Interdisciplinary Science, Technology, Engineering And Mathematics Research Articles

РОЛЬ МАТЕМАТИКИ В РАЗВИТИИ STEM ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ

In the last decade, increased attention has been paid to the integration of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education. It is important for a modern mathematics teacher in elementary and high school to understand the role of mathematics as an academic discipline in the development of STEM education. Practical, meaningful and varied learning strategies can help develop high-level thinking and 21st century skills in teaching and learning mathematics. Research towards integrating STEM is in its infancy. So far, there is no clear understanding of the role of individual subjects in integrated STEM. While it is widely accepted that mathematics is at the core of all other STEM disciplines, there is evidence that it plays an underestimated role in integrated STEM education. The article, based on contemporary publications, examines the role of mathematics in interdisciplinary STEM education, including a synthesis and analysis of research conducted over the past ten years; discusses the integration of STEM subjects with an emphasis on mathematics (integrated STEM); About the productive models of integrated STEM that are emerging as STEM education in general and mathematics education in particular can better prepare people for the challenges of the twenty-first century.

Connecting mathematics to STEM education: interdisciplinary teaching and learning facilitation

In interdisciplinary Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education, empirical evidence is required that points to the educational contribution of mathematics. Specifically, researchers are not clear how mathematics weaves itself through the STEM education meta-discourse. This article contributes to pedagogical practices in educational institutions where STEM has been newly introduced - What are the perceptions and experiences of South African teachers on interdisciplinary STEM education, and how do mathematics and interdisciplinary STEM discourses leverage each other at schools of specialisation (SoS) in South Africa? Participant teachers were drawn from ten SoS in South Africa. SoS are STEM-dense schools in South Africa’s Gauteng Province, the country’s industrial and commercial hub. Interview data was collected on teachers’ experiences and practices to explore the affordances of Mathematics and other STEM disciplines to influencing curriculum advancement. Situated cognition, mathematics as explorations and flow theory informed this qualitative study. In the findings, technology was regarded as raising learner motivation and mathematical achievement. Important to the study is that participants have a high regard for mathematics’ role in interdisciplinary STEM education. In the study, teachers had no autonomy to pursue the STEM agenda, as they were bound to adhere to a prescribed curriculum, which hardly refers to implementation of interdisciplinary STEM education. Various recommendations are proffered, such as maintaining the positive perceptions participants have on the role of mathematics in STEM curricula. The research calls for equality and equity of all the STEM disciplines, as one STEM curricula cannot succeed without the other.

Shaping science, technology, engineering and mathematics curriculum in Australian schools: An ecological systems analysis

Improving young people’s engagement in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) is being promoted worldwide as a means of addressing projected shortfalls in expertise needed to further nations’ economic, social and environmental goals. Responding to this, schools are reforming traditional discipline-based curricula into interdisciplinary approaches based on problem and project-based designs, to make STEM learning more relevant and meaningful for students. This study drew on a dataset of 449 Australian principal and teacher interviews, to identify factors influencing STEM curriculum in their schools. It utilised Ecological Systems Theory to build understanding relating to the influence of activities and outputs originating at macro, exo and meso system levels, on STEM curriculum and practices in classrooms. Results demonstrated how many innovative schools were able to successfully leverage community, business and national resources to enhance their STEM curriculum, while others struggled due to limitations imposed by geographic or socio-economic factors, or limited access to resources, expertise or advice. Central to achieving this was the powerful influence of principals’ and teachers’ proximal processes and developmental assets in establishing effective and engaging interdisciplinary STEM curricula, despite constraints imposed by, at best, ambiguous national and state curriculum and policies, rigid assessment regimes and compliance-focused reporting requirements.

Development of Interdisciplinary STEM Impact Measures of Student Attitudes and Reasoning

The integration of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) programs is a national trend. The goal of implementing STEM in schools is to prepare students for the demands of the 21st century, while addressing future workforce needs. The Real STEM project focused on the development of interdisciplinary STEM experiences for students. The project was characterized by sustained professional development which was job-embedded, competency-based, and focused on the development of five STEM reasoning abilities within real-world contexts. The project promoted inclusion of tasks that drew on multiple STEM disciplines, embraced the use of authentic teaching strategies, and supported development of collaboration through interdisciplinary STEM professional learning communities and engaging STEM experts from the community. The four tenets of the project are presented and research on developing and characterizing measures of student impact are provided. Key outcomes include the construction and evaluation of measures supporting interdisciplinary STEM to assess both the impact of intervention on student attitudes toward STEM and students’ STEM reasoning abilities. Findings include reliability and validity evidence supporting attitude measurement and reasoning measurement as well as exploratory results that highlight a disconnection between STEM attitudes and STEM reasoning with the interdisciplinary STEM intervention examined.

