School STEM Research Articles

Collaborations Between Under-Resourced High School Students and STEM Professionals to Increase Participation in Science and Engineering Fairs


 
 
 
 Industries in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics have enriched the economy of the United States. The US economy is dependent on educators to lead under-resourced high school students to STEM majors in college and careers through educational K-12 programs. Students who conduct high school research and participate in national and international science fairs receive substantial experiences to catapult them into STEM fields. High school students in the central region of Waterside School District have historically less participation in the regional science and engineering fairs than north and south regions due to lack of research skills acquired through collaboration and mentoring with STEM professionals to develop STEM projects. A program to connect the under-resourced students with STEM professionals to collaborate and mentor students about their research was implemented by the local school district. Scientific Research Saturday’s program was positively received by non-focused high school students, however, the target group had limited attendance. Recommendations for program revisions include e-mentoring for students to accommodate transportation, hosting the workshops in more central locations for the focus group, and incorporating reflections by STEM professionals after workshops to improve effectiveness of sessions moving forward.
 
 
 
 

DIGITAL MEASURING COMPLEX BASED ON ARDUINO NANO 33 BLE SENSE

The laboratory and educational research works are an important component of modern school education and STEM education. The use of digital measuring systems can significantly save time on measurement and mathematical processing of their results. A modern smartphone can become a kind of digital measuring system after installing the Arduino Science Journal or Phyphox (Physical Phone Experiments) mobile application on it. These applications allow you to read, write and analyze data from sensors available on a particular smartphone model, and from external sensors that are part of a digital measuring system built using Arduino. The newest compact platform of the Arduino family is the Arduino Nano 33 BLE Sense, which contains a built-in group of sensors. The compactness and low power consumption on the one hand, and the capabilities of mobile applications Arduino Science Journal and Phyphox – on the other hand, allow you to create an autonomous portable digital measuring system with wireless data transmission, which creates additional opportunities and facilities for laboratory and educational research. The possibilities of the proposed digital measuring complex are investigated on the example of laboratory work “Determination of capacitance and energy of a charged capacitor”. As a result of the reproduction of this laboratory work, a fairly close coincidence of the calculated and experimental parameters was obtained. Further development of research character for the considered laboratory work is offered.

Student Engagement, No Learning without It

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

Elaborating the Effectiveness of Collaborative Learning Experiences on Students' Engagement and Social & Academic Success in Public School STEM Education

Elaborating the Effectiveness of Collaborative Learning Experiences on Students' Engagement and Social & Academic Success in Public School STEM Education

Implementation of STEM-Based Learning for Strengthening Science Literacy of Students

This study aims to analyze the STEM approach in learning to strengthen the scientific literacy of students. The method used in this research is qualitative research with data collection techniques, namely literature studies. The data collection method is by reading, identifying, and analyzing, then categorizing, classifying, and describing. In this research, the study of relevant journals, articles, are used to find out how to increase students’ science literacy by using STEM in elementary schools. Based on the results of research, the literature study states that the use of STEM-based learning effectively improves the student's science literacy. The results of the research analysis showed that the results of the pretest scores of students had low concept understanding in the experimental class and the control class. After being given treatment, the results of the posttest scores showed a significant increase in the experimental class

Through the teacher’s lens: Evaluation of the project-based curricula of Philippine and Japanese science high schools

Specialized science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) high schools provide intensive learning experiences for advanced learners. At the core of these STEM schools is a project-based (research) curriculum that aims to foster research culture among learners, creating critical thinkers and problem-solvers, preparing them to be globally competitive STEM professionals in the future. The Philippine STEM junior high schools system and Japan’s Super Science High (SSH) are amongst implementers of the project-based (research) curricula. Hence, this paper sought to conduct a critical review of these project-based curricula through quantitative analysis of Filipino and Japanese teachers’ perceptions of its effectiveness along the four dimensions of Tyler’s Objective-centered Model for curricular evaluation. Findings show similarities and significant differences in the perception of the project-based curricula' effectiveness between Filipino and Japanese teachers along the four dimensions of Tyler’s Objective-centered Model: (1) learning objectives; (2) learning experiences; (3) organization of learning experiences; and (4) evaluation methods.

