STEM Curriculum Research Articles

Post-pandemic e-learning: a pre-protocol to assess the integration of mobile VR and its effect on VARK learning styles

Background: The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in an abrupt but accelerated shift to e-learning worldwide. Education in a post-pandemic world has to amalgamate the advantages of e-learning with important pedagogical goals associated with in-person teaching. Although various advanced technologies are present at our fingertips today, we are still unable to use their full potential in teaching and learning. In this regard, mobile VR technology is both cost-efficient, versatile and engaging for students. Developing countries have more smartphone users than developed countries, implying that developing countries, like Malaysia, should utilize mobile or cellphones more significantly. With that in mind, we propose here a pre-protocol to investigate learner motivation and levels of engagement for e-learning with smartphone-integrated VR, based on their VARK (Visual, Auditory, Read/Write, Kinesthetic) learning styles. Proposed methodology: This study intends to use a minimum sample of 30 students from the same age group under the K-12 (particularly grade 9-12) belonging to STEM curriculum. The Google Cardboard VR set will be used as the prime technology for its affordability, easy build feature and variety of available vendors. A mixed-method (survey and activity log/tracking) for data collection is suggested to find the degree of engagement and motivation of the learners’ learning in the mobile VR-assisted e-learning context. The students will be taught a topic using the mobile VR and then be assessed through simple classroom quizzes to assess how well they grasped the concept. The data collected through activity logs (while teaching the topic in mobile VR) and questionnaires will be mapped to each individual learner and organized in a data repository. Further visualization, analysis and investigation will be performed using Smart PLS, Python or R language. Conclusions: The study aims to provide context for smartphone and software companies to develop technologies that could facilitate learner engagement during the post-pandemic state.

The development and evaluation of interdisciplinary STEM, sustainability, and management curriculum

There is an increasing need in the workforce for STEM and sustainability literate graduates. In practice, however, it is difficult to enact interdisciplinary STEM and sustainability curriculum, particularly in business disciplines. To address this gap, we designed, developed, implemented, and evaluated an interdisciplinary STEM, sustainability, and management course called Applied Organizational Sustainability using the ADDIE (analyze, design, develop, implement, evaluate) model for instructional design. We used a robust multi-method evaluation that includes pre-/post-tests and treatment/control groups to longitudinally assess changes in student sustainability knowledge. Quantitative results indicate significant improvement in three of the four sustainability knowledge measures for treatment students but not for control students. Qualitative results from a focus group indicate that (1) content was new to business and management students, (2) students found the content to be relevant to employment, and (3) students viewed the content as valuable to university curriculum. These results provide research-based support for the adaptation and expansion of interdisciplinary STEM and sustainability curriculum in higher education, including adaptation of Applied Organizational Sustainability, its modules, and/or its assignments.

Haynayan AR: An Augmented Reality-Based Lesson for the Improvement of Learning Achievement in Cell Biology for the STEM Curriculum

Haynayan AR: An Augmented Reality-Based Lesson for the Improvement of Learning Achievement in Cell Biology for the STEM Curriculum

Investing in AI for social good: an analysis of European national strategies

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become a driving force in modern research, industry and public administration and the European Union (EU) is embracing this technology with a view to creating societal, as well as economic, value. This effort has been shared by EU Member States which were all encouraged to develop their own national AI strategies outlining policies and investment levels. This study focuses on how EU Member States are approaching the promise to develop and use AI for the good of society through the lens of their national AI strategies. In particular, we aim to investigate how European countries are investing in AI and to what extent the stated plans contribute to the good of people and society as a whole. Our contribution consists of three parts: (i) a conceptualization of AI for social good highlighting the role of AI policy, in particular, the one put forward by the European Commission (EC); (ii) a qualitative analysis of 15 European national strategies mapping investment plans and suggesting their relation to the social good (iii) a reflection on the current status of investments in socially good AI and possible steps to move forward. Our study suggests that while European national strategies incorporate money allocations in the sphere of AI for social good (e.g. education), there is a broader variety of underestimated actions (e.g. multidisciplinary approach in STEM curricula and dialogue among stakeholders) that can boost the European commitment to sustainable and responsible AI innovation.

