Integrated STEM and Partnerships: What to Do for More Effective Teams in Informal Settings

Trina J Kilty,Andrea C Burrows

doi:10.3390/educsci12010058

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore how undergraduate college students formed partnerships in informal educational teams to design and build an interdisciplinary, ill-defined, integrated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) project and translate it to lessons taught to a pre-collegiate student (e.g., K-12 in the US) audience. The authors pursued two research questions: (a) How does an authentic research project provide space for integrating STEM disciplines? (b) How does an authentic research project impact partnerships among team members? Nine undergraduate college students were accepted into the 2020 cohort, forming three teams of three undergraduates each. Teams were roughly composed of one engineering major, one science major, and one education major. Methods of data collection included interviews and field notes. Data were analyzed by assessing the level of partnership achieved based on an already established model. Results indicate that all teams progressed through pre-partnership to at least the partnership (little p) level. Two partnership dimensions achieved the highest (big P) level: one of perception of benefit and one of products and activities. The results have implications that integration of STEM disciplines and forming partnerships could be related, and that building teamwork skills results in products of higher quality. The results are linked to previous research and recommendations for more effective partnerships are provided.

Highlights

There is a nationwide call throughout the United States and the world for integrating the disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to prepare students for needed 21st-century skills [1,2]
This team differed from the other two teams in two ways. It was composed of an education major who holds a prior degree in geology, and who joined the team halfway through 2020 as a replacement for a team member who left the project due to issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic
This study showcases the importance of partnerships and teamwork to integrated STEM and indirectly the importance of authentic and hands-on activities to integrated STEM

Summary

Introduction

There is a nationwide call throughout the United States and the world for integrating the disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to prepare students for needed 21st-century skills [1,2]. Some researchers claim that these skills are essential [4]. To achieve these skills, teachers may integrate the STEM disciplines, and one way is implementing engineering design principles in different contexts that emphasize underlying crosscutting concepts [5]. The authors of this study were inspired to develop and implement an undergraduate college student research project using an authentic setting and bringing together undergraduates from engineering, science, and education majors and disciplines, as those projects have been successful in the past [6]. The authors were interested in exploring how a context favoring integrated STEM might impact undergraduate college students to form a team and work in partnership toward designing and building a quality product

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Conclusion