Schoolchildren about STEM professions: General and gender-specific representations

The persistent gender imbalance in the labor market - both in Russia and globally - is largely formed during the school years as the period of the development of professional preferences and human capital. The article presents the views of schoolchildren on various aspects of the STEM school subjects, including their common interests, attitudes to the STEM teaching, their role in choosing a career related to STEM, and the ideas of schoolchildren about jobs related to STEM. The authors refer to the Soviet experience of overcoming gender inequality in the labor market, in particular, by helping women to get the industrial and specialized technical education. The results of the search study show that for the majority of girls, especially those not engaged in special education projects focused on STEM, school profile lessons do not contribute to changing gender representations of professions. The authors argue that to change these gender representations we need classes focused not on the academic achievements but on the practical features of professions that are in demand in the labor market. Such an experience is necessary for it is impossible to choose the most promising career if you do not know about it or if you are convinced that you would not cope with a particular job. At the same time, the schoolchildren should understand that some of todays professions have very short future, for instance, due to the inevitable consequences of automation. The schoolchildrens positioning of all professions as gender-neutral can be used for a positive study of career-related challenges and for designing career-guidance activities as taking into account those aspects that are essential for girls and boys, even if at the moment they are perceived negatively.

Becoming a STEM-Focused School District: Administrators’ Roles and Experiences

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) schools and districts continue to emerge, and while some research highlights critical components to be included in STEM schools, there is a need to learn more about the process of becoming a STEM school or district. In this study, we investigated a rural United States school district’s development and expansion of its STEM education focus, which started in the years leading up to the district’s first STEM school opening in 2012. We addressed the research question: How is a district-wide STEM education vision developed, enacted, and sustained by various administrative stakeholders? We interviewed 11 participants, all of whom had some level of administrative responsibility related to the district’s STEM mission, coded interviews based on the critical components of STEM schools, and used narrative inquiry methods to describe the district’s STEM transition from these administrators’ perspectives. Our analysis revealed that several key critical components were central to this district’s STEM mission. These components included elements related to leadership, reform-based instructional strategies, and teachers’ professional learning. By focusing on different elements at different times and prioritizing several key components throughout, this district was able to achieve its goal of providing STEM instruction to all of the elementary and middle school students.

Tennessee Academy of Science Executive Committee Meeting Minutes, November 2021

Tennessee Academy of Science Executive Committee Meeting Minutes, November 2021

It's Just the Wilson Way: Investigating the Extended Impact of an Elementary Full-Service Community School Initiative on Middle School STEM-Related Outcomes

This study investigated the sustained impact from elementary fullservice community school programming on middle school STEM academic outcomes that could lead to greater college and career readiness, as well as increased STEM career options for underserved urban students. Quantitative findings suggest middle school youth who attended an elementary full-service community school performed better on middle school STEM outcomes and were predicted to be more prepared to graduate and enter a STEM-related field than a matched comparison of peers who did not. Qualitative results explain differences. Two meta-inferences, informal facilitation of STEM and sustained fullservice community school impact, frame the discussion.

Using emerging technology to draw learning across the curriculum

To drive the wider adoption of STEM in schools, researchers have promoted the benefits of teaching STEM subjects integrated across the curriculum. This integration can support more authentic learning where learning is framed in real-world application or driven through problem/project-based learning. The integration of digital technologies (DT), where the learning moves away from consumption to creation, provides for further application of learning where the development of artefacts can situated within other subjects. This integration, however, raises new challenges for effective teaching and learning, and while new technologies and approaches can support this practice, this is still evolving. In this study we explore how one high school has integrated the creation of digital artefacts situated, in the DT class, with learning in the Māori Performing Arts class. The study explores how mixed reality (MR) combined with design thinking approaches, provide new opportunities to integrate learning and support engagement in STEM. Drawing on a participatory action research methodology, this article explores the experiences and perceptions of three teachers as they adopt MR to engage and teach students drawing on critical DT skills.

