STEM Lessons Research Articles

STEM education for Industry 4.0 in technical and vocational high schools: Investigation of teacher professional development

The goals of this study were to investigate technical and vocational education (TVET) teachers’ progress in their knowledge, perceptions, and competencies related to Industry 4.0 components and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) within the context of a professional development program. A case study design was followed to reveal in-depth information on teacher improvement. Data sources included the Teacher Knowledge Survey, Teacher Perceptions Survey, and Industry 4.0 and STEM Competencies Survey. Results indicated significant improvement in teachers’ Industry 4.0 competencies and their content knowledge of Industry 4.0 components and STEM. Teachers reported a culture of collaboration in their school, increased teacher and student motivation, and positive attitudes toward TVET with implementation of the STEM PD program. The results point to the need to help teachers in designing certain aspects of STEM lesson plans including the integration of mobile programming, robotic programming and virtual reality meaningfully into the lesson content. Further implications for research and practice are presented in light of the findings.

Conceiving Socioscientific Issues in STEM Lessons from Science Education Research and Practice

This paper aims to elicit the different conceptions of Socioscientific Issues (SSI) in formal, non-tertiary STEM lessons. An examination of recent publications in the field of science education was conducted to elicit the most common conceptions of SSI as per the components of STEM lessons, namely: purpose, contents, teaching and learning strategies and assessment. As for purpose, the conceptions elicited have been organized in terms of contributing to citizenship goals, or to scientific competence. As for contents, it was found that SSI are related both to knowledge of science and knowledge about science and linked to skills such as argumentation. In terms of teaching and learning strategies, SSI are mainly associated with Inquiry-Based Learning; and with student engagement techniques such as dilemmas and group discussions. Lastly, performance assessment of student learning processes and results is typical when SSI are conceived as a method of assessment of STEM lessons. This conception sets up strong foundations for the design and evaluation of innovative SSI teaching. It shall also help to open new lines of research establishing connections among applications of SSI in different subjects, cultural contexts and educational systems.

A case study exploring primary teachers’ experiences of a STEM education school-university partnership

ABSTRACT This paper explores the experiences and professional learning of a group of in-service primary school teachers, participating in a STEM education programme in Ireland. Four primary teachers from the same case school engaged in a two-year project to explore STEM teaching and learning. This STEM project was structured as a multi-tiered partnership involving these four in-service teachers collaborating with six STEM teacher educators and a group of pre-service primary teachers, working together to develop an effective school-university STEM collaboration. The project focused on developing and facilitating meaningful classroom-based STEM learning experiences for primary aged children in the school. This paper specifically explores the professional learning and experiences of the in-service teacher participants. The teachers engaged in co-creating and co-facilitating a series of STEM lessons over two years in partnership with, and supported by the university STEM Education faculty. The paper provides insight into the participating teachers’ professional learning in STEM education, as well as implications for school–university partnerships.

Technology deployment in physics lessons: Understanding optics better with Augmented Reality

The following article presents the results of a seminar on “Augmented Reality in Institutional Education”. There, together with STEM trainee teachers, an optics experimentation circle was developed for pupils in the 7th and 8th grade at the Gymnasium for the subject of “Nature & Technology” or “Physics”. This includes (real) experiments (lunar phases / eclipses, refraction, refractive error, color mixing), which were enriched with Augmented Reality technology created by the students. By creating a learning scenario with the help of Augmented Reality at school, the real environment continues to be perceived by the students but is supplemented with visualizations of physical model concepts. For example, the refraction of laser light on a water surface in the real experiment was overlaid with a visualization of the physical ray model of light, so that both information can be perceived simultaneously. This offers the students the opportunity to link physical model concepts statically but also in their spatial or temporal change in conjunction with the real experiment and to actively interact with it at the same time. Even without linking to a real object, augmented reality makes it possible to visualize changing processes or three-dimensional movements of virtual objects and to integrate holograms into the real world. We hope that the experiments presented here can demonstrate the benefits of AR extensions to real experiments, so that more applications will find their way into STEM lessons in the future.

