School STEM Research Articles

Examination of modelling in K-12 STEM teacher education: Connecting theory with practice

<p style='text-indent:20px;'>The goal of this paper is to examine the place of modelling in STEM education and teacher education. First, we introduce modelling as a cyclical process of generating, testing, and applying knowledge while highlighting the epistemological commonalities and differences between the STEM disciplines. Second, we build on the four well-known frameworks, to propose an Educational Framework for Modelling in STEM, which describes both teacher and student roles in the modelling cycle. Third, we use this framework to analyze how modelling is presented in the new mathematics and science school curricula in two Canadian provinces (Ontario and British Columbia), and how it could be implemented in teacher education. Fourth, we emphasize the epistemological aspects of the Educational Framework for Modelling in STEM, as disciplinary epistemological foundations may seem too abstract to both teacher educators and teachers of STEM school subjects. Yet, epistemologies are the driving forces within each discipline and must be considered while teaching STEM as a unified field. To nurture critical thinkers and innovators, it is critical to pay attention to what knowledge is and how it is created and tested. The Educational Framework for Modelling in STEM may be helpful in introducing students and future teachers to the process of modelling, regardless of if they teach it in a single- or a multi-discipline course, such as STEM. This paper will be of interest to teacher educators, teachers, researchers, and policy makers working within and between the STEM fields and interested in promoting STEM education and its epistemological foundations.</p>

What’s in Their Words? How STEM Game Design Participants Discuss Their Projects, Motivation, and Success Differently

This study explored whether participation in a high school STEM game design enrichment program influenced students’ discussions of project goals, motivation, and success. Seventeen high school students were included in the study, seven participated in the game design program, while ten were traditional students. Post-interviews were conducted using a semi-structured protocol in order to capture students' lived experience in a rich, meaningful way. Transcripts were qualitatively coded by two researchers. Connections between codes were analyzed using epistemic network analysis. Based on experience grouping, we investigated whether there was a difference in how students discussed (1) their projects? (2) their motivation? (3) their success? First, our findings revealed that traditional students discussed performance goals, while game design participants discussed learning goals. Second, game design participants discussed intrinsic motivation while traditional students discussed extrinsic motivation. Third, game design participants discussed persistence in relationship to their success; traditional students did not attribute their success to persistence. Overall, our combined results indicate that traditional students were performance-oriented, while game design participants were mastery-oriented. Designing STEM games is one potential method for helping students develop the mastery orientation that they need for success in future STEM careers and for their future in general.

Research on the Development and Practice of High School STEM School-based Curriculum Based on Innovative Education

世界科学出版社（World Science Publishing-WSP）立足国际，积极配合中国“走出去”出版战略，大力推进版权输出与引进，并不断拓展国际间的交流与合作，取得显著成绩。WSP国际图书出版项目力倡中国科研人员出版英文图书，出版社具有丰富的国际传播资源与雄厚的编辑、翻译、出版力量，拥有一批著名的中外翻译专家、出版专家，及一支精通国际出版的编辑、翻译和国际营销队伍。探索“科学进步”与“社会进步”是人类永恒主题，WSP推崇以科学信仰引领学术方向，遵循各国法律和地方法规，能够协助您优质、快捷、低

¿Cómo diseñar un buen proyecto STEM? Identificación de tensiones en la co-construcción de una rúbrica para su mejora