Development of STEM Curriculum Resources

Development of STEM Curriculum Resources

Application of artificial intelligence APP in quality evaluation of primary school science education

ABSTRACT Two scientific and systematic evaluation index systems are constructed for primary education APP and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) courses. These systems are revised and confirmed through two rounds of Delphi method. The Delphi method determines an educational application (APP) evaluation index system containing four first-level indicators and thirty-three second-level indicators and a primary school STEM curriculum evaluation index system containing five first-level indicators and nineteen second-level indicators. Finally, analytic hierarchy process is used to determine the weight of all indicators to rank the weights. In the evaluation index system of educational APP, the weight of teaching design is 0. 2900, ranking the first; the weight of interactive experience is 0.1801, ranking the last. In the STEM curriculum evaluation index system, the weight of innovation practice is 0.3472, which is the maximum; the weight of independent management is 0.0879, which is the minimum. It is of great significance to promote the deepening of primary school STEM curriculum learning evaluation, improve the effectiveness of STEM curriculum teaching, and promote the healthy development of primary school education APP.

Technology assessment in the STEM curriculum: Teaching responsible research and innovation skills to future innovators

This article describes and evaluates a novel approach to incorporating technology assessment (TA), responsible research and innovation as well as science and technology ethics into STEM curricula (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) by the example of the online course ‘Good Chemistry – Methodological, Ethical, and Social Dimensions.’ Based on the evaluation of extensive student feedback, this article answers positively to three major reservations (Is it possible? Is it necessary? Does it make a difference?) that often preclude such contents from STEM curricula: first, understanding the normative dimensions of chemists’ professional agency is a skill, like many others, that requires adequate teaching and training; second, engaging with TA issues not only teaches discourse and critical thinking skills, but increases students’ professional competences to collaborate in highly interdisciplinary settings; third, though this is less evidential and needs to proof in the future, it may enhance chemists’ responsibility as drivers of innovation.

Online STEM education during COVID-19 period: A systematic review of perceptions in higher education

Development of the STEM curriculum played a key role in economic development because it enabled the production of well-qualified production from schools. This development extensively depends on the demonstration of competence in key knowledge areas such as science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines (Dhurumraj et al., 2020). Sustainable STEM education is still in its early stage of development in higher education. Although the COVID-19 pandemic presented unprecedented challenges to this fairly new field, it also helped increase the focus on elements of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, concerning education (Sobrosa Neto et al., 2020). This study systematically reviewed the current articles (n=15) of STEM education in higher education during COVID-19. Results indicated that Faculty members considered the transition from face-to-face to web-based programs effective even though they faced several challenges. Further investigation showed that the application of STEM online learning has helped to increase students’ creativity and the rate of STEM research by both students and faculty members. Comparative studies about the differences between the two modes of STEM learning in higher education programs (face-to-face, online) and how they can be harmonized is suggested.

Crossing Discipline Boundaries in Gifted Science Instruction: Definitions, Considerations, and Challenges

This article focuses on the important instructional technique of integrated or interdisciplinary instruction with reference to the teaching of science but with implications for all school subjects. Readers are provided with a definition of the concept of the discipline and the importance of communicating the basic nature of a discipline to students in school settings. This leads to the concept of the levels of intradisciplinarity and later to the true “border crossing” that occurs when students must draw upon knowledge and practices from multiple disciplinary traditions when engaged in problem solving. The article concludes with a discussion of a recent trend in science instruction and consider the challenges of some forms of STEM curriculum designs.

