Secondary STEM Education Research Articles

Designing Dialogic Peer Feedback in Collaborative Learning: The Role of Thinq Tank

As technology continues to reshape education, the integration of peer feedback (PF) is increasingly recognized as a key element in promoting student collaboration and learning. This design study tracks the development and implementation of the Thinq Tank tool, which is aimed at facilitating dialogic PF within computer-supported collaborative-inquiry learning (CSCiL) environments. The research was conducted through three design iterations, comparing two key experimental conditions: one contrasting non-dialogic PF with dialogic PF, and another comparing dialogic PF with scripted dialogic PF featuring dynamic sentence-starters and defined roles. Utilizing a quasi-experimental design, we assessed the overall impact on scientific (collaborative) learning outcomes, students’ perceptions of PF, and the composition and elements of PF dialogues. The findings suggest that the integration of dialogic PF within a CSCiL lesson series helps to boost scientific collaborative learning outcomes and increases student receptivity to PF. The study demonstrates that integrating structured support mechanisms within PF tools promotes PF dialogues in which students critically evaluate each other’s work and collaboratively think about ways to improve quality. These insights illustrate that structured, technology-supported PF can significantly advance inquiry outcomes and foster deeper collaborative learning in secondary STEM education.

Navigating the Evolution of Game-Based Educational Approaches in Secondary STEM Education: A Decade of Innovations and Challenges

The need to support science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning in secondary education is reflected in the ongoing investigation of innovative pedagogical practices, including game-based learning (GBL). Using an analysis of scholarly publications based on word co-occurrence, this study aimed to identify the main research themes addressed in the past decade by the scholarly community on game-based teaching and learning solutions in the context of STEM education in secondary schools, their evolution over time, and the key issues addressed in recent years. After a systematic selection, the titles and abstracts of the publications were collected in a text corpus and analyzed using T-LAB software version 7.2.1.4 (2022). A preliminary visual exploration of the keywords was performed to obtain an overall view of the issues addressed by the research. Specificity analysis was then applied to identify, for each subset of the corpus identified by the years of publication, the evolution of themes reflected in a change in the frequency of lemma use. Finally, to explore the most recent topics, the main thematic clusters of publications in the last three years were identified (thematic analysis of elementary contexts). The results suggest some changes in the issues addressed over the past decade, such as a shift in focus from the specific technologies and competitive elements of games to understanding how GBL can support engagement, motivation, and understanding of complex scientific concepts. The five key thematic clusters identified (“Experience”, “Application”, “Validation”, “Emotion”, and “Programming”) also indicate a stronger emphasis by the latest publications on the experiential and emotional components of learning, the need for empirical studies, and the integration of computational thinking and coding into GBL. Overall, this study indicates that GBL has the potential to become an integrated component of STEM education, evolving with pedagogical and technological innovations.

Culturally Relevant STEM (CReST): An Integrated Support Curriculum for High School Chemistry and World History

Convergence education, driven by compelling or complex socio-scientific problems, is an approach to bring cultural relevance into secondary STEM education. National trends show the need to increase the STEM workforce by leveraging educational research and innovative practices within the secondary level to increase student interest prior to graduating high school. We introduced CReST (Culturally Relevant STEM) in a US high school pilot study. Student participants included 276 Chemistry students and 19 World History I students. The study also engaged four (4) high school teachers in chemistry and social studies with the challenge of cultural heritage conservation through the lens of the (physicochemical) life cycle of mural paintings in Europe. Teachers were provided with (1) professional development; (2) a digital curriculum; and (3) modular kits for hands-on learning. The research focused qualitatively on the experiences from the teacher and students as well as quantitatively to assess whether there was an increase in student academic performance. We found a statistically significant gain with respect to Chemistry (4.0%) and World History (13.4%) content. Students and teachers responded with overwhelming positivity in individual and focus-group interviews. This amplifies the further need of convergent educational approaches in high school STEM education to enhance engagement and increase student learning.