espanolEn un contexto donde la ensenanza de las ciencias en educacion secundaria frecuentemente se realiza a traves de la metodologia ABP, aparece la necesidad de disponer de instrumentos que permitan mejorar la calidad de los proyectos STEM que se implementan. Con esta finalidad, y a partir de un modelo de ciencia escolar basado en participar de las formas de hacer, pensar y hablar de las ciencias este estudio se plantea en el contexto de un proceso de co-construccion y validacion por expertos de una rubrica de mejora de proyectos STEM en 3 fases. En este escenario, se desarrolla una investigacion evaluativa desde una aproximacion cualitativa-interpretativa analizando el discurso de los expertos pertenecientes a un grupo de investigacion en didactica. De este analisis se identificaron 4 grandes tensiones en el consenso de indicadores para establecer criterios para la mejora de los proyecto EnglishRegarding the growing use of PBL for teaching and learning high school Science, there appears thenecessity of instruments that make STEM projects evaluation feasible. For that purpose, based on a cognitivemodel of Science Education that focuses on how scientist work, think and communicate, it was developed a co-construction and validation process of a rubric instrument. Aided by an interdisciplinary research group onScience Education, the 3-step co-construction process was the context of an evaluative investigation from aqualitative-interpretative approach. By analyzing participants discourse, 4 major tensions were found to havedirect implications on project improvement

PREDICTING RURAL STEM TEACHERS’ ACCEPTANCE OF MOBILE LEARNING IN THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

In South Africa, high schools’ Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education is faced with many challenges. However, previous studies have shown that mobile learning (m-learning) can be used to lessen the challenges faced in STEM education. Despite the benefits that m-learning can bring into STEM classrooms, its adoption is still below the expected rate. The acceptance of m-learning depends on the attitude of its users. Most studies focused on learners’ acceptance of m-learning. However, very little is known about rural high school STEM teachers’ acceptance of m-learning in the Fourth industrial revolution (4IR) era. This study proposes a model, which extends the Technology Acceptance Model by introducing perceived social influence and perceived resources. Stratified random sampling was used to select 150 teachers to participate in the survey. A total of 114 valid questionnaires were collected, and data were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling. The proposed model explained 37.9 % of the variance in teachers’ behavioural intention to use m-learning in the 4IR era. Perceived attitude towards the use was found to be the best predictor of teachers’ behavioural intention, followed by perceived ease of use, perceived resources, perceived social influence, and lastly perceived usefulness

Scattering for STEM: Developing a Scattering Class with an Awareness of Barriers to Public Engagement

Background: Public engagement (PE) is a long standing part of higher education, with a rapidly changing role. Increasingly, it is becoming integrated into the culture of research. Investigations of the barriers hindering this have identified key areas to be addressed. Communication of current research and the relationship between different research areas are key to policy in PE, to address the perception of areas such as nuclear physics, and improve PE impact. Purpose: To develop public engagement resources with consideration of these barriers, that enable integrated learning of both current research, curricula and science skills. Methods: The barriers identified are discussed in the context of how they have been targeted within UK nuclear PE. Kick-Start awards, providing dedicated time for PE for ECRs, were of significant support to this. A new class on the physics of scattering, has been developed. Scattering is relevant across not only nuclear physics but all STEM subjects and school curricula. Results: Clearly defining terminology, audience, the intended product of projects for PE and providing dedicated time through internships for early career researchers (ECRs) lowered the barriers into public engagement. The scattering class linked key STEM skills including abstract thinking and data analysis, suitable for a range of experience levels, to nuclear physics experiments. Conclusions: Recent PE within nuclear physics is developing methods to overcome barriers to PE, particularly for ECRs. A scattering class has been developed and distributed internationally, for exhibitions and school workshops.

Enhancing senior high school student engagement and academic performance using an inclusive and scalable inquiry-based program

The multi-disciplinary nature of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers often renders difficulty for high school students navigating from classroom knowledge to post-secondary pursuits. Discrepancies between the knowledge-based high school learning approach and the experiential approach of future studies leaves some students disillusioned by STEM. We present Discovery, a term-long inquiry-focused learning model delivered by STEM graduate students in collaboration with high school teachers, in the context of biomedical engineering. Entire classes of high school STEM students representing diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds engaged in iterative, problem-based learning designed to emphasize critical thinking concomitantly within the secondary school and university environments. Assessment of grades and survey data suggested positive impact of this learning model on students’ STEM interests and engagement, notably in under-performing cohorts, as well as repeating cohorts that engage in the program on more than one occasion. Discovery presents a scalable platform that stimulates persistence in STEM learning, providing valuable learning opportunities and capturing cohorts of students that might otherwise be under-engaged in STEM.

