The Conceptual Speed-Bump: Losing Potential STEM Students in the Transition From Elementary School to Middle School

Abstract

Many educators in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) disciplines hope to improve the number of students interested in and prepared for these more difficult disciplines through innovative teaching, demonstrations and hosted camps. Research has shown that motivation is a much smaller part of the issue; student learning outcomes are much more sensitive to fundamental academic ability. Current curriculum design fails most students miserably in helping them bridge the gap from concrete learning to abstract thought and understanding in the middle school years. Thus, they are ill-prepared to engage in the more advanced learning required to pursue the STEM disciplines, a result that no amount of innovative teaching can correct. This paper will review the performance data from industrial nations at the 4th Grade and 8th Grade levels and illustrate curriculum differences between industrial countries producing higher percentages of STEM graduates. Examination of the performance effects of many variables, including number and sequencing of topics studied, time spent on homework, teacher credentials, access to technology, class size and dollars allocated per student, yields some surprising results. The problem is not as sensitive to many of these variables as one might expect. However, the variables that seem to provide promise for significant improvement from the current state of STEM education are related to topic coverage and manner of presentation. Final recommendations include reduction in the number of topics introduced in any given year with a corresponding reorganization of the curricula, to allow STEM teachers in the middle school to focus on the transitional learning that must occur to prepare for more advanced studies.