Breaking Barriers: Evaluating a Pilot STEM Intervention for Latinx Children of Spanish-Speaking Families

STEM achievement gaps between Latinx and their non-Hispanic White (NHW) counterparts emerge in early childhood and persist through adulthood. Culturally relevant STEM interventions can help counter some of the Latinx higher attrition rates in STEM, especially if they are initiated in elementary school. This study assesses the feasibility, acceptability, and impact on STEM Career Interest of an evidence-based, after-school STEM Program for elementary school Latinx children from Spanish-speaking families. Twenty-three 3rd to 5th grade children in a dual-language school in Colorado participated in 8 weekly STEM lessons, a field trip, and a culturally relevant fair with Latinx STEM professional role models. The following measures were used: (1) attendance rates, (2) changes in a STEM Career Interest Survey, and (3) children and caregivers’ reported satisfaction with the program. Attendance and satisfaction with the program were high. Students’ STEM Career Interest showed a statistically significant increase between pre- and post-program; however, the subscales of the STEM Career Interest Survey did not show a significant increase. It was feasible to implement the STEM interest program at the center of this study with elementary school Latinx students, and the program demonstrated success in increasing students’ STEM Career Interest. Moreover, the program is novel in that it addresses a significant barrier to economic mobility in the Spanish-speaking Latinx community (i.e., the high attrition rates in STEM participation). With some adaptations (e.g., longer duration), this program can serve as a model for interventions in other schools or academic settings.

Raising environmental awareness through local-based environmental education in STEM lessons

Republic Act 9512 mandates the promotion of environmental awareness through and by integrating environmental education in both public and private schools. Seeing STEM education in new light that seeks in helping learners use the local environment as a vehicle for developing understanding various environmental issues. Providing adequate STEM and environmental education will make everyone appreciate their relationship with the environment which lead toenvironmental awareness and in developing a sustainable future. This study aimed to develop Local-Based Lessons on Environmental Education through integrationto STEM lessons to raise environmental awareness among grade 8 learners. The study employed Quasi-experimental qualitatively supported with two-group pre-test-post-test design to examine the effectiveness of the Developed Local-Based Lessons on Environmental Education. T-test analysis between post-test scores of the control and experimental groups revealed to be significantly different at t (75.108) = -17.595, p=0.000 with the experimental group (M=24.49,SD=4.98) scoring higher than control group (M=8.99, SD=3.20). Similar result was found between the two groups gain score at: control and experimental, t(56.207) = -19.408, p(0.000)<.05, two-tailed with the experimental group gaining score higher than the control group. This implies that the Developed Local-Based Lessons on Environmental Education integrated to STEM lessons has increased the environmental awareness of the learners.

Design of a 7E model inquiry-based STEM (iSTEM) lesson on digestive system for Grade 8: An open-inquiry approach

In this research, we integrated inquiry-based learning and the 7E model lesson planning to STEM education and used the approach called Inquiry-based STEM learning (iSTEM) in order to engage students to be active participants in the teaching-learning process. The main goal of this study is geared towards the development of a 7E model inquiry-based STEM (iSTEM) lesson specifically on the parts and functions of the digestive system for grade 8 learners. The 7E model inquiry-based STEM (iSTEM) lesson was developed through the following stages: a. Selection of topic b. Identification of learning objectives c.designing of activity d. Assessment by the panel of experts e. revision f. pilot testing g. final revision h. ready to use 7E model inquiry-based (iSTEM) digestive system lesson. It was rated excellent by the panel of experts that was comprised of in-service science teachers. The performance of the students during the pilot testing (explore phase) was also excellent and 100% of them reached the passing standard. This implies that the developed 7E model inquiry-based STEM (iSTEM) digestive system lesson has a positive effect on the performance of the students and is ensured to have the features that can improve the teaching-learning process.

Ecology and STEM

This paper is devoted to combining ecology challenges and STEM technologies. We consider ecology as an integral part of STEM process. The including of ecology in the STEM allows not only to develop mathematician calculations and engineering skills but also forms students’ ecological consciousness. The attempt to combine ecology and STEM is aimed to make the knowledge in ecological sphere more practical. STEM education can help in solving the main ecological problems and challenges. STEM lessons, projects, conferences, exchanges could explain and give a living example of damages caused to our planet by irrational using of natural resources. It can improve public awareness and show the careful attitude to our planet.

