STEM – An evidence based case for change is critical to meet the challenges of the future.

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6.0 STEM | Putting STEM education into perspective | http://tiny.cc/BestAdviceSTEM

Putting STEM education into perspectiveDebra Panizzon, Associate Professor, Monash University

LEARNING

STEM learning highlights and explores the concepts and important relationships between science, technology, engineering and mathematics. One reason for an increased interest in STEM, nationally and internationally, is because of its importance for our students in terms of their preparedness for possible burgeoning careers.

However, there is a broader and more intrinsic need for STEM education. We need to ensure that our citizens are able to critically evaluate, often conflicting, evidence and information to make informed decisions about global challenges, such as feeding an exploding world population in sustainable ways (Bybee, 2013).

Thinking futuristically, we need to prepare our children and students to take on careers and thrive within work and personal environments that are likely to be dominated by Artificial Intelligence (AI). What is the knowledge they need? What are the skills required for this ‘new’ world?

The purpose of this paper is to help clear some of the confusion existing around STEM by addressing the following questions:

What is the history of ‘STEM’?What comprises the STEM disciplines?Why is STEM education important?What does STEM implementation look like?What are problematic conceptions around STEM?

Subsequent Best advice papers will elaborate on the key ideas introduced in this paper.

The insights and ways of thinking presented in this series of papers are housed within the mathematics and science education research literature deliberately as it is this research that is the most robust (ie, with a higher degree of validity and reliability).

What is the history of ‘STEM’?STEM education is not a new phenomenon. It emerged in the early 1990s in the United States, driven by economic and political agendas, to re-focus public attention on three represented disciplines: science, technology and mathematics. An increasing demand by industry for skilled workers in STEM-related fields led to the inclusion of engineering, which was not historically a discipline in its own right (Sanders, 2009). Over the last three decades, driven by industry demand, the STEM agenda has re-emerged in education and evolved with each iteration.

S.t.M. Focus on separate disciplines, with science and mathematics pivotal.

S.t.e.M Continuing science and mathematics focus; engineering recognised, while technology aligned closely with science in the curriculum.

S.T.e.M. Curricula for STEM still focused on science and mathematics, but technology seen in its own right rather than just linked to science. Emergence of digital technologies.

STEM A blurring of the boundaries between the disciplines, with a move to interdisciplinary thinking about STEM. Engineering now considered pivotal in providing a context for applying science, technology and mathematics. Pedagogies aligned to STEM include problem solving, inquiry and collaborative learning: these STEM skills are just as important as the content knowledge of each learning area.

Further move with a heavy focus on STEM skills. Acronym explosion: STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, Medicine), STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics), STREAM (Science, Technology, Reading, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics).

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6.0 STEM | Putting STEM education into perspective | http://tiny.cc/BestAdviceSTEM

As seen on the previous page, STEM has moved from just representing the individual disciplines to increased opportunities for integration across these disciplines. It is critical to know that any language we adopt around STEM communicates very clearly what we value and advocate for our children and young people.

What comprises the STEM disciplines?There is considerable speculation about what STEM actually is. In some instances, there is no longer a focus on the four original discrete disciplines, with STEM only pertaining to an interdisciplinary focus (Breiner, Johnson,

Harkness & Koehler, 2012). However, the ‘National STEM School Education Strategy’ (Education Council, 2015, p.5)

for Australia, which was agreed to by all Ministers of Education in each state/territory, states:

STEM education is a term used to refer collectively to the teaching of the disciplines within its umbrella: science, technology, engineering and mathematics; and also, to a cross-disciplinary approach to teaching.

Further definition and elaboration of the actual four disciplines was provided in a report from the Office of the Chief Scientist (2016, p.2):

Science encompasses disciplines within the natural and physical sciences, and selected disciplines from agriculture and environmental studies: astronomy and the earth sciences, physics, chemistry, the materials sciences, biology, agricultural and environmental science. These sciences are characterised by systematic observation, critical experimentation, and the rigorous testing of hypotheses.

Technology provides goods and services to satisfy real world needs; operating at the cross-section of science and society. Information and communications technology is playing an ever increasing role in our society and provides enabling capacity to the other STEM disciplines. The output of the technology provided must eventually stand the test of users and the marketplace.

Engineering draws on scientific, mathematical and technological knowledge and methods to design and implement physical and information-based products, systems and services that address human needs, safely and reliably. Engineering takes into account economic, environmental, and aesthetic factors.

Mathematics seeks to understand the world by performing symbolic reasoning and computation on abstract structures and patterns in nature. It unearths relationships among these structures, and captures certain features of the world through the processes of modelling, formal reasoning and computation.

In the recent emergence of STEM, engineering has become a major focus. Engineering applies the knowledge and insights gained from science, technology and mathematics to find solutions to real world needs or problems. Engineers are neither scientists nor mathematicians. Rather, they take the research findings and ways of thinking about our world that frame these disciplines and apply it to their real world problems using design-thinking, such as building a bridge with eight lanes to span Sydney Harbour.