The implementation of peer assessment as a scaffold during computer-supported collaborative inquiry learning in secondary STEM education

BackgroundComputer-supported collaborative inquiry learning (CSCiL) has been proposed as a successful learning method to foster scientific literacy. This research aims to bridge the knowledge gap surrounding the role of peers as scaffolding sources in CSCiL environments. The primary objective is to explicitly implement peer assessment as a scaffolding tool to enhance students' inquiry output in terms of research question, data, and conclusion. Additionally, students’ perceptions of peer assessment within CSCiL are explored.ResultsThe study involved 9th and 10th-grade students from 12 schools (N = 382), exploring the effects of peer assessment with and without peer dialogue. The results highlight that while adjustments were more frequently made to the research question and data, adjustments to the conclusion showed significantly greater improvement. Furthermore, students’ perceptions of peer assessment during CSCiL were examined, revealing that students generally perceive peer assessment as fair and useful, and they accept it while being willing to make improvements based on the feedback. While students did not report experiencing negative feelings, they also did not report positive emotions from the process. Additionally, the study found that including a peer dialogue in the peer assessment process did not significantly impact the abovementioned findings.ConclusionsThis study enriches our understanding of peer assessment as a scaffolding tool in CSCiL, highlighting its potential to improve inquiry outputs and providing valuable insights for instructional design and implementation.

A systematic review of Drone integrated STEM education at secondary schools (2005–2023): Trends, pedagogies, and learning outcomes

As the prominence of drone technology continues to captivate interest for its myriad applications in education, an understanding of the current status of drone-integrated education becomes imperative. This systematic review endeavors to furnish an updated and comprehensive analysis of the drone education studies across academic levels, with a specific emphasis on secondary education settings. To accomplish this objective, a review study with 181 publications was conducted, with a particular focus on 41 publications explicitly addressing the integration of drones in secondary STEM education. Employing a systematic approach, this review identifies, analyzes, and synthesizes pertinent literature, ensuring a thorough comprehension of the current state of the field. The key findings of this review can be summarized as follows: 1) Among the diverse array of subjects incorporating drones, STEM disciplines emerge as the most prominently featured. 2) Experiential and project-based learning stand out as the most commonly adopted pedagogical methods in drone-integrated STEM education. The incorporation of teamwork and hands-on activities is frequently cited as instructional strategies aimed at enhancing drone-integrated STEM learning experiences. 3) Beyond the acquisition of drone-related technical skills, the reported learning outcomes encompass a spectrum of aspects, including heightened STEM career awareness, increased engagement and learning interest, and collaborative problem-solving abilities. The findings underscore the potential of drones to ignite passion for STEM subjects among secondary students, achieved through interdisciplinary, hands-on applications that foster problem-solving and design competencies.

More than Civil Engineering and Civic Reasoning: World-Building in Middle School STEM

This narrative essay describes a project in an urban sixth grade science class that began as an effort to link civic engagement with disciplinary learning in chemistry. The ways in which students took up this project prompted the authors to see urban infrastructures as engineered sites of learning with world-making possibilities. By interrogating the ways in which science and engineering practices are imbued with values and happen in places, teachers can engage young learners in critical examinations of their built worlds. The authors argue that there is an opportunity in K-8 engineering education to avoid reproducing some of the pathologies of (post)secondary STEM education by making the ethical and political dimensions of the STEM enterprise explicit. In fact, elementary school teachers’ ability to prioritize the whole child over disciplinary norms may allow them to engage students in realistic assessments of the built world while also imagining hopeful present-futures.

Examining Science and Technology/Engineering Educators' Views of Teaching Biomedical Concepts Through Physical Computing.