Children’s Engineering Design Thinking Processes: The Magic of the ROBOTS and the Power of BLOCKS (Electronics)

Background:This paper presents findings from an on-going international study of Early Childhood (EC) teachers’ and children’s use of internet-connected toys (IoToys) to understand possibilities for developing children’s cognitive capacities (e.g., creativity, inquiry, engineering design thinking).Material and methods:The study employed a Design Based Research (DBR) method, where teachers intentionally plan and deliver technologically constructed Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) experiences for preschoolers. Using Australia as a case study, data collection involved participant observation of three teachers’ and 17 children’s technology constructed play experiences with robotic toys, littleBits electronic magnetic blocks, alongside pre and post semi-structured interviews with teachers and children’s photo voice sessions were video recorded.Results:Analysing the findings using embodied cognition theory showed that the teachers, although novice in their own technological pedagogical knowledge engaged children's play with the robotic toys, and co-learn with the children. Integration of STEM-focused playful experiences supported children’s scientific inquiry, design thinking and creativity as well as vocabulary targeted at interdisciplinary STEM concepts.Conclusions:With the ever increasing focus on developing children’s 21st century skills, this study recommends engineering habits of mind, creativity and inquiry dispositions should now be taken into account in teaching and learning situations with young children and to develop STEM engagement.

The Role of Mathematics in interdisciplinary STEM education

In times of rapid technological innovation and global challenges, the development of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) competencies becomes important. They improve the personal scientific literacy of citizens, enhance international economic competitiveness and are an essential foundation for responsible citizenship, including the ethical custodianship of our planet. The latest programme for international student assessment results, however, indicate that even in economically mature countries such as those in Europe, and the USA and Australia, approximately 20% of students lack sufficient skills in mathematics or science. This trend serves to highlight the urgent need for action in relation to STEM education. While it is widely acknowledged that mathematics underpins all other STEM disciplines, there is clear evidence it plays an understated role in integrated STEM education. In this article, we address an element of this concern by examining the role of mathematics within STEM education and how it might be advanced through three interdisciplinary approaches: (1) twenty-first century skills; (2) mathematical modelling; and (3) education for responsible citizenship. At the end of the paper we discuss the potential for research in relation to these three aspects and point to what work needs to be done in the future.

Scaffolding design thinking in online STEM preservice teacher training

AbstractDespite growing awareness of the importance of incorporating integrated science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) learning into K‐12 education, formal classroom implementation still faces obstacles. Teachers lack the knowledge and skills, especially design‐thinking competence, required to design an interdisciplinary STEM curriculum. The goal of this study was to investigate different scaffolding modes that may influence the design‐thinking competence development of STEM teachers. Twenty‐four preservice teachers participated in this study, which was carried out in an online STEM preservice teacher training environment. The participants were assigned to six groups of two cohorts. Each group designed a STEM learning module. To support their online design meetings, the three groups from the static scaffolding cohort (SSC) received pre‐defined guiding questions, while the other three groups from the adaptive scaffolding cohort (ASC) received contingent scaffolding from a human tutor. The Log data on the participants’ conversations in the design meetings were collected and analysed using the epistemic network analysis (ENA) approach. The results revealed that the SSC and ASC had divergent design‐thinking development trajectories and established distinct design‐thinking patterns. Conversation analysis of the two cohorts confirmed the findings of the ENA analysis and provided evidence that the two scaffolding modes can help address challenges to collaborative STEM learning design and cultivate design‐thinking competence from different perspectives. Practitioner NotesWhat is already known about this topic Integrated and interdisciplinary STEM curriculum should be incorporated into K‐12 education. Teachers lack the design‐thinking competence required to design an integrated and interdisciplinary STEM curriculum. What this paper adds Static scaffolding and adaptive scaffolding help STEM preservice teachers to develop process‐oriented and result‐oriented design‐thinking patterns, respectively. STEM preservice teachers present divergent design‐thinking development trajectories during collaborative STEM learning design under these two scaffolding modes. Implications for practice and/or policy Integrated STEM learning design should leverage the complexity in the design process and creativity in the design solutions. Different scaffolding modes can complement each other in support of design‐thinking competence development in collaborative STEM learning design practice.