The Relevance of STEM: a Case Study of an Australian Secondary School as an Arena of STEM Curriculum Innovation and Enactment

The Relevance of STEM: a Case Study of an Australian Secondary School as an Arena of STEM Curriculum Innovation and Enactment

All that glitters is not gold: confronting race-neutral perspectives on diversity and equity across STEM curricula

All that glitters is not gold: confronting race-neutral perspectives on diversity and equity across STEM curricula

STEM Curriculum Design Based on Learning Scaffold

STEM Curriculum Design Based on Learning Scaffold

Integrating and Evaluating Interdisciplinary Sustainability and STEM Curriculum in Geographical Education: A Case of Three Teaching Modalities

The effectiveness of interdisciplinary sustainability curriculum remains understudied in geography education. Accordingly, we deployed and evaluated an interdisciplinary sustainability and STEM module for in-person and online sections of a fall 2018 Human Geography course. Results indicate that sustainability knowledge improved after the interdisciplinary curricular intervention irrespective of course modality. Another focus is to explore student reactions to teaching modality due to COVID-19 disruptions. Results indicate that online student sustainability knowledge also improved during COVID-19 (fall 2020). For students in a section converted from in-person to blended, sustainability knowledge did not improve. Implications are provided.

Is HPS a valuable component of a STEM education? An empirical study of student interest in HPS courses within an undergraduate science curriculum

This paper presents the results of a survey of students majoring in STEM fields whose education contained a significant history, philosophy and sociology (HPS) of science component. The survey was administered to students in a North American public 4-year university just prior to completing their HPS sequence. The survey assessed students’ attitudes towards HPS to gauge how those attitudes changed over the course of their college careers, and to identify the benefits and obstacles to studying HPS as a component of their STEM education. The survey reveals that students generally found unexpected value in taking HPS within their STEM curriculum. It also reveals that framing HPS courses as a means of gaining communication skills necessary to be an influential scientist seems to resonate with students. However, students also identified several factors limiting engagement with HPS content, including the length and density of required readings and assessment via essays and papers.

The effectiveness of an integratedSTEMcurriculum unit on middle school students' life science learning

AbstractRecent calls for reform in K‐12 science education and the National Academy of Engineering's Grand Challenges for Engineering in the 21st Century emphasize improving science teaching, students' engagement, and learning. In this study, we designed and implemented a curriculum unit for sixth‐grade students (i = 1305). The curriculum unit integrated science and engineering content and practices to teach ecology, water pollution, and engineering design. We investigated the designed integrated STEM unit's effectiveness in students' science learning outcomes on pre‐, post‐, and delayed post‐assessments. We collected pre‐and post‐assessment data of students' science learning outcomes for both the baseline group (taught via existing district‐adopted curriculum) and an intervention group (taught with integrated life science and engineering curriculum). We used a quasi‐experimental research design and examined differences between baseline and intervention groups. We used ANCOVA to explore differences in students' learning in baseline and intervention groups. Furthermore, for students in the intervention group, we conducted repeated‐measures ANOVA to investigate knowledge retention. Our analyses also accounted for students' gender and People of Color (POC) status. We conducted multiple regression analyses to explore the relationship between students' gender, POC status, and their learning outcomes. The results indicated that the intervention group students performed significantly better than the students in the baseline group. The repeated measures ANOVA showed that students in the intervention group retained science knowledge after 8 weeks of instruction. Finally, the regression analysis for the baseline group showed that gender and POC status were not significant predictors of their post‐assessment scores. However, POC status was a significant predictor of post‐assessment scores and knowledge retention for the intervention group. Overall, this study provides valuable findings on how an integrated STEM curriculum designed with engineering design and practices improves students' science learning outcomes.

Designing an Integrated Undergraduate Disaster STEM Curriculum: A Cultural Shift in Higher Education Curriculum Development in Bangladesh

The Department of Disaster and Human Security Management (DHSM) at Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP) started its journey in 2015. This is one of the few programs at this university that began at the very beginning. At the onset, this study examined some of the existing undergraduate programs in Disaster Science and Management offered by various higher educational institutions around Bangladesh. Among these programs, a handful are well-organized and utilize an integrated curriculum responsive to the needs of the 21st century. Transforming the traditional undergraduate programs and curricula of Social Disaster Management into an integrated STEM program from policy to practice is a considerable challenge, and students have many expectations for this cutting-edge discipline. This study found that very few Bangladeshi academicians and professionals can develop dynamic suggestions regarding this matter and have the knowledge to design an effective program and curriculum for the future students of this discipline. As a result, certain challenges devising integrated STEM-based programs may jeopardize the development and implementation of disaster management programs at the university level. Hence, adequate qualified members, budget, laboratory, and equipment must implement a multidisciplinary STEM program. Moreover, an innovative STEM program requires additional support from diverse professional organizations to support projects and research. Very often, national higher education policy and regulatory institutions create obstacles. At the same, attempts are made to launch such innovative and integrated programs. This study recommends that a new integration be partially implemented, turning into a milestone of Bangladesh’s 21st-century higher education reformation process.

