scholarly journals Bridging the Gap between Secondary and Higher STEM Education – the Case of STEM@school

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (S1) ◽  
pp. S135-S157
Author(s):  
Jolien De Meester ◽  
Jelle Boeve-de Pauw ◽  
Marie-Paule Buyse ◽  
Stijn Ceuppens ◽  
Mieke De Cock ◽  
...  

Our rapidly changing society needs highly-qualified STEM professionals (experts in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) to develop solutions to the problems it is facing. Many of the students who graduate from a STEM programme in secondary education, however, opt out of STEM when enrolling in higher education, often due to a loss of interest. To ensure sufficiently high and qualified enrolment in higher STEM education, we need to bridge this gap between secondary and higher STEM education by showing our youngsters the relevance of science and technology to their personal life and environment. To this end, the project STEM@school promoted and studied the idea of integrated STEM in secondary education in Flanders, Belgium. In integrated STEM education, learning contents from the separate STEM courses are linked in an authentic way, as they often are in our environmental challenges. This approach encourages students as well as their teachers to acquire a robust understanding of STEM concepts, and a creative, inquisitive, and collaborative mindset. For the design of integrated STEM curricula, STEM@school united secondary-school STEM teachers and university researchers. This article elaborates on the principles, opportunities and challenges of the design and implementation of these curricula and discusses their promising effects on students’ conceptual understanding and attitudes towards STEM subjects. The article concludes with tips and tricks to get started with integrated STEM education in secondary schools.

Information ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 209
Author(s):  
Plamen D. Petrov ◽  
Tatiana V. Atanasova

The effect of one of the most popular 3D visualization and modelling technologies with haptic and touch feedback possibilities—augmented reality (AR)—is analysed herein. That includes a specific solution, incorporating augmented reality. A case study for delivering STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) content using this tool at one secondary school in Sofia is presented. The experience gained in one school year of using facilities for a STEM enrichment program has been examined.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 242-264
Author(s):  
Loh Su Ling ◽  
Vincent Pang ◽  
Denis Lajium

Background and Purpose: Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education in the formal school curriculum can be described as a STEM-related individual subject; as a learning package offering learning pathway for STEM elective subjects and as an integrated STEM learning approach. This study focuses on the needs assessment of STEM education as a learning approach among lower secondary school teachers in a local district in Malaysia. The current and desired situations were analysed as well as the causal factors which guide the choice of any intervention programs to address the actual needs.   Methodology: Three schools were selected through heterogenous purposive sampling. The teachers from each school were selected through criterion sampling based on predetermined criteria.   31 teachers from the lower secondary level who teach STEM related subjects as well as the head of panel and departments of the STEM subjects, were selected as the participants. Focus group and one-to-one interviews were conducted with the participants after receiving their consent.   Findings: There is a gap between the desired situation and the current situation in the implementation of integrated STEM education. The implementation of STEM education at the lower secondary level can be facilitated through various means such as a comprehensive STEM education professional development or training for teachers, collaborations between STEM subjects teachers through lesson studies or professional learning community, and working together with local STEM expertise or community of practice.   Contributions: The findings provide relevant information and guidance on the selection of intervention for the integrated STEM education in addressing the needs. It also initiates the planning of the integrated STEM education programs which focuses on the gaps as the means to achieve the desired results.   Keywords: STEM education, needs assessment, case study, gap, interventions   Cite as: Loh, S. L., Pang, V., & Lajium, D. (2021). A case study of needs assessment of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education in lower secondary schools. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 6(1), 242-264. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol6iss1pp242-264


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoff Wright ◽  
Edward Reeves ◽  
John Williams ◽  
David Morrison-Love ◽  
Fiona Patrick ◽  
...  

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) areas are integral content disciplines in all economies. Although most countries have and continue to ensure quality science (S) and Mathematics (M) education for primary (elementary) and secondary school students, the technology (T) and engineering (E) content areas tend not to be regarded as core to national curricula in the same way that science and mathematics are regarded as essential. This article discusses efforts in various countries to better promote and integrate Technology and Engineering Education (TEE) in schools. This paper highlights common themes and argues that we can learn from each other’s efforts in TEE. We argue that dialogue across nations can help us to build international STEM education collaboration networks, better understand the nature of STEM and how to better engage pupils and students in STEM subjects, and work towards gaining inputs to national TEE policy that can leverage positive change.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 739-752
Author(s):  
Hanife Gamze Hastürk ◽  

