STEM Courses Research Articles

Association of malleable factors with adoption of research-based instructional strategies in introductory chemistry, mathematics, and physics

Active learning pedagogies are shown to enhance the outcomes of students, particularly in disciplines known for high attrition rates. Despite the demonstrated benefits of active learning, didactic lecture continues to predominate in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses. Change agents and professional development programs have historically placed emphasis on develop–disseminate efforts for the adoption of research-based instructional strategies (RBIS). With numerous reported barriers and motivators for trying out and adopting active learning, it is unclear to what extent these factors are associated with adoption of RBIS and the effectiveness of change strategies. We present the results of a large-scale, survey-based study of introductory chemistry, mathematics, and physics instructors and their courses in the United States. Herein, we evaluate the association of 17 malleable factors with the tryout and adoption of RBIS. Multilevel logistic regression analyses suggest that several contextual, personal, and teacher thinking factors are associated with different stages of RBIS adoption. These results are also compared with analogous results evaluating the association of these factors with instructors’ time spent lecturing. We offer actionable implications for change agents to provide targeted professional development programming and for institutional leaders to influence the adoption of active learning pedagogies in introductory STEM courses.

Faith integration in STEM courses for undergraduates: Exemplars of pedagogical practices

In his book On Christian Teaching, David Smith offers multiple ways in which one’s Christian faith commitments influence pedagogical practices. Specific examples are drawn from the humanities, particularly from languages and literature. Some may conclude that such discussions are less appropriate in areas such as science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). We disagree and offer exemplars aligned with a set of six curricular criteria identified by Wayne Au. We argue that these exemplars emerge naturally from our Christian beliefs and are “faith-influenced” even if not every strategy embodies a narrower integration of faith and pedagogy.

Cognitive load in asynchronous discussions of an online undergraduate STEM course

PurposeAs online course enrollments increase, it is important to understand how common course features influence students' behaviors and performance. Asynchronous online courses often include a discussion forum to promote community through interaction between students and instructors. Students interact both socially and cognitively; instructors' engagement often demonstrates social or teaching presence. Students' engagement in the discussions introduces both intrinsic and extraneous cognitive load. The purpose of this study is to validate an instrument for measuring cognitive load in asynchronous online discussions.Design/methodology/approachThis study presents the validation of the NASA-TLX instrument for measuring cognitive load in asynchronous online discussions in an introductory physics course.FindingsThe instrument demonstrated reliability for a model with four subscales for all five discrete tasks. This study is foundational for future work that aims at testing the efficacy of interventions, and reducing extraneous cognitive load in asynchronous online discussions.Research limitations/implicationsNonresponse error due to the unincentivized, voluntary nature of the survey introduces a sample-related limitation.Practical implicationsThis study provides a strong foundation for future research focused on testing the effects of interventions aimed at reducing extraneous cognitive load in asynchronous online discussions.Originality/valueThis is a novel application of the NASA-TLX instrument for measuring cognitive load in asynchronous online discussions.

Developing creative material in STEM courses using integrated engineering design based on APOS theory

Developing creative material in STEM courses using integrated engineering design based on APOS theory

Do I Fit In: Race/Ethnicity and Feelings of Belonging in School

The desire to belong has been conceptualized by motivational psychologists as a fundamental human motive (need to belong), which means that it can guide thoughts, feelings, and behavior. Indeed, a growing literature has documented that students who perceive a sense of belonging in school generally fare well—academically, socially, and emotionally. In this article, we bring the racial/ethnic context to the study of school belonging. We review a number of studies from our program of research—both cross-sectional and longitudinal—that describe how feelings of belonging are shaped by important racial/ethnic context variables such as the size of one’s racial/ethnic group in school across critical school transitions, perceived representation of one’s group in critical STEM courses (e.g., 9th-grade math), and how the differences between school-level and course-level representation affect both schools belonging and academic achievement. We make an argument for studying racial/ethnic diversity as a fluid and dynamic construct that impacts motivation and achievement in previously understudied ways.

*Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Advanced Science and Mathematics Achievement During Elementary School

We analyzed a population-based cohort ( N = 10,922) to investigate the onset and stability of racial and ethnic disparities in advanced (i.e., above the 90th percentile) science and mathematics achievement during elementary school as well as the antecedent, opportunity, and propensity factors that explained these disparities. About 13% to 16% of White students versus 3% to 4% of Black or Hispanic students displayed advanced science or mathematics achievement during kindergarten. The antecedent factor of family socioeconomic status and the propensity factors of student science, mathematics, and reading achievement by kindergarten consistently explained whether students displayed advanced science or mathematics achievement during first, second, third, fourth, or fifth grade. These and additional factors substantially or fully explained initially observed disparities between Black or Hispanic and White students in advanced science or mathematics achievement during elementary school. Economic and educational policies designed to increase racial and ethnic representation in STEM course taking, degree completion, and workforce participation may need to begin by elementary school.

Understanding Preservice Science Teachers’ Views about Engineers and Engineering in an Engineering-Focused STEM Course

Engineering has been considered as a useful context for successful implementation of STEM education. However, teachers have limited opportunities to develop a sound understanding about engineers and engineering, which is necessary for developing students’ engineering practices and design skills. In this case study, the main purpose was to examine 18 preservice science teachers’ initial and final views about engineers and engineering in an undergraduate engineering-focused STEM course. Before and after an eight-week implementation including three engineering design activities, data were collected by the adapted version of Views on the Nature of Engineering Questionnaire and reflection papers. Findings revealed four categories: 1) views about engineers and engineering, 2) views about engineering design process, 3) views about the factors that affect engineering, and 4) views about science versus engineering. Based on the codes a scoring rubric was developed to categorize PSTs’ views as uninformed, partially informed, and informed. Results showed that PSTs’ views become more informed in each category. However, their views were still found as partially informed in some of the categories which shows the need for more emphasis on future research. The changes in their views were discussed with possible reasons and recommendations were provided for further studies.

Integrating a sustainability education model into STEM courses at a tribal college

Indigenous scholars have been historically excluded from Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) and are currently underrepresented in STEM degree programs and jobs. Having a population with STEM skills is crucial for rural sovereign Native American communities to manage their natural resources, infrastructures, and technologies. Thus, STEM education must be transformed to welcome and support the achievement of Indigenous scholars. This research explores the impacts of implementing a Sustainability Education (SE) pedagogy in science courses at a tribal college that serves rural and semirural Native American students. Using pre- and post- surveys as well as phenomenographic interviews this work aims to understand student attitudes towards the combined science and sustainability curriculum. Results indicate that students are receptive to this curriculum and that they have a positive experience in sustainability focused science courses. Additionally, the SE science courses positively impacted students’ science identities, which has been shown to contribute to persistence in science. Tribal Colleges and Universities and other institutions of higher learning can use this work to better understand what leads to Indigenous student success in STEM and update pedagogies accordingly.

Introducing Interdisciplinary Curricula Into Conservation Biology: Exploring Changes in Students’ Perceived Proenvironmental Attitudes and Behaviors

Today, conserving the natural environment is paramount. Educators have been striving to develop pedagogical approaches that facilitate greater engagement in conservation behaviors. However, many of these reforms have been targeted at an institutional level, without necessarily testing whether changes in proenvironmental perceptions, attitudes, or behaviors occur for students. This step seems important when developing conservation biology courses that provide well-rounded education that may better prepare students for future challenges in biodiverse conservation contexts. Our objective was to assess the proenvironmental attitudes and conservation values of undergraduate students enrolled in an undergraduate conservation biology course before and after instruction to determine whether a multidisciplinary curriculum, in conjunction with traditional conservation biology content, would alter their perceptions. Students in both the control and intervention groups felt relatively neutral about a range of environmental and conservation topics. No statistical significance between curricula and impact on student perception was revealed. However, in the experimental course, shifts were found concerning students’ understanding of the complexity of conservation. Results also highlight long-standing issues related to conservation education, such as a bias toward mammal conservation, and suggest that guest lectures are insufficient to bring about attitude change related to sustainability. Further research on incorporating cross-disciplinary pedagogy into STEM courses is recommended.