Engineering and technology (in its broadest sense—not just digital) provide ideal teaching contexts to develop and enhance learning around STEM.

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Why is STEM education important?As demonstrated from the outset of this paper, the STEM agenda has been politically and economically driven by a perceived need for STEM-capable individuals to fill future workforce requirements. However, as educators, this is not our prime agenda. Our focus is on nurturing and building independent learners and capable thinkers with a breadth of knowledge and skills and who are sufficiently resilient and robust to adapt to changing circumstances, such as to the increased use of AI in everyday life. Hence, learning and wellbeing are at the forefront of our minds as teachers: it is imperative we keep these foci at the heart of our thinking.

From the plethora of available science and mathematics education research, we know the major factors that influence student learning, not only in science and mathematics, are also relevant to STEM. The factors identified across a wide range of literature are summarised in Figure 1.

As demonstrated in this figure, learning is complex and is influenced by many factors that are student-centric; teacher-centric; parent-centric; and ‘others’ who come into contact with the learner. For example, educators at the zoo or a visiting engineer. If we know through research evidence that these factors affect student learning, then it is important to consider these in the implementation of STEM.

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Figure 1: Factors influencing student learning in STEM-related fields (adapted from Panizzon & Westwell, 2009, p. 4)

STUDENTS

TEACHERS POSITIVE ROLE MODELSPOSITIVE

ROL

E M

ODEL

S PARENTS

POSITIVE ROLE MODELS O

THER

STUDENT LEARNING

AchievementAttitudes

ConfidenceMeaning (relevance)

MotivationInterest

Engagement

Meaningful curriculumContextual approach

Inquiry approachHigher-order thinking

Value critical & creative thinkingSafe environment

QuestioningSet high expectations

Engagement

Societal value of educationOut-of-school experiences

EncouragementSupport of child’s interests

Wellbeing of childrenValuing education

What does STEM implementation look like?STEM comprises four distinct disciplines (see Figure 2). However, these areas do not exist in isolation. As mentioned earlier, links between these areas have always existed, with many key breakthroughs in our history as a result of interdisciplinary collaboration. For example, science and technology have always had a symbiotic relationship, with breakthroughs in one area enhancing the other. To explain further, our increased understanding of the chemical and physical properties of substances over the years in science led to advances in technology (for example, telescopes), which enhanced our scientific understanding of the universe. The synergy of these two disciplines is represented as a ‘1’ in Figure 2. Similar 2-way interdisciplinary relationships are shown as 2, 3 and 4.

Figure 2: STEM conceptualisations

In this same manner, integration is also evident across three or more of the disciplines. For example, Alexander Fleming’s observation that particular mould inhibited the growth of bacteria may never have led to the widespread availability of penicillin that we have today if it had not been for Howard Florey and other specialists in their fields. Fleming’s initial observation was only the first step: making penicillin readily available for human use required isolating the enzyme responsible; developing the technology to extract it from the mould; and designing the biochemical processes and required technology to mass-produce penicillin. Technology and mathematics were pivotal to this outcome. At a glance, at least three areas were involved in this medical breakthrough shown in Figure 2 as ‘A’. Other possible 3-way relationships are identified in Figure 2 as B, C, and D with the centre representing instances where science, technology, and mathematics are utilised.

At the centre of the figure is integration across the four areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Again, using the telescope example, current construction of the Giant Magellan Telescope in the Chilean Andes moves beyond technology to become a mathematical and engineering feat, given its seven 8.4m mirrors and aperture of 24.5m. It is predicted that this mega-telescope and others will increase our current understanding of the nature of the universe exponentially (Spinks, 2016).

6.0 STEM | Putting STEM education into perspective | http://tiny.cc/BestAdviceSTEM

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SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY

MATHEMATICSENGINEERING

B A

C D

1

3

4 2

What are problematic conceptions around STEM?Emerging of late is a view of STEM as existing in isolation from the four foundational areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Conceived in this way, STEM becomes an entity in its own right (see Figure 3). The rhetoric communicated around this view is that unless children or students are building, designing and solving problems they are ’not doing STEM’. Missing from this view is any reference to the role of content discipline knowledge, with the idea that pedagogies, such as problem solving, problem-based learning and collaboration in group work, will automatically lead to required STEM learning. There is no question that each of the pedagogies mentioned here is effective for STEM and other discipline areas. However, it is how these pedagogies are implemented by teachers in the learning environment that is pivotal for enhancing and nurturing student learning and skill development in STEM.

Figure 3: STEM as a separate entity to its content disciplines

There is no educational premise for the conception of STEM as a separate entity and it is a concern for a number of reasons:• If STEM is considered as a separate entity, then it

has no unique epistemology underpinning it because this has never been developed given its origin as representing science, technology, engineering and mathematics. As such, this is problematic for teachers, who are unprepared to deal with a subject lacking a view about the nature of its knowledge. The importance of epistemology links strongly to content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge, as identified by Shulman (1987), which are crucial for teaching and teacher education generally.