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education is an approach that develops 21st century skills such as career choice in science and engineering, entrepreneurship, innovation, creative and critical thinking. The acronym STEM stands for the disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. When looking from the past to the present, it has been observed that there has been an increase in STEM studies. However, there was no study which was conducted on STEM education in Turkey mostly consisted of studies which aimed at determining the interests, attitudes and achievements of students and prospective teachers, and there was no study on the relationship between students' tendencies to technology in STEM education and their STEM perceptions. It is necessary for societies that can rapidly keep up with developing technology and innovations Therefore, in this study, it was aimed to examine the relationship between the perceptions of secondary school students towards STEM fields, determining their attitudes towards technology, students' attitudes towards technology and its use in lessons, and the total perception levels of STEM fields and sub-dimensions. The study was completed in the fall semester of the 2019-2020 academic year. The data of the study were analyzed by quantitative survey model. In the study, ‘Attitude towards Technology Scale’ and ‘STEM Perception Scale’ were used as data collection tools. In the tests applied, the data were analyzed using the Independent Sample t-test, ANOVA, Pearson Correlation Analysis and Regression Analysis. According to data analysis and findings, it was determined that there was a moderately significant negative relationship between the students' attitude level towards technology, and the STEM perception level. In the light of the findings, the importance of STEM education was emphasized and recommendations were made to program designers, researchers and practitioners on this subject.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-288
Author(s):  
Mansour El seidy ◽  
◽  
Iman Alazab ◽  

The current study aimed to identify the effectiveness of a proposed program to develop the professional and academic performance of science and mathematics teachers in the light of the entrance to the integration between science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), by preparing a list of requirements for building a proposed program for science and mathematics teachers in the light of STEM education, and from Then building the proposed program based on these requirements, and the researchers used the descriptive analytical approach to describe and analyze research and studies related to the study problem and prepare the proposed concept for the training program, and the study reached a list of professional and academic development requirements for science and mathematics teachers in the light of (STEM) divided into four main axes In light of these requirements, a proposed conceptualization of the program was built, and the program was implemented through a note card to know its effectiveness, and the study found that there are statistically significant differences at the level of (0.01≥ α) between the average scores of science and mathematics teachers in the post and pre-implementation applications of the professional performance note card And the academic of the study sample group in favor of the post application.


Author(s):  
Kathryn Strong Hansen

AbstractGreater emphasis on ethical issues is needed in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. The fiction for specific purposes (FSP) approach, using optimistic science fiction texts, offers a way to focus on ethical reflection that capitalizes on role models rather than negative examples. This article discusses the benefits of using FSP in STEM education more broadly, and then explains how using optimistic fictions in particular encourages students to think in ethically constructive ways. Using examples of science fiction texts with hopeful perspectives, example discussion questions are given to model how to help keep students focused on the ethical issues in a text. Sample writing prompts to elicit ethical reflection are also provided as models of how to guide students to contemplate and analyze ethical issues that are important in their field of study. The article concludes that the use of optimistic fictions, framed through the lens of professional ethics guidelines and reinforced through ethical reflection, can help students to have beneficial ethical models.


Author(s):  
Yeping Li ◽  
Alan H. Schoenfeld

AbstractMathematics is fundamental for many professions, especially science, technology, and engineering. Yet, mathematics is often perceived as difficult and many students leave disciplines in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) as a result, closing doors to scientific, engineering, and technological careers. In this editorial, we argue that how mathematics is traditionally viewed as “given” or “fixed” for students’ expected acquisition alienates many students and needs to be problematized. We propose an alternative approach to changes in mathematics education and show how the alternative also applies to STEM education.


Author(s):  
Mariam Adepeju Abdulraheem-Mustapha

Laws and policies have important roles to play in advancing the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) through Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) research in Nigeria. STEM education and knowledge brings about development by converging scholars across the world with recent research discoveries. In order for Nigeria to reap the maximum benefits from the 4IR, its legal system must come in line with the principles advanced by the 4IR. It is important to state that the laws which have been enacted before the contemporary era are inadequate and obsolete. Education (STEM education inclusive) which will benefit the most from thenewrevolution would demand new legal instrumentsthat are adequate and effective to cater for the legal and policy demands of the 4IR by bringing forth a more current and inclusive legal protection for all the relevant beneficiaries. Using doctrinal methodology, thispaperexamines4IR and right to education in Nigeria with a view to establishing the relationship between the legal instruments and STEM education with the objective of advancing the agenda of the relevance of all fields of education for the next generation.The paper is divided into six sections and the findings show that, education (STEM education inclusive) is bedeviled with many challenges andthe extant laws are inadequate to solve them.Thus, making the goal of 4IR unachievable in Nigeria. To reach the greatest dexterities in all works of life, the paper concludes by bringing the significance of laws and policies that wouldaccommodate free STEM education in secondary and tertiary school levels in order to answer the call for 4IR. It recommends research collaboration across STEM fields for integrated curriculum and an amendment of the Constitution. It also advocates for gender equality and investing more in STEM education for having a transformative shift in Nigeria for the purpose of achieving 4IR.


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