on early engineering for LEGO First Junior and is a charter member and facilitator of the National Association for the Education of Young Children’s Early Childhood Science Interest Forum. She serves as President of the Association of Constructivist Teaching. She contributed to the development of the NSTA Early Childhood Science Education Position Statement and the NSTA Elementary Science Position Statement. VanMeeteren has served as a keynote speaker and is often requested as a speaker on early engineering and STEM.