Supporting interdisciplinary instruction on science, mathematics and technology for Thai gifted students: centered on Raiwa lesson plan

This study focuses on teacher development through the continually action workshop of technology-enhanced integration STEM framework. The primary goal was the ambition to integrate active learning activity into national teacher training for gifted classrooms, which is provided by The Institution for the Promoting of Teaching Science and Technology—with teaching practice, aligned with professional development on teacher’s understanding of STEM activity. The study aims to identify how teachers develop their understanding of Raiwa-STEM activity, which is shown in their lesson plans. Therefore, the study focused on developing 900 in-service teachers who were science, mathematics and computer teachers that participated in this national teacher training. Data sources throughout the research project consisted of Lesson Plan Assessment, Semi-structure interviews, and document analysis. Interpretive framework was used to analyze the data. Research findings indicate that these research participants who were the teachers work closely with gifted students that have developed their understanding on the Raiwa-STEM activity. Collaboration work among teachers from different subjects encourages them to understand how the STEM activity looks like and how it transfers into an active classroom. After the teachers have experienced with Raiwa activities, they were assigned to develop their classroom implementations which were shown in their Raiwa-STEM lesson plans. From data analysis the teachers can design a connecting STEM lesson into student’s daily life, and create evaluation and assessment of the STEM classroom. The development of teachers’ understanding and practice is presented in their lesson plans that are produced during training. 75.90 % of the total STEM Lesson plans are of a good level. Moreover, the study also indicates the importance of co-working among teachers from different expertise areas in sub activities preparation that can build interdisciplinary connection of STEM concepts. Raiwa is an example of interdisciplinary instruction which can provide stud ents the use of technology-integrated knowledge and the potential of STEM-focused education to provide all students with the opportunities of STEM experience.

Forging 21st century skills development through enhancement of K to 12 gas laws module: a step towards STEM Education

STEM Education though an old educational reform in US, Europe and other Asian countries is newly introduced to Philippine setting. Two notion confused educators whether the term is an approach or a track in the senior high school curriculum. The term STEM Education refers to the integration of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics but the heart of it is simply to develop the students’ capability of 21st century skills needed of the time for a lifelong learning. This study aims to: (1) enhance students’ conceptual understanding and increase performance level through utilization of the enhanced module; to (2) develop students’ 21st Century skills, namely: collaboration, knowledge construction, self-regulation, real-world problem solving skills, use of ICT for learning and skilled communication; and to (3) proposed STEM education Lesson plan on topic Gas Laws. The researcher employed experts (in content and pedagogy) to evaluate and rate specific topic on Gas laws, from the original learning module of the Department of Education (DepEd) K to 12 curriculum materials, using the 21st Century Learning Design Rubrics (21CLD). Results yielded low ratings thereby providing basis for module enhancement. Enhancement and revision of the module were done based on the experts’ formative evaluation. After science and Technology High School, school year 2017-2018, who were paired according to pretest results and were regrouped into experimental and control group for quasi-experimental design interpretation. A suggested STEM education lesson plan was generated to further integrate their concepts in gas laws and its application to technology, engineering and mathematics. Findings indicated that students in the experimental group not only developed and improved their 21st century skills with the aid of the enhanced module but also significantly improved their conceptual understanding and performance level as compared to the control group. Generally, this study provides enough evidence that the enhanced module brought significant impact to students’ academic performance. Study recommends using the enhanced module in public schools to cater the needs of the 21srt century learners. Furthermore, it is suggested that STEM lesson plan as an approach be prepared after the specific lesson on Gas laws will be introduced for students to fully integrate Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics in the issues and its applications about the topic.

Effect of Learning by Design Approach in Teaching Physics

This paper analyses the effect of the implementation of a STEM lesson plan utilizing Learning by Design approach in teaching Newton’s Third Law of Motion. This study employed one group pretest-posttest research design. Pilot testing of the STEM Lesson was done to develop an enhance lesson activity. The enhance lesson activity was conducted to the 8th-grade students of a public school in one of the Junior High School in Iligan City using the PPITR (Present the scenario, Plan, Implement, Test and Revise) framework. The implementation of this lesson gives opportunity for the students to test and redesign their rocket output Result shows that high, average, and low ability students benefited the learning by design approach.

Utilization of ICT-integrated STEM lessons on biodiversity for grade 8 learners

The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of the utilization of an ICT-integrated STEM lessons on biodiversity for grade 8 learners. The study used the quasi-experimental design. There were eighty (80) participants that were match sampled in terms of their average grades in Grade 8. The experimental group which composed of forty (40) participants were exposed to the developed technology based instructional material (TBIM) while another forty (40) participants were exposed to the traditional method of teaching (TMOT). Both the control group (TMOT) and the experimental group (TBIM) pretest scores lies to the Beginning (B) level of understanding. In the post-test, the experimental group scores results to Advance (A) level of understanding while the control group has a Proficient (P) level of understanding. The p-value of the control group, 0.019, is closer to the boundary (0.05) while the p-value of the experimental group, 0.000, was very far from it. This infers that the experimental group had recorded a higher difference than the control group. Thus, the utilization of an ICT-integrated STEM lessons on biodiversity for grade 8 learners were found to be effective in enhancing conceptual knowledge of the participants.