Rethinking Disciplinary Links in Interdisciplinary STEM Learning: a Temporal Model

Despite growing advocacy of interdisciplinary approaches to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), there are persistent concerns about the practical and principled epistemic bases on which this can be justified as a mainstream curricular practice. A major issue concerns the nature of interrelations between the STEM disciplines in interdisciplinary work. In the paper, we argue that the spatial metaphor prevalent in discussions of interdisciplinarity, and boundary crossing, while useful, has limitations in capturing the challenges and possibilities for interdisciplinary STEM in schools and in some respects misconstrues the cultural and historical nature of disciplinary epistemic practices. We argue, as a contribution to a theory of interdisciplinary curricular practice, that key issues for such practice can be productively seen through a temporal metaphor and that a temporal model can usefully inform schools and teachers in framing and supporting student learning in interdisciplinary settings. To illustrate this, we use indicative cases from two major Australian STEM initiatives to examine temporal relations between mathematics, science and technology, at the micro-, meso- and macro-levels, and the implications of this for disciplinary integrity. Finally, we argue that contemporary interdisciplinary advocacy amounts to a challenge to renew epistemic traditions in the STEM subjects.

Phonocardiography and Photoplethysmography With Simple Arduino Setups to Support Interdisciplinary STEM Education

Small computer board platforms, such as Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and micro: bit are very common, cheap, and useful tools to teach modern technology, coding, and experimenting in different disciplines at various levels. Due to the huge available information on websites, it is very easy to find a solution for almost any job and problem, therefore one may not be motivated to work out an own version, to study carefully, to understand the principles in-depth and to be creative. This is also one of the reasons why so high proportion of the examples employ technically inadequate methods, misleading concepts. These are rather serious problems concerning high-quality science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education. Although technology and available tools change rapidly, the basic principles remain the same, therefore education should focus on a better understanding of these. On the other hand, it is very important for the future's engineers, developers, and professionals to follow the correct methods, to be reliable, creative, and open to the more and more common interdisciplinary methodology. In this paper, we demonstrate this approach by investigating exciting interdisciplinary phonocardiography and photoplethysmography experiments and related electronics, data acquisition, and signal processing. In our work, we focus on the understanding and applying the correct methods, provide a detailed analysis of common pitfalls and leave room also for additional work. Students and teachers, lecturers can learn what to consider, pick what they find useful for their projects. It is also important to note, that the principles are valid for much other instrumentation and information processing jobs as well.

Promoting college student’s learning motivation and creativity through a STEM interdisciplinary PBL human-computer interaction system design and development course

In recent years, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) has been extensively advocated and implemented in education, as it is suggested to be very impactful on student’s interdisciplinary learning, which can be seen as a significant driving force for a country’s advancement in scientific and technical knowledge, innovation, economy, and international competitiveness. Developing a human-computer interaction (HCI) system to solve real-world problems requires the inventors to have interdisciplinary STEM knowledge and skills. Thus a STEM Interdisciplinary Project-based Learning (IPBL) approach was applied to teach a total number of 45 college students registered in the departments of engineering and design. Inspired by Design Thinking, the 18-week STEM IPBL course was delivered through four phases, including discover, define, develop, and deliver. All the finished HCI projects applied the interdisciplinary knowledge and skills from the domains of STEM. Evidence drawn from the 6-point Likert ‘Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ)’ indicated that the STEM IPBL course was very impactful on student’s learning, which improved the participants’ (a) overall learning motivation (Pre M = 4.4, Post M = 4.64; p = .012), (b) self-efficacy of learning (Pre M = 4.03, Post M = 4.43; p = .003), (c) enjoyableness of learning STEM (Pre M = 4.68, Post M = 4.75; p = .556), and (d) recognizing the significance of learning STEM on future career development (Pre M = 4.73, Post M = 4.94; p = .077). It is also found that compared with design majored students, the course had a better effect on the engineering majored students. Evidence collected from ‘Abbreviated Torrance Test for Adults (ATTA)’ indicated that the student’s overall creativity was significantly improved (Pre M = 63.36, Post M = 68.44; p = .000). More specifically, among the four facets of creativity, the improvements were as follows: fluency (Pre M = 14.89, Post M = 16.2; p = .001), elaboration (Pre M = 16.69, Post M = 18.62; p = .000), flexibility (Pre M = 14.82, Post M = 16.04; p = .009), and originality (Pre M = 16.96, Post M = 17.58; p = .136). It is found that the STEM IPBL course had a different impact on the student's originality, while the originality of engineering majored students significantly improved (p = .006), the originality of design majored students did not change. Some educational implications were also provided in the article.