Educators’ Perspectives on Factors Impacting STEM Achievement in Rural Indigenous Student-Serving Schools

This study addressed the question, “What factors do experts perceive as impacting STEM achievement of students in rural schools with predominantly Indigenous students?” A thematic analysis of interviews with 40 educators with a depth of experience identified six major themes: holistic STEM education, inclusion of local culture in STEM education, highly qualified staff, STEM curriculum and instruction, technology, and STEM funding. These themes were interrelated. Holistic education demanded more individualized curriculum and required more highly qualified staff who could adapt the curriculum and integrate technology with traditional knowledge, but these educators were harder to hire and retain due to low funding. It is emphasized that efforts to raise STEM achievement of Indigenous students attending rural schools should be embedded within consideration of the larger system, including the academic, emotional, and cultural experiences of students and financial, technological and human resources available.

The Curriculum and Community Enterprise for Restoration Science Making STEM Accessible, Equitable and Environmentally Relevant

Underrepresented and marginalized students have challenges when connecting their personal identities to STEM identities. This has a direct impact on the post-secondary educational and career choices of these students. Some factors which contribute to the disenfranchisement of marginalized students include inequity in academic preparation, students’ lack of self-efficacy and self-identity in STEM, students’ lack of connection to the STEM curriculum and students’ lack of role models and mentors. Although the opportunities in the STEM workforce are abundant and lucrative, students who identify as students of color, female and/or English language learners are poorly represented in the STEM professions. Through the CCERS STEM + C Program, students are asked to expand their STEM identity through near-peer mentoring, encounters with STEM experts and individual STEM Research projects that are focused on the environmental restoration of New York Harbor, its watershed and the native oyster population.

Cookie-Jar Alarms: An Analysis of First-Grade Students’ Gendered Conceptions of Engineers following a Programming Design Task

Women remain underrepresented in engineering and broadening participation has recently become the focus of education reform efforts. Increased emphasis on K-12 engineering education calls for the design of learning environments and curricula that increase interest and conceptual understanding of engineering work, beginning in the early years of childhood. We seek to understand what works, for whom, in what contexts, how it works, and how engineering curricula can be improved to promote social justice. Here, we evaluate the impact of a curricular intervention designed to promote equity in elementary engineering education. The integrated STEM curriculum unit engages first-grade students in programming a cookie-jar alarm. Using a KIBO robot, students program a distance sensor to trigger the alarm and customize the sounds and flashing lights. Students’ pre-/post-drawings of ‘engineers at work’ were used to elicit reflection in semi-structured interviews, and to assess changes in students’ conceptions of engineering work following the curricular intervention. A mixed analysis of the data revealed students’ conceptual understanding of engineering work improved following the two-week curricular intervention, regardless of gender. However, the girls in the study were more likely than boys to identify as an engineer following the programming design task. We discuss the students’ self-reported explanations and elements of the intervention that may have facilitated conceptual change. We recommend that, to promote equity in engineering education, “gender-responsive” curricula are essential.

The Effects of an Undergraduate Research on Pre-Service Teachers’ Notions of STEM Education and Educational Research

Pre-service teachers (PSTs) often lack the self-efficacy necessary to effectively implement STEM education into their classrooms. Undergraduate research experiences (URE) can help fill this void by providing opportunities for PSTs to engage with STEM content and K–12 students in a field-based research context. This case study details the impact a URE had on PSTs’ STEM self-efficacy and views on research. The URE consisted of STEM curriculum development, teaching the curriculum at a local middle school, gathering research data, and presenting results at academic conferences. Participation in the URE positively influenced the PSTs’ self-efficacy in STEM and changed their perceptions regarding research. This research provides practical value to educator preparation programs (EPPs) as an option to enhance STEM education for PSTs.