Transcending disciplines: Engaging college students in interdisciplinary research, integrated STEM, and partnerships

An authentic, interdisciplinary, research and problem-based integrated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) project may be ideal for encouraging scientific inquiry and developing teamwork among undergraduate students, but it also presents challenges. The authors describe how two interdisciplinary teams (n=6) of undergraduate college students built integrated STEM projects in a research based internship setting, and then collaboratively brought the project to fruition to include designing lessons and activities shared with K-12 students in a classroom setting. Each three person undergraduate team consisted of two STEM majors and one Education major. The Education majors are a special focus for this study. Interviews, field observations, and lesson plan artifacts collected from the undergraduate college students were analyzed according to authenticity factors, the authentic scientific inquiry instrument, and an integrated STEM instrument. The authors highlight areas of strength and weakness for both teams and explore how preservice teachers contributed to integrated STEM products and lessons. Teacher educators might apply recommendations for teacher preparation and professional development when facilitating authentic scientific inquiry and integrated STEM topics with both STEM and non-STEM educators. Undergraduate college students were challenged to fully integrate the STEM disciplines, transitions between them, and the spaces between them where multiple disciplines existed. By describing the challenges of integrating the spaces between STEM, the authors offer a description of the undergraduate college students’ experiences in an effort to expand the common message beyond a flat approach of try this activity because it works, to a more robust message of try this type of engagement and purposefully organize for maximum results.

Teaching math modeling through 3D‐printing: Examining the influence of an integrative professional development

AbstractMathematical modeling is a critical component of the current K–12 mathematics, science, and technology and engineering (T&amp;E) educational standards in the United States. However, mathematical modeling is often overlooked or underemphasized in integrative STEM lessons. This could be attributed to teachers’ limited content and pedagogical knowledge related to integrating mathematical modeling in integrative STEM lessons. Continual advances in technologies like 3D design and printing software and additive manufacturing processes now allow students to see abstract mathematical modeling concepts in contextualized and practical forms. Consequently, we examined changes in mathematics, science, and T&amp;E teachers’ mathematical modeling knowledge and views resulting from a 1‐day integrative professional development (PD) experience. The PD specifically focused on applying mathematical modeling concepts to design and 3D print solutions to integrative STEM lessons. A sample of 50 participating teachers reported increases in certain mathematical modeling knowledge areas, and a large percentage indicated they were more likely to implement mathematical modeling in their classrooms. The results from this study indicated that integrative PD could enhance teachers’ content knowledge, practices, and views about integrative STEM lessons including mathematical modeling and 3D printing. The findings from this study have implications for teachers, school districts, researchers, and professional development providers.

"Doing" mindsets in the classroom: A coding scheme for teacher and student mindset-related verbalizations.

There is a growing body of research showing the crucial role that students’ growth versus fixed ability-mindsets have in their school achievement, enjoyment, and resilience. The overwhelming majority of this research adopts a variable-oriented approach. As a result, little is known about how teachers and students coregulate each other’s mindsets within classroom interactions. This manuscript addresses the need for more person-oriented research that examines how teachers and students do mindsets in naturalistic settings, i.e., their mindsetrelated verbalizations. In this manuscript, we provide a coding scheme to study the moment-to-moment dynamics of mindset-related verbalizations of both teachers and students within Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) contexts: The STEAM (Student-TEAcherMindset) coding scheme. We demonstrate the utility of the coding system through content and ecological validity, inter-rater reliability, and a case study of STEAM-generated time-series data. We show how these data can be used to chart moment-to-moment dynamics that occur between teacher and student. The coding scheme provides teachers and researchers with a practical tool for analyzing how person-specific mindset-related language can wax and wane in the context of peer and teacher interactions within STEM lessons.

Topic choice for a STEM lesson with local practice context

One of the main features of STEM education is to be oriented towards practical activities and knowledge application to solve real-life problems. However, in the first step of deployment, teachers often use copied problem contexts from abroad. There are many difficulties in approaching, creating excitement and motivation for students when it is not close to their real life. The more relevant the topic to the real local context is, the more important it is to motivate students to participate and at the same time make it easy for teachers to find topics for the STEM educational model. In this study, when choosing a topic associated with a real local context, both teachers and students easily reach and achieve goals with the STEM educational model.