Development and validation of a high school STEM self‐assessment inventory

AbstractThe development of inclusive STEM high schools that have no academic admission requirements has been a national goal in the United States. However, there is no umbrella organization that gives guidance for structuring such schools. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a self‐assessment using critical components of successful inclusive STEM high schools for school personnel and educational researchers who wish to better understand their STEM programs and identify areas of strength. A multi‐phase methodology was employed. In the first step, eight in‐depth case studies were generated, and common themes were identified. In the second step, inventory items were iteratively generated and tested for reliability and validity, using a sample of 78 teachers and researchers in five schools. In the third step, the inventory was field‐tested in a single school. The OSPRI inventory demonstrates strong content validity and reliability. Teachers and researchers generally responded similarly, although some differences emerged that are indicative of their respective experiences and perspectives. School stakeholders and educational researchers can use this inventory, in whole or in part, to better understand their STEM programs and establish a future agenda that best capitalizes on their strengths.

Multifaceted Chemistry Conceptual Profile of Selected Senior High School STEM Students from a Private School in Manila

Chemistry has always been identified as a discipline with pluralistic characteristics. This implies that chemistry can be viewed differently based on one’s conception, conceptual model, and conceptual change. Subsequently, this denotes into a diverse context, different profiles of conceptions, which then convey multifaceted view of the discipline. The polysemous view of chemistry was addressed and proposed into six chemistry conceptual profile zones - monist, epistemic, processual, pragmatic, aversive, and attractive. There is a need to recognize this and structure chemistry education based on conceptual profile, since the discipline is naturally complex, rich, and multifaceted. The objective of the study is to analyze, identify, and categorize the multifaceted conceptions in chemistry of selected senior high school STEM students enrolled in a certain private school in Manila City, under these six conceptual profile zones. More so, the study aims to determine the possible ways to improve the conceptions of students based on their own response and perspective. Descriptive qualitative research design through semantic thematic analysis and statistical inference using Chi-square of Goodness-of-Fit were employed to analyze the data. The result revealed that almost all of these (n=57) selected SHS STEM students can conceptualize the epistemic view in the profile zone but not the other five. Based on the two themes generated, it can be implied that there is always an opportunity for critical reflection on how to reconceptualize the discipline and take chemistry into a more authentic field of science and science education.

Giving Feedback on Peers\u2019 Concept Maps in an Inquiry Learning Context: The Effect of Providing Assessment Criteria

Giving and receiving peer feedback is seen as an important vehicle for deep learning. Defining assessment criteria is a first step in giving feedback to peers and can play an important role in feedback providers’ learning. However, there is no consensus about whether it is better to ask students to think about assessment criteria themselves or to provide them with ready-made assessment criteria. The current experimental study aims at answering this question in a secondary school STEM educational context, during a physics lesson in an online inquiry learning environment. As a part of their lesson, participants (n = 93) had to give feedback on two concept maps, and were randomly assigned to one of two conditions—being provided or not being provided with assessment criteria. Students’ post-test scores, the quality of feedback given, and the quality of students’ own concept maps were analyzed to determine if there was an effect of condition on feedback providers’ learning. Results did not reveal an advantage of one condition over the other in terms of learning gains. Possible implications for practice and directions for further research are discussed.

Suspended in context: School discipline, STEM course taking, and school racial/ethnic composition

STEM curricula and school disciplinary regimes are key foundations of the transition to adulthood, and they may be connected within school contexts in ways that reflect and exacerbate the intergenerational transmission of inequality. This study examines such connections with particular attention to student race/ethnicity and the racial/ethnic composition of high schools. Bivariate probit analyses of the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 and the Civil Rights Data Collection of 2012 revealed that early suspension was associated with truncated trajectories of Calculus course taking later in high school while taking Algebra I in grade 9 was associated with avoiding suspension. The proportion of disciplinary cases of racial/ethnic peers was associated with the math coursework of boys and the proportion of Calculus enrollment moderated the association between Algebra I in 9th grade and suspension during high school for girls. These results confirm the value of studying the interplay of formal and informal processes of schooling.

