Abstract
The shortage of graduates in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), has led to numerous attempts to increase students’ interest in STEM. One emerging approach that has the potential to improve students’ motivation for STEM is integrated STEM education. Nonetheless, the implementation of this new instructional strategy is not straightforward due to the lack of consensus about instructional practices in integrated STEM. This paper contributes to this challenge by providing a well-defined framework for instructional practices in integrated STEM in secondary education, based on the results of a systematic review of existing literature. The framework contains five key principles: integration of STEM content, problem-centered learning, inquiry-based learning, design-based learning and cooperative learning. The proposed framework has several benefits, including its applicability in the classroom and the possibility to describe integrated STEM on multiple dimensions. Nonetheless, further research is necessary to investigate the effects of integrated STEM on students’ cognitive and affective learning outcomes.
Highlights
Need for Integrated STEM In recent years, the importance of providing students with a strong education in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) has been stressed
The current study aims at addressing the lack of consensus about how integrated STEM learning and teaching should be done
Learning theories are typically divided in three categories: behaviorism, cognitivism and social constructivism (Ertmer and Newby, 2013; Greeno et al, 1996)
Summary
Need for Integrated STEM In recent years, the importance of providing students with a strong education in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) has been stressed. STEM-literacy, i.e. the awareness of the nature of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and the familiarity with some of the fundamental concepts from each discipline, should be an educational priority for all students (Bybee, 2010; National Academy of Engineering and National Research Council, 2014). The use of an integrated curriculum has been found to improve students’ non-cognitive learning outcomes, such as interest in STEM (Mustafa et al, 2016; Riskowski et al, 2009) and motivation towards STEM learning (Wang et al, 2011), which in turn could lead to increasing numbers of STEM graduates (National Academy of Engineering and National Research Council, 2014)
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