Indonesian Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Preservice Teachers’ Experiences in STEM-TPACK Design-Based Learning

This paper presents Indonesian preservice teachers’ experiences in designing a Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics-Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (STEM-TPACK) learning website. The framework of TPACK was expanded to include all STEM subjects for the synthesis of the theoretical/design framework. The STEM-TPACK framework is further epitomized as a replicable website to support preservice teachers in designing STEM lesson activities. The framework is also employed to examine preservice teachers’ efficacies and experiences in learning how to design the learning website. Thirty-seven second- and third-year Indonesian preservice teachers from science, mathematics, computer science, and engineering backgrounds formed interdisciplinary groups to design the STEM-TPACK website based on the current secondary school curricula. Data were collected from TPACK-STEM questionnaires, interviews, reflective journals, and observation. The preservice teachers’ efficacy for their STEM-TPACK developed significantly, with large effect sizes, after they co-designed the websites. The results also indicate that the preservice teachers faced challenges in communicating their discipline-based content knowledge when developing the STEM projects. Contextualizing and connecting their content knowledge with real-world design challenges was also difficult for them. Consequently, the preservice teachers realized that teaching is a complex matter, especially when they need to integrate the different disciplines for STEM education. However, this was viewed in a positive light for professional development. This study implies that preservice teachers may benefit from learning by design, employing the TPACK framework in the social setting of interdisciplinary STEM communities.

Analysis of elements that support implementation of high‐quality engineering design within the elementary classroom

AbstractOne model of engineering integration that has shown promise is the use of engineering design as a context to support teachers as they conceptualize and plan integrated STEM lessons. However, integrating engineering into science instruction presents a number of challenges, especially at the elementary level, and the implementation of high‐quality engineering design‐based instruction is not often what is actualized in the classroom. This study investigated how teachers operationalized an engineering design‐based lesson in their classroom by examining what elements of engineering teachers chose to include within in their lesson plan and enact in the classroom. Participants included 20 triads composed of teachers, student teachers, and engineering graduate students. Utilizing a multiple case study approach, this study found that there were four main groupings related to how teachers operationalized engineering design‐based instruction in their classrooms. Results suggest that even though there were several engineering design elements that were included in a majority of the lesson plans, such as context, constraints, materials exploration, and building, and testing solutions, some characteristics were found to be more influential than others when looking at how to help teachers to implement high‐quality engineering design‐based instruction.

Elementary preservice teachers' integration of engineering into STEM lesson plans

AbstractScience, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) integration is a desired outcome according to Next Generation Science Standards. However, learning to teach integrated STEM content has been challenging for teachers. Consequently, the purpose of this qualitative study was to describe how 16 preservice teachers enrolled in a mathematics methods course created integrated STEM lesson plans that incorporated an authentic engineering problem. Content analysis of the completed integrated STEM lesson plans used the Quality K‐12 Engineering Education Framework to identify any characteristics of engineering. We found that 15 of 16 preservice teachers demonstrated at least an emerging ability to create an integrated STEM lesson that contained an engineering problem, constraints, a prototype or model, model testing, and data collection and analysis related to the model. We concluded that giving preservice teachers opportunities to experience engineering design problems could better prepare them to design and implement integrated STEM education in their classrooms. The findings from this study have practical implications for mathematics methods teacher educators who teach the pedagogy behind STEM education. This study also has theoretical implications because socially situated learning theory was extended to Model‐Eliciting Activities and connected them to the K‐12 Framework for Quality Engineering Education.

Physics-chemistry preservice teachers' opinions about preparing and implementation of STEM lesson plan

The popularization of the STEM educational model has also brought along the need for well-trained teachers. In this model, it is aimed to understand examples in real world and solve related problems. Of course, this depends on the development of critical thinking, creative thinking, researching and experimental skills. For these reasons, in the study, the difficulties which the physics-chemistry preservice teachers encountered while preparing lesson plans in relation to STEM implementations and their opinions about the implementation of these plans. For this purpose, the preservice teachers were asked to form real life-related, information-based problems covering the acquisitions included in the high school programs and then they were expected to turn these into STEM lesson plans. The study is a descriptive study, one of the qualitative research methods. The data was collected via the forms developed by the researchers and including open-ended questions and one-to-one interviews. The obtained data was analyzed according to the steps of content analysis. When the analysis results were examined, it was found that the preservice teachers had difficulty in forming real life-related, information-based problems covering the acquisitions included in the high school programs and integrating them with scientific knowledge and in the engineering integration of STEM implementations and finding materials.