Assessment of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Strand of the K-12 Program among Selected Public Schools in Zone 2 Division of Zambales

The study determined the impact of the STEM Strand implementation of senior high schools in the Division of Zambales. The study was limited to fifty secondary public-school teachers in Zone II.The study revealed that majority teacher-respondents, are generally young with only a minimum number of trainings attended. STEM trends, there were more males than females and a larger are married. There were no significant differences in the success of the STEM schools in Palauig, Botolan and Iba in the following domains:college preparation;integrated and innovative technology use; STEM-rich informal experiences; connections with industry and the world of work; well-prepared STEM teachers and professionalized teaching staff and positive school community and culture of high expectations for all. Based on the summary of findings and the conclusions arrived at, the researcher has offered the following recommendations that professional learning in the form of learning action cells and lesson study should be provided to relatively novice STEM teachers in order to expose them to effective instructional strategies and impact their actual classroom practices as opposed to cascading in-service trainings. Greater involvement of these partners through planning, implementation, and review should be targeted instead of only involving them for immersion activities. A more intensive evaluation of the STEM implementation following the Context-Input-Process-Product approach should be conducted to strengthen and confirm the findings of the study. A more study that would monitor the whole system as opposed to the present investigation’s focus on teacher perception would lend greater credence to the results.

Distance STEM Educators' Perceptions of Teachers’ Role

STEM education has an important place in recent studies. With the Covid 19 pandemic, distance education applications have gained importance all over the world. STEM education applications have also turned into distance STEM education with the Covid-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study is to better understand STEM teachers' perceptions of online group education and how they perceive group education expectations. In this study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with secondary school STEM teachers. The interview was aimed at illuminating teachers’ perceptions of the role and purpose of teachers, and students’ expectations from a group science lesson. Themes arising from the thematic analysis of interviews were determined. The themes that emerged from the analysis are as follows: Teachers’ perceptions of their teaching role, teachers’ perceptions of students’ psycho-social needs, and teachers’ perceptions of students’ educational needs. Promoting student interaction in online synchronous education was identified as a challenge. Besides, some discrepancies were observed between teachers' perceptions of students learning expectations and their preferred approaches, and it was found that students expect a didactic experience rather than an interactive one.

Saudi High School STEM Teachers’ Understanding and Practices of Creativity in the Classroom

Creativity is a fundamental skill that needs to be promoted in order to develop individuals’ economic and social status. Formal education is an appropriate place to enhance creativity. Therefore, international governments and educational administrators have been paying more attention to creativity in the educational context. In contrast, there are many concerns regarding the lack of students' creative thinking. In particular, the Saudi Ministry of education acknowledged that their educational system struggles with a weak environment that hinders creativity. Thus, the Saudi Ministry of Education aims to enhance creativity as one of its main educational goals of the Saudi 2030 vision. This paper aims to assess Saudi high school STEM teachers’ understanding of creativity, as they are a key component for enhancing creativity in the school environment. The study was conducted in Saudi Arabia with nine Saudi high school STEM teachers. The qualitative data collection strategy included semi-structured interviews. The analysis approach was a priori coding based on the review of the theoretical foundations for creativity and innovation in European education. The analysis shows that Saudi high school STEM teachers have various definitions of creativity. Participants valued creative students by providing opportunities and establishing positive relationships with them. Teachers claimed they practiced creativity through instructional practices that engage students’ participation in the learning process. Participants were not satisfied with their professional development or the technical support provided by the Saudi Ministry of Education. The study results suggest further exploration and recommendations that enrich the research area of creativity in STEM education.

Impact of Short-Duration Research Experiences on STEM Self-Efficacy among Early-Stage, Rural, First-Generation College Students

In rural West Virginia, the First2 Network aims to improve STEM persistence by including students in creating solutions to STEM attrition. A research program for rising first-year students in STEM majors is discussed here. The authors assessed students’ STEM education and career plans, identity, efficacy, and sense of school of belonging before and after the program. Students’ STEM identity, efficacy, and school belonging improved after participation.

Divining the professional development experiences of K-12 STEM master teacher leaders in the United States

ABSTRACT Despite a need for strong K-12 STEM education globally, professional development systems for STEM teachers in the United States lack coherence or sequenced experiences to recruit, develop, and retain master teachers and teacher leaders in STEM. Still, the United States produces erudite STEM master teachers and effective STEM teacher leaders, which asks the question to how, where, and when these teachers sought out opportunities to develop their teaching competencies and hone their leadership skills to become STEM master teacher leaders. Using an interpretive phenomenological approach, framed by master teacher leadership development, this study examined the lived experience of 10 nationally recognised STEM teacher leaders: Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching awardees and/or alumni of the Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellowship Program. Participants provided detailed accounts, identifying and scrutinising key experiences in their teaching career that led them to national recognition as an STEM master teacher leader. Five themes emerged from the interpretive phenomenological analysis: the importance of school culture and STEM community, access to professional networks/opportunities, motivation, luck, and reinforcing beliefs. These themes, aligned with international exemplars of teacher professional development pathways, suggest areas of improvement for STEM master teacher leadership within the United States.