COSMOS educational toolkit

This paper focuses on the K-12 educational activities of COSMOS-<u>C</u>loud enhanced <u>O</u>pen <u>S</u>oftware defined <u>MO</u>bile wireless testbed for city-<u>S</u>cale deployment. The COSMOS wireless reasearch testbed is being deployed in West Harlem (New York City) as part of the NSF Platforms for Advanced Wireless Research (PAWR) program. COSMOS' approach for K-12 education is twofold: (i) create an innovative and concrete set of methods/tools that allow teaching STEM subjects using live experiments related to wireless networks/IoT/cloud, and (ii) enhance the professional development (PD) of K-12 teachers and collaborate with them to create hands-on educational material for the students. The COSMOS team has already conducted successful pilot summer programs for middle and high school STEM teachers, where the team worked with the teachers and jointly developed innovative real-world experiments that were organized as automated and repeatable math, science, and computer science labs to be used in the classroom. The labs run on the COSMOS Educational Toolkit, a hardware and software system that offers a large variety of pre-orchestrated K-12 educational labs. The software executes and manages the experiments in the same operational philosophy as the COSMOS testbed. Specifically, since it is designed for use by non-technical middle and high school teachers/students, it adds easy-to-use enhancements to the experiments' execution and the results visualization. The labs are also supported by Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)-compliant teacher/student material. This paper describes the teachers' PD program, the NGSS lessons created and the hardware and software system developed to support the initiative. Additionally, it provides an evaluation of the PD approach as well as the expected impact to K-12 STEM education. Current limitations and future work are also included as part of the discussion section.

Obstacles and opportunities to developing and sustaining a clinically rich STEM middle school residency program

This article describes the development of an innovative clinically rich STEM middle school residency program, one with emphasis in middle grades mathematics program and another in middle grades science aimed to cultivate responsive middle School STEM teachers who are prepared to teach and reach the next generation of young adolescent learners. In addition to describing this program, this manuscript shares successes of the program, obstacles and opportunities faced, and questions posed for the middle school teacher preparation community to consider along with next steps we are taking in this program to help advance clinically rich middle level teacher preparation.

Examining the Factor Structure of a Middle School STEM Occupational Values Scale

Examining the Factor Structure of a Middle School STEM Occupational Values Scale

تنمیة القدرات الإبداعیة للإخصائیین الاجتماعیین بمـــــدارس المتفــــوقــــین فی العلــــــــــوم والتکنولوجیا (STEM ) Developing Creative Abilities of the STEM Schools Social Workers