• Without an epistemological basis, STEM as a separate entity means that the adopted pedagogies become the focus, with little thought given to the actual content discipline knowledge required to explore authentic problems in ways that ensure depth in learning (Bybee, 2013). Without reference to the relevant content discipline knowledge, student learning is likely to be superficial and inefficient, while increasing the potential for confusion and alternative conceptions (or misconceptions) in students’ understandings (Venville, Rennie & Wallace, 2005). The importance of content discipline knowledge is explored further in the next paper: Myth 1—Content discipline knowledge is irrelevant for learning in STEM.

• A focus on pedagogies alone, as associated with the teaching of STEM as a separate entity (for example, problem-based learning and authentic problem solving), is reminiscent of ‘discovery learning’ that prevailed in the 1970s. While these pedagogies are effective, content discipline knowledge is a requirement, as is teacher direction and guidance. In actual fact, using these pedagogies appropriately requires considerable skill and teacher expertise (Rosicka, 2016). In the absence of access to content discipline knowledge and careful teacher guidance, the research states categorically that these pedagogies are inefficient when taught in isolation, leading to confusion in student learning (Sanders, 2009). This area of pedagogies is the focus of another paper: Myth 3—Learning in STEM requires the implementation of STEM pedagogies.

6.0 STEM | Putting STEM education into perspective | http://tiny.cc/BestAdviceSTEM Department for Education DreamBIG 2017 Kelly Champion Photography

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SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY

MATHEMATICSENGINEERING

STEM as its own

entity

ConclusionsSTEM education is a critical area if we are to meet the challenges of the future.

The disciplines represented by STEM have made substantive and sustained contributions over many years, ensuring that our students acquire both breadth and depth of understanding of our world. As part of the very nature of these disciplines, students also develop key skills (for example, thinking logically; critical and creative thinking; question generation) that are now considered highly transferable into many diverse non-STEM learning areas. Each of the disciplines comprising STEM has an established epistemology that is long-standing, ensuring academic rigor and credibility.

Teacher pedagogies are critical to supporting student learning because it is through these that we encourage and challenge our students to achieve their academic potential. Much of what is known about problem-based and inquiry learning comes from significant research in mathematics and science education over the last four decades. What we do know is that regardless of the pedagogy used, the student must be at the heart of our work as teachers. It is their ability to innovate and ‘think outside the square’ that will be required in our future workforce, but more critically, will help protect our Earth and its resources for future generations.

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… the student must be at the heart of our work as teachers.

It is their ability to innovate and ‘think outside the square’ that

will be required in our future workforce, but more critically,

will help protect our Earth and its resources for future generations.

ReferencesBreiner JM, Johnson CC, Harkness SS & Koehler CM (2012) ‘What is STEM? A discussion about conceptions of STEM in education and partnerships’, School Science & Mathematics, 112(1), 3–11

Bybee RW (2013) ‘The case for STEM education: Challenges and opportunities’, National Science Teachers Association, available at http://tiny.cc/STEMcase (accessed March 2018)

Education Council (2015) ‘National STEM School Education Strategy: A Comprehensive Plan for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Education in Australia’, available at http://tiny.cc/EdCouncilSTEMstrategy (accessed March 2018)

Office of the Chief Scientist (2016) ‘Australia’s STEM workforce: Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics’, Australian Government, Canberra, available at http://tiny.cc/AustSTEMworkforce (accessed March 2018)

Panizzon D & Westwell M (2009) ‘Engaging students in STEM-related subjects: What does the research evidence say?’, available at http://tiny.cc/engageSTEM (accessed

March 2018)

Rosicka C (2016) ‘From concept to classroom: Translating STEM education research into practice. Camberwell’, Victoria: Australian Council for Educational Research, available at http://tiny.cc/Research2Practice (accessed March 2018)

Sanders M (2009) ‘STEM, STEM education, STEMmania’, The Technology Teacher, 68(4), pp.20–26, available at http://tiny.cc/STEMmania (accessed March 2018)

Shulman L (1987) ‘Knowledge and teaching: foundations of the new reform’, Harvard Educational Review, 57(1), pp.1–23

Spinks P (2016) ‘Astronomers gear up for the mega-telescope age’, Sydney Morning Herald, 24 June, available at http://tiny.cc/MegaTelescope (accessed March 2018)

Venville G, Rennie L & Wallace J (2005) ‘Student understanding and application of science concepts in the context of an integrated curriculum setting’, International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 1(4), pp.449–475

Image source (page 1): http://tiny.cc/Skylab

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This paper is part of the Department for Education Leading Learning Improvement Best advice series, which aims to provide leaders with the research and resource tools to lead learning improvement across learning areas within their site.

Produced by the Department for Education

6.0 | JUNE 2018

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