Examining the effect of early STEM experiences as a form of STEM capital and identity capital on STEM identity: A gender study

AbstractIt is well known that women are underrepresented in science. technology engineering and mathematics (STEM) and that their interest declines more steeply over the schooling years. As such, this study uses a STEM identity theoretical framework to examine the effects of early STEM experiences, focusing particularly on experiences that may be more formative for female students. Given that early experiences are a form of capital, the study is also guided by nuanced perspectives on STEM capital and STEM identity capital. The data used were drawn from surveys administered to 15,725 college students. Blocked regression models were utilized and the results indicated a significant effect on STEM identity for students who reported encouragement in STEM from elementary school teachers, using STEM toys/kits, watching STEM‐related TV programs or movies, playing STEM computer/video games, and observing or studying stars and other astronomical objects. Negative experiences included baking/cooking/kitchen chemistry and writing about STEM. To examine which of these experiences had long‐lasting impact in the face of intervening experiences in middle/high school, controls were provided for middle/high school STEM interest. This indicated early experiences that translated to STEM identity capital in the future. Only observing stars became nonsignificant, while the other early experiences likely contributed to STEM identity capital. The findings highlight early experiences that can be formative for STEM identity years later (i.e., STEM identity capital) despite intervening years of changing STEM interest. As such, the results provide both practical and theoretical insight into understanding the development and maintenance of STEM identity.

School Connectedness and STEM Orientation in Adolescent Girls: The Role of Perceived Gender Discrimination and Implicit Gender-Science Stereotypes

School Connectedness and STEM Orientation in Adolescent Girls: The Role of Perceived Gender Discrimination and Implicit Gender-Science Stereotypes

Exploring Competing Perspectives on How to Design Open Innovation Program for High School STEM Education: A Case Study

Open innovation (OI) has become an essential business model for big tech companies and innovation ecosystems. However, most STEM high schools in the United States do not have appropriate OI programs for students. This paper explores how various perspectives on open innovation as an emerging trend in the entrepreneurial ecosystem can link with STEM education programs. We use the Q methodology technique with interviews from students and managers of STEM education at C Academy and academic members from a field of open innovation. Twenty-three participants responded to the 35 Q statements derived from preliminary findings of critical issues on a relationship between open innovation and STEM education. Five key perspectives compete, each with a unique view on why STEM education matters and how to renovate the current STEM program for an open innovation-based curriculum and club activities inside and outside high schools. Empirical findings from Q method analysis combined with Promax rotation illustrate five views: (1) civic virtue-driven open innovation, (2) open innovation with imagination from arts and culture, (3) daily life-based open innovation project, (4) critics on conventional STEM education, and (5) community service-driven open innovation. A common area that all five perspectives support is that the government should expand and strengthen support in the design and operation of open innovation education programs in STEM high schools.

STEM Students' Engagement in Horizontal Transfer from Calculus to Physics and their Difficulties

Majority of science students are facing different problems in applying their calculus knowledge to physics courses. Researchers started to develop an integrated approach to address this problem however, many schools are still teaching calculus and physics as two separate subjects. Moreover, there has been no significant research on senior high school students' transfer of learning and difficulties in calculus-based physics subjects. It is crucial because this is when the students first experience applying calculus in a physics context. Hence, the study investigated the engagement of senior high school STEM students to horizontal transfer from Basic Calculus to General Physics subjects and the difficulties they experience in solving calculus-based-physics problems. A correlational study research design was employed to explore the relationship between the students’ physics and calculus performance using a physics worksheet. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were also employed to determine the difficulties of the students in calculus-based-physics problems. The Pearson correlation revealed that there is a significant positive correlation between the students’ physics and calculus performance. Although this could not serve as strong evidence of transfer, this strong correlation implies that senior high school STEM students were able to construct the similarities between the calculus-based physics problems and their calculus schema. As revealed in the questionnaire and the students’ responses in the worksheet and interview, students have difficulty in solving calculus-based physics problems in terms of identifying the variable that needs to be integrated, setting-up the limits of integration, evaluating the limits of integral, and identifying the appropriate rules of integration and applying it in solving the physics problem. These difficulties are rooted in the fact that students have little experience applying calculus in word problems, especially in the physics context.