STEM Education Planning Based on Contextual Issues Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Integration and the practice of addressing real-world issues are crucial components of STEM education. In this study, which was conducted as part of an endeavor to boost students' and instructors' knowledge and interest in STEM education, existing STEM courses have been incorporated into the Indonesian curriculum requirements in order to address real-world problems. This article gives a description of the planning process for after-school STEM education programs, with a focus on significant global issues related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). At the junior high school level, the present curriculum requirements for all three STEM subjects will be integrated. Document analysis is the principal means of data collection. This consists of the standard papers of three distinct STEM fields, curriculum maps developed for schools, and documents pertaining to "Continuing Development Education." Four possible design problems are inspired by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These challenges blend standards selected from three distinct STEM domains and include several new interconnected concepts and skills. This description offers a way by which educators may be supported in the production of lessons or other equivalent STEM educational programs or activities by integrating curricular requirements with existing STEM disciplines for many levels and settings relevant to students.

Addressing the challenges of online and blended STEM learning with grounded design

During the COVID-19 pandemic, online learning became a major alternative to college science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses in postsecondary education. Faculty members, although subject matter experts, often lack pedagogical knowledge and training on how to effectively teach new generations of students online, or incorporate appropriate technologies. Faculty teaching online courses needed a new guiding framework to balance domain goals and emerging technologies. We present grounded design for STEM courses to align domain goals and instructional methods and technologies while reflecting instructors’ pedagogical beliefs and addressing cultural and pragmatic issues. It is critical to provide students with aligned STEM learning experience and engagement via defensible theories and research-evidenced pedagogy in online and blended courses while technological, cultural, and pragmatic considerations are also addressed. We suggest grounded design as the conceptual and design framework for designing online and blended courses and discuss the assumptions, approaches, and examples. We provide practical guidelines to apply grounded design to online and blended learning environments and suggest future research. This article can assist both novice and seasoned STEM faculty to connect theory and research to teaching practices and optimise their online and blended courses. Implications for practice University STEM instructors can use grounded design framework for online, blended, and technology-enhanced teaching. Instructors should begin the course design by aligning the domain goals with optimal psychological and pedagogical foundations. When choosing technology to support online learning, instructors should align it with learning goals and needs of students, and consider cultural and pragmatic foundations.

Investigating Students’ Learning Experiences in a Neural Engineering Integrated STEM High School Curriculum

STEM integration has become a national and international priority, but our understanding of student learning experiences in integrated STEM courses, especially those that integrate life sciences and engineering design, is limited. Our team has designed a new high school curriculum unit that focuses on neural engineering, an emerging interdisciplinary field that brings together neuroscience, technology, and engineering. Through the implementation of the unit in a high school engineering design course, we asked how incorporating life sciences into an engineering course supported student learning and what challenges were experienced by the students and their teacher. To address these questions, we conducted an exploratory case study consisting of a student focus group, an interview with the teacher, and analysis of student journals. Our analysis suggests that students were highly engaged by the authentic and collaborative engineering design process, helping solidify their self-efficacy and interest in engineering design. We also identified some challenges, such as students’ lower interest in life sciences compared to engineering design and the teacher lacking a life sciences background. These preliminary findings suggest that neural engineering can provide an effective context to the integration of life sciences and engineering design but more scaffolding and teacher support is needed for full integration.

Relative Impact of Values-Oriented and Mindset-Oriented Interventions on Academic Success of Introductory Biology Students Attending 2-Year or 4-Year Institutions.