استهدف البحث تحديد القدرات الإبداعية للإخصائيين الاجتماعيين بمدارس المتفوقن في العلوم والتکنولوجيا STEM من خلال التعرف على مجموعة من الأهداف الفرعية وهى: التعرف على واقع القدرات الإبداعية للإخصائيين الاجتماعيين بتلک المدارس ويمکن تحديد الواقع من خلال الابعاد الاتية: (الأصالة الفکرية – الطلاقة الفکرية – المرونة التلقائية – الحساسية للمشکلات), وکذلک التعرف علي أهم معوقات تنمية القدرات الإبداعية للإخصائئين الاجتماعيين بمدارس STEM . ثم التوصل إلي مجموعة من المقترحات اللازمة لتنمية تلک القدرات لتحديد المتطلبات، لذا اعتمد البحث الميداني على منهج دراسة الحالة بأسلوب المسح الاجتماعى الشامل لجميع الإخصائيين الاجتماعين العاملين بمدارس STEM، وطبق البحث على عينة قوامها (341) مفردة من طلاب تلک المدارس, وتوصل البحث إلى مجموعة من النتائج من أهمها: أن مستوى القدرات الإبداعية مرتفعا لدي الإخصائيين الاجتماعيين العاملين بمدارس المتفوقين للعلوم والتکنولوجيا في کل من المتغيرات التالية وهى:(الأصالة الفکرية.الطلاقة الفکرية.المرونة التلقائية.الحساسية للمشکلات). The present research aimed to identify the creative abilities of social workers in STEM schools by identifying a set of sub-objectives, namely identifying the status-quo of the creative abilities of social workers in these schools. Such status-quo can be determined through many dimensions (intellectual originality - intellectual fluency - automatic flexibility - sensitivity to problems). Furthermore, the study to identify the most important obstacles of developing the creative abilities of social workers in STEM schools. The study also developed a set of proposals necessary to develop such abilities to determine the requirements. The field research made use of the case study approach via a comprehensive social survey of all social workers working at STEM schools, and the research was administered to a sample consisting of (341) students in those schools. The results of the research revealed that the social workers have higher levels of creative abilities at such schools in terms of (intellectual originality, intellectual fluency, automatic flexibility, sensitivity to problems).

The next nine minutes: Lessons learned from the large-scale active shooter training prior to the STEM school shooting.

As the incidence of active shooters increase, local emergency response has also changed. South Metro Fire Rescue coordinated a series of hyper-realistic active shooter simulation drills involving multiple agencies. "The Next Nine Minutes" was one of the largest active shooter drills performed to date with 904 personnel that were trained in 18 mass casualty active shooter drills. Evaluation was from point of injury to and including care in the operating room (OR), and evaluation of real-time system logistics. A total of 126 patients in Cut Suits® received a total of 479 procedures such as needle decompressions, cricothyrotomies, tourniquets, wound packs, and chest tubes. Central to this exercise, law enforcement (LE) established a warm zone from the initial shooting. EMS was able to move into the facility, locate casualties, extract the first victim, move them to a casualty collection point (CCP), and transport them to safety within 12 minutes. Strengths and weaknesses were identified in prehospital and in-hospital care. These included what roles agencies play in a true event, specific timing in establishing areas such as the warm zone and CCP, transportation, and logistics at the accepting hospitals. Only after the barriers to success were identified and addressed did the timing of casualty movement drastically improve. Lessons learned from this training were ultimately used to save lives at the STEM School, Highlands Ranch, and Colorado Shooting. This in situ immersion training should be practiced as a whole system.

An Investigation of Secondary School STEM Subjects as Predictors of Academic Performance in Tertiary Level Health Sciences Programs

Tertiary institutions are experiencing an increased number of enrolments, with students varying in their demographics, previous education, and academic achievement. This relative increase in undergraduate enrolments in Australia has not translated to an increase in student retention or graduate numbers. This prompts the need to explore predictors of academic performance for tertiary students to identify those most at risk of underperforming. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between secondary school subject completion and undergraduate grade point average (GPA). A cohort of 709 secondary school students entering undergraduate health science courses between 2012 and 2015 at an Australian university were investigated. Completion of Mathematics 3C3D, Physics, Chemistry and Physical Education Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) subjects were significantly associated with GPA. In a subset of 458 students, longitudinal analysis revealed completion of secondary school Mathematics 3C3D was a significant predictor of academic performance over the duration of the tertiary health science courses. The results suggest that completion of advanced secondary school mathematics, but not physical sciences, is predictive of student achievement. This outcome further supports the need for improved uptake and completion of advanced mathematics in secondary school.