Programming and automation continue to evolve rapidly and advance the capabilities of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. However, physical computing (the integration of programming and interactive physical devices) integrated within biomedical contexts remains an area of limited focus in secondary STEM education programs. As this is an emerging area, many educators may not be well prepared to teach physical computing concepts within authentic biomedical contexts. This shortcoming provided the rationale for this study, to examine if professional development (PD) had a noticeable influence on high school science and technology and engineering (T&E) teachers’ (1) perceptions of teaching biomedical and computational thinking (CT) concepts and (2) plans to integrate physical computing within the context of authentic biomedical engineering challenges. The findings revealed a significant difference in the amount of biomedical and CT concepts that teachers planned to implement as a result of the PD. Using a modified version of the Science Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument (STEBI-A) Riggs and Enochs in Science Education, 74(6), 625–637 (1990), analyses revealed significant gains in teachers’ self-efficacy toward teaching both biomedical and CT concepts from the PD. Further analyses revealed that teachers reported increases in their perceived knowledge of biomedical and CT concepts and a significant increase in their intent to collaborate with a science or T&E educator outside of their content area. This study provides implications for researchers and educators to integrate more biomedical and physical computing instruction at the secondary education level.

Student Engagement, No Learning without It

Engaged students are emotionally invested in their learning and sustain concentration on one task for long periods of time. They feel compelled to seek new learning opportunities to deepen their understanding. All students should have the opportunity to experience engaging school learning environments. However, falling high school graduation rates in many US states and fewer adolescents enrolling in postsecondary education after high school are evidence of declining student engagement. In the critical Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines, most students have reported low engagement. This article argues that the secondary STEM education system must prioritize student engagement which will result in improved student achievement and persistence in STEM college and career pathways. Existing literature indicates that youth engage deeply with STEM activities when they make meaningful connections to the material through strategies like project-based learning which blur the line between classroom and community. This article proposes systems changes to improve student engagement including new data systems to measure and track student engagement, supporting teachers in transforming their practice, and leveraging STEM community assets to create authentic learning experiences. Examples of these changes are used throughout the article demonstrate new possibilities to improve the student experience in high school STEM education.

The UK’s Project Faraday and Secondary STEM Education

This ethnographic study reports on the findings from seven English secondary schools that participated in Project Faraday. The project was funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families to build innovative learning environments to encourage students into upper secondary inquiry-based STEM. Despite the innovative classrooms, the schools emphasised A-Level university entrance science. Technicians prepared for specific science subjects, although teachers acknowledged the value of inquiry-based pedagogies. UK policies prioritising A-Level assessment were found to be impeding inquiry-based STEM, although wealthy schools had the resources to facilitating both A-Level science and inquiry-based STEM through clubs and co-curricular programs. Our data elicited important general design principles to inform makerspaces for inquiry-based STEM for adult learners. We concluded that initial teacher education programs should provide graduates with pedagogical experiences in makerspaces that enabled them to appraise contemporary school learning environments; and be informed about securing safe, flexible, and durable equipment for students.

Scope, nature and progress of impact in practice-oriented educational research: a conceptual and empirical substantiation

ABSTRACT Practice-oriented educational research is renowned for its impact, both in educational practice and research. Yet, existing studies on the impact of practice-oriented educational research reflect a proliferation of ideas on what impact is, can or should be. This study aims to contribute to an in-depth understanding by establishing a theoretically informed and empirically substantiated conceptualisation of the impact of practice-oriented educational research. Based on current literature, a tentative conceptualisation in the dimensions scope, nature and progress, representing the who, what and when of change, is proposed. The tenability and completeness of this conceptualisation is subsequently investigated in a qualitative empirical study. Based on interviews, individual reflections and small-group discussions, the impact of 10 purposefully selected practice-oriented studies in secondary STEM-education in the Netherlands is compared to the tentative conceptualisation of impact. This results in an empirical substantiation and extension of the tentative conceptualisation. The presented conceptualisation of impact of practice-oriented educational research in terms of scope, covering educational practice and research within the context of a study or beyond, nature, including conceptual, instrumental and symbolic change, and progress, comprising sustainability, timeframe, and stability of change, can facilitate and focus discussions, considerations and analyses of the impact of practice-oriented educational research.