Diversifying the STEM workforce is a national priority, yet white males continue to dominate the ranks of professional scientists and engineers in the United States. This is partly due to disparities in academic success for women and minoritized students in prerequisite introductory STEM courses, leading to higher attrition from B.S. degree programs. Past research has demonstrated that when social-psychological interventions targeting "stereotype threat" or "fixed" mindsets are implemented in STEM courses, equity gaps may be significantly reduced. We incorporated two such interventions into introductory biology courses for life science B.S. majors and Associate's degree allied health students taught at a regional research university and a community college. We observed no significant effects of the values-affirmation interventions on grade outcomes for students in any of the courses, regardless of students' gender identity, race/ethnicity, or first-generation status, suggesting that students, on average, were not experiencing stereotype threat on either campus. We found a significant positive association between completing more weekly reflective journal entries and higher mean content-based grades for students in the university majors course overall, especially first-generation students, although the association was significantly negative for women. Our results confirm that context matters when implementing interventions aimed at reducing achievement gaps, and we propose that educators assess their students' social-psychological characteristics and then select interventions accordingly.

Infusing Mindset through Mathematical Problem Solving and Collaboration: Studying the Impact of a Short College Intervention

After experiencing years of procedural teaching in K-12 mathematics classrooms, many students arrive at college with ideas about, and approaches towards, mathematics that are not helpful to their learning. Students’ prior experiences and misconceptions can then negatively impact their experiences in university STEM courses. This paper describes a short course in the “big ideas” of calculus, that offered students an approach of problem-based learning, combined with mindset messages, otherwise known as a “mathematical mindset approach”. The mixed-method study considered how a ‘mathematical mindset’ teaching intervention impacted the learning, achievement, and beliefs of incoming college students, finding that the intervention significantly changed students’ ideas about mathematics, their own potential, and the value of collaboration. At the end of the course students also significantly improved their achievement on assessments of problem solving and collaboration. Importantly the course allowed students to believe in their own potential and to approach mathematics with a growth mindset, suggesting a role for such courses in students’ mathematics pathways.

A screen-based or physical computing unit? Examining secondary students’ attitudes toward coding

In recent years there has been a growing emphasis placed on access to computational thinking (CT) instruction for every K-12 student in the United States (U.S.). Concurrently, calls for integrating CT concepts within authentic science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) contexts have also increased. This is reflected by the inclusion of CT in the Next Generation Science Standards and the Standards for Technological and Engineering Literacy. However, methods for teaching CT concepts within secondary level STEM courses vary drastically. Physical computing, the design and programming of physical systems or devices using computational thinking skills, has become increasingly popular in the U.S. in attempts to integrate CT within authentic STEM problem-solving contexts. Despite this rise in popularity, there remains a limited but growing body of research investigating physical computing pedagogy and student learning. A mixed methods design was used in this study to examine 170 middle school students’ attitudes toward coding and after participating in either a screen-based or physical computing unit. The results indicated that students who completed the screen-based unit reported statistically greater attitudes toward the classroom applications and career/future use of computing concepts. Students in the treatment group believed that physical computing made learning computing concepts more difficult, but they preferred the hands-on learning opportunities provided by physical computing. Furthermore, male students reported higher attitudinal ratings than females regarding the influence computing would have on their future academic and career choices. This study provides implications for improving physical computing instruction and integration within STEM education contexts.

Developing Civic Agency in STEM Education

Today’s myriad local and global challenges highlight the need for STEM professionals who have discipline-specific competencies as well as an understanding of social issues and how to get things done in our democracy. In addition, there has never been a greater need for scientific, mathematical, and technological literacy for all citizens. This article is about how colleges and universities are developing civic agency in future STEM professionals as well as in students whose STEM courses are part of their required general education curriculum. It provides an overview of the concept of civic agency and offers multiple examples of outstanding and promising practices, recommendations for the integration of civic agency in STEM courses, and resources for further information and action.