Determinants of mobile learning acceptance for STEM education in rural areas

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) is faced with challenges, resulting in learners' poor performance especially in rural areas. Previous studies have shown that mobile learning can be used to alleviate the challenges faced in STEM education in rural areas. Despite the opportunities that mobile learning can bring to STEM education, very little is known about high school STEM learners', their teachers', and parents' acceptance of mobile learning, particularly in rural settings. This study proposed and used the High School's Acceptance of Mobile Learning Model to investigate the factors that predict rural high school STEM learners', their parents', and teachers' behavioural intention to use mobile learning for STEM learning. The High School's Acceptance of Mobile Learning Model is based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Stratified random sampling was used to select 550 survey participants. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to analyse data from 417 valid questionnaires. The proposed model explained 40.8% of the variance in learners', teachers', and parents' acceptance of mobile learning. The original TAM variables (perceived attitude, perceived usefulness, and perceived ease of use) had direct relationship with behavioural intention, and they also played mediating roles between the external variables and behavioural intention. Multigroup analysis results showed that, for parents and learners, three paths were significantly different. In contrast, all paths were not statistically significant different for learners and teachers. However, all the paths were significant in each group, meaning that High School's Acceptance of Mobile Learning Model can be used to predict acceptance of mobile learning for learners, parents, and teachers.

Effect of Physics Education Technology (PhET) Simulations: Evidence from STEM Students’ Performance

This study aimed to find out if Physics Education Technology (PhET) simulations can improve the performance of the Baybay City Senior High School STEM students on the selected topic in physics, that is, electrodynamics. This study utilized a quasi-experimental type where pre-test and post-test are multiple choice type of test and involved 72 STEM students. The grouping of the students was identified based on their sections, one section served as the control group and other is the experimental group. Experimental group is allowed to play the PhET simulation for an hour utilizing their vacant period every day, while the control is not exposed to any activity that intervene leading to the creation of formal construct of ideas in electrodynamics. Result showed that mean scores of the control and experimental groups does not imply a significant difference, despite of the interest shown by the students in playing the said simulation. Perhaps, students are more attracted to simulation in which they have gone through during their lectures. Furthermore, study shows that the performance of students before and after exposure to PhET simulation does not necessarily pose a big difference but indicates a slight improvement to their performances.

Identity evolution of STEM teachers in Egyptian STEM schools in a time of transition: a case study

BackgroundThe study was initiated as a response to the growing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) experience in Egypt in terms of the growing number of schools, number of students admitted, and the effect of this experience on the overall education system in the country. Viewing teachers as the backbone of the STEM experience and teaching as a relational sociocultural practice (Biesta, G. & Stengel, B. (2016) AREA Handbook of research on teaching, 5th edition), this research explores the evolution of teachers’ STEM identity during their professional journey in the Egyptian STEM education reform initiative.AimThe purpose of this study is to explore the dynamic dialogical interaction between the different factors impacting the development/evolution of the STEM teachers’ identity. The study is guided by the following research questions:How did Egyptian STEM teachers’ identity evolve over the course of the STEM experience in model STEM schools in Egypt?How did the political and structural characteristics of the STEM schools and teachers developing STEM identities interact and co-evolve?What do Egyptian STEM teachers identify as being important characteristics of STEM teachersMethodologyA multiple holistic case study design was used to explore the research questions within the bounded context of an established Egyptian STEM school.MethodsData for this study were drawn from (1) semi-structured interviews conducted with seven teachers from an Egyptian STEM school and (2) document analysis of Ministry of Education decrees and the published reports of Education Consortium for the Advancement of STEM in Egypt.ResultsUsing inductive and deductive data analysis, teachers were found to have undergone a deep transformative change process from a traditional teacher into teachers with a progressive mindset and student-centered classroom practices. The teachers developed strong conceptualizations of the STEM education, stressed the importance of collaboration, critical thinking, and motivation for teachers seeking to work in a STEM setting, and considered themselves moving towards established STEM teachers’ identity.ConclusionThis study concluded that STEM teachers’ identity can be viewed as a dialogical, dynamic, and evolving process that results from the interaction of personal and professional traits within new educational experiences exemplified by the new and different experiences in their STEM schools.Despite several challenges, such as limited resources and influence from the bureaucracy and norms of the traditional education system, the teachers still persist in their professional growth and desire to impact the larger context of the Egyptian education system.