Video Analysis and Professional Noticing in the Wild of Real Science Teacher Education Classes

ABSTRACT Video analysis of teaching episodes is a widely-used approach in science teacher education. While numerous scholarly articles have been written on the topic, there are still many unanswered questions about the most effective strategies for integrating this approach into science teacher education. The current article adds to this area of inquiry by detailing the use of video analysis and reflection across a three-course sequence in an MAT program in secondary STEM education. The same instructor taught all three courses, and this instructor presents the affordances and constraints of the use of video analysis integrated with the professional noticing framework. A pair of researchers who collected data during the year-long implementation of this integrated approach share the outcomes from their perspective. Using ideas associated with distributed cognition from Hutchins’s Cognition in the Wild, the instructor and researchers show that most of the shortcomings with this integrated approach were a result of not effectively distributing knowledge across the different components of this system—including both humans and instruments. The authors specify how those shortcomings could be addressed by others seeking to replicate aspects of this integrated approach. They also show that, despite the missteps in helping the MAT candidates learn how to use video and the professional noticing framework to improve their pedagogy, the candidates did show evidence of achieving the ultimate goal of this effort: knowing how to analyze and articulate their own and others’ teaching practices.

Developing Competences of English Teachers in Secondary STEM Education Schools Track in Thailand

The purposes of this study are to investigate the competences of English teachers in Thailand and propose the teaching competence enhancement approach to meet the needs of 21st century English teachers for STEM track school. The documentary study was used as methodology in this study. The findings of this study demonstrated that the activity-based teaching allows students to practice communication skills effectively. Furthermore, English teacher’s competences to develop students’ English learning can be implemented by using five-step communicative teaching approach, including warm up, presentation, practice, production, and wrap up.

Do outreach activities in secondary STEM education motivate students and improve their attitudes towards STEM?

ABSTRACTThe present study investigated outreach activities, developed by STEM-based companies or universities in co-creation with secondary education with the aim to inform students about and motivate them for a career in STEM by connecting the work-context with school-science. Although many of such activities are being offered, little is known about their effects. We investigated students’ perceptions with the outreach learning environment, perceived need-fulfilment, self-reported motivation and attitudes towards STEM. Data were gathered from 729 high-school students engaged in 12 activities in the USA and the Netherlands. The students completed a questionnaire, which contained questions about four elements of our theoretical frame based on the Self-Determination-Theory (SDT). Perceived needs-fulfilment and motivation were measured using the basic-psychological-needs-scale and the self-regulation-questionnaire. Attitudes were measured using the test-of-science-related-attitudes. Learning environment perceptions were measured in a previous study using subscales of what-is-happing-in-this-classroom (WIHIC), constructivist-learning-environments-scale (CLES) and classroom-environment-scale (CES) and typified by activity characteristics. Multilevel analyses of variance were conducted for the two motivation scales (controlled and autonomous-motivation) and the two attitude scales (social-implication and career-interest). Activity characteristics explained almost all variance in these variables between activities. Specific characteristics of outreach activities that statistically significantly related to autonomous motivation and positive general attitudes towards STEM were: workshop-format, understanding science, an out-of-school component. The attitude towards a possible STEM-career was positively associated with autonomous-motivation and negatively associated with controlled-motivation. Thus, outreach learning environments indeed created opportunities to increase students’ motivation in STEM and attitude towards STEM, but the impact varied according to particular characteristics of the activities.

Fixing STEM Workforce and Teacher Shortages: How Goal Congruity Can Inform Individuals and Institutions

As demands increase for individuals with expertise in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), educational institutions and workplaces seek to identify strategies to recruit and retain talented individuals in STEM pathways. We investigate recruitment and retention into the STEM workforce and into primary and secondary STEM education careers by analyzing whether a particular role allows an individual to fulfill goals. The two occupational pathways reviewed here pose different goal congruity challenges: The STEM workforce seems to lack communal (other-oriented) goal opportunities, but math and science K-12 teaching seems to lack agentic (self-oriented) goal opportunities. Restructuring educational and occupational roles to maximize the pursuit of valued goals can encourage STEM recruitment and retention.