Dance as a Creative Gateway to STEAM Education Practice——Take the Chinese Classical Dunhuang Dance as an Example

STEM education emerged in the United States before 1990s, aiming to cultivate scientific and technological talents and improve students' scientific literacy by integrating Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. STEAM is a creative art course with true interdisciplinary integration by adding Art elements to enrich the knowledge covered by STEM courses. This paper integrates Dance into STEAM education, analyzes the new impetus of STEAM dance course in dance education, and designs a STEAM-based dance course with Chinese Classical Dunhuang Dance . Surveys are distributed to determine how parents of teenagers feel about this dance course. The study could enrich contemporary dance curriculums, cultivate scientific and artistic talents, improve the quality of dance education, and promote the development and progress of STEAM education in China.

Dance as a Creative Gateway to STEAM Education Practice——Take the Chinese Classical Dunhuang Dance as an Example

STEM education emerged in the United States before 1990s, aiming to cultivate scientific and technological talents and improve students' scientific literacy by integrating Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. STEAM is a creative art course with true interdisciplinary integration by adding Art elements to enrich the knowledge covered by STEM courses. This paper integrates Dance into STEAM education, analyzes the new impetus of STEAM dance course in dance education, and designs a STEAM-based dance course with Chinese Classical Dunhuang Dance . Surveys are distributed to determine how parents of teenagers feel about this dance course. The study could enrich contemporary dance curriculums, cultivate scientific and artistic talents, improve the quality of dance education, and promote the development and progress of STEAM education in China.

Supporting pre-service teachers’ integration of engineering into STEM lessons throughout engineering-infused training

ABSTRACT Background Training both pre – and in-service teachers who are capable of planning and enacting engineering design–based science instruction are critical for integrating engineering into K-12 science curricula. Purpose This study investigates pre-service teachers’ efforts to integrate engineering into their lesson plans. Sample 13 pre-service chemistry teachers, enrolled in a 13-week engineering-infused integrated STEM course, were the participants of the study. Design and Method Considering the purpose of the study, qualitative design was deemed to be the best fit including qualitative data collected through lesson plans and reflection papers. To assist pre-service teachers’ learning, 13-week engineering-infused integrated STEM was started with the information about the engineering profession and how engineers work. Additionally, pre-service teachers engaged in six integrated STEM activities including engineering design cycle. After each activity, the participants were asked to write a reflection paper on what they learned about engineering, the engineering design process, and integrated STEM. Finally, the participants had three chances for analyzing strong and weak integrated STEM lesson plans and planning integrated STEM lesson planning experience with mentors. The pre-and post-course lesson plans (n=26) were analyzed using existing codes from the related literature, which is a deductive coding process. Later, an inductive approach was used to determine the categories of engineering integration into the lesson plans. Four categories (ranging from a complete engineering lesson to a science lesson with no engineering link) were formed. Reflection papers were used to support the findings. Result The results showed that none of the pre-plans included engineering. However, after participated in a 13-week integrated STEM course, all post-course lesson plans integrated engineering through the use of engineering design processes to some extent. Conclusion The training with different experiences seems promising for pre-service teachers to learn engineering integration into STEM lesson plans.

A Case Study of Community of Inquiry Presences and Cognitive Load in Asynchronous Online STEM Courses

The design and facilitation of asynchronous online courses can have notable impacts on students related to persistence, performance, and perspectives. This case study presents current conditions for cognitive load and Community of Inquiry (CoI) presences in an asynchronous online introductory undergraduate STEM course. Researchers present the novel use of Python script to clean and organize data and a simplification of the instructional efficiency calculation for use of anonymous data. Key relationships between cognitive load and CoI presences are found through validated use of NASA-TLX instrument and transcript analysis of discussion posts. The data show that student presences are not consistent throughout a course but are consistent across sections. Instructor presences are not consistent throughout a course or across sections. The study also explored predominant factors within each presence, confirming previous reports of low cognitive presence in discussions. The highest extraneous cognitive load was reported for understanding expectations and preparing an initial post. These results provide support for improvements to course design and instructor professional development to promote Community of Inquiry and reduce extraneous cognitive load.