Tempered Radicals: Faculty Leadership in Interdisciplinary Curricular Change Authors

Scientists, researchers, and educators have promoted the improvement of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education by incorporating an interdisciplinary approach to the study of STEM; but current research offers little guidance about how this change can occur. This study expands on a new body of research examining faculty leadership in institutional change. Utilizing the tempered radical framework developed by Meyerson and Scully (1995) and later applied to the higher educational context by Kezar, Bertram Gallant, and Lester (2011), the current research examines faculty leadership in the implementation of an interdisciplinary STEM bridge program in biotechnology. This qualitative study relied primarily on the analysis of interviews with key faculty at four community colleges. The data revealed that faculty leaders employ strategies identified by Meyerson and Scully (1995). Further, the results of this study indicate that characteristics of tempered radical leadership may be more important than specific strategies identified by Kezar et al. (2011).First, tempered radicals are boundary spanners, able to translate their vision to appeal to the values of different stakeholders. Second, tempered radical faculty leaders maintain cognitive complexity, or the ability to perceive change from a variety of perspectives, revealing the importance of collective sensemaking around the change effort. Third, tempered radicals are savvy organizational insiders able to navigate the organizational culture and its systems and are viewed as legitimate change agents within their institutions. Understanding the characteristics of effective faculty leaders may offer guidance to other faculty interested in leading interdisciplinary change in their institutions.

The perceptions of pre-service and in-service teachers regarding a project-based STEM approach to teaching science.

Whilst much attention has focused on project-based approaches to teaching Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects, little has been reported on the views of South-East Asian science teachers on project-based STEM approaches. Such knowledge could provide relevant information for education training institutions on how to influence innovative teaching of STEM subjects in schools. This article reports on a study that investigated the perceptions of 25 pre-service and 21 in-service Malaysian science teachers in adopting an interdisciplinary project-based STEM approach to teaching science. The teachers undertook an eight hour workshop which exposed them to different science-based STEM projects suitable for presenting science content in the Malaysian high school science syllabus. Data on teachers’ perceptions were captured through surveys, interviews, open-ended questions and classroom discussion before and at the end of the workshop. Study findings showed that STEM professional development workshops can provide insights into the support required for teachers to adopt innovative, effective, project-based STEM approaches to teaching science in their schools.

Promoting interdisciplinarity through climate change education

Climate change is a complex scientific and social problem. Effectively dealing with it presents an immense challenge, yet educating students about it offers educators in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fruitful opportuni - ties for promoting interdisciplinarity, retaining talented young people in STEM fields and enhancing multiple literacies of all students. We offer three illustrative examples of interdisciplinary climate change-related STEM education projects. Each of these models is designed deliberately for implementation in the first two years of collegiate-level STEM courses; thus, they may be employed in both four- and two-year institutions. The scientific community can use climate change education opportunities to help further transform STEM education in the US and increase production of high-quality STEM graduates.

Supporting STEM Education in Secondary Science Contexts

Science education scholars emphasize the significance of an integrative, interdisciplinary STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education that encourages students to learn about the natural world through exploration, inquiry, and problem-solving experiences. This article reports on a professional development program aimed at improving a group of secondary science and mathematics teachers’ competence in using a problem-based approach in the teaching of STEM. Through surveys, qualitative interviews and focus groups, the study investigated the teachers’ understanding and perceptions of problem-based learning (PBL) as an approach to interdisciplinary STEM education as well as their perceptions of the personal and systemic challenges in implementing such an approach in their professional practice. This investigation offers insight into how university-based professional development programs can support secondary educators’ understanding of, and ability to use an interdisciplinary problem-based STEM approach in their schools and classrooms. The study concludes with implications for practice and a discussion of how future interdisciplinary professional development can be conceptualized.