Learning to teach STEM disciplines in higher education: a critical review of the literature

ABSTRACT

Enrolments in STEM disciplines at universities are increasing globally, attributed to the greater life opportunities open to students as a result of a STEM education. But while institutional access to STEM programmes is widening, the retention and success of STEM undergraduate students remains a challenge. Pedagogies that support student success are well known; what we know less about is how university teachers acquire pedagogical competence. This is the focus of this critical review of the literature that offers a theorised critique of educational development in STEM contexts. We studied the research literature with a view to uncovering the principles that inform professional development in STEM disciplines and fields. The key finding of this critical review is how little focus there is on the STEM disciplines. The majority of studies reviewed did not address the key issue of what makes the STEM disciplines difficult to learn and challenging to teach.     

ST EM教育与中学数学课程设计应用研究

科技的不断发展为教学改革提供了新思路,而STEM作为融合性的新教育理念和模式,实现了科学、技术,工程及数学四门学科的整合,更侧重学生数学核心素养和技术素养的培养,引导学生学以致用,解决实际问题。本文主要以中学数学教学为例,探讨STEM教育模式指导下数学课程的有效设计,以期更好地推动中学数学教学。     

Teaching and Learning in STEM Enrichment Spaces: From Doing Math to Thinking Mathematically

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) enrichment programs can meet the needs of gifted students by providing an intellectual challenge, a motivated peer group, and skilled teachers. In the Saturday Enrichment Program (SEP), 40 students (Grades 4–8) explored challenging math topics not typically taught in their schools. Pre and post questionnaires, video documentation of classes, and field notes indicated that students were less interested in the content of their school math classes after participation in SEP. They also reported that SEP provided a more appropriate pace, challenge, and fun. Analysis of classroom videos revealed four major strategies teachers utilized: (a) fostering of a supportive and collaborative environment, (b) developing the identity of a mathematician, (c) open-ended questions for conceptual exploration, and (d) discovery through play.     

Year-Long Peer Mentoring Activity to Enhance the Retention of Freshmen STEM Students in a NSF Scholarship Program

The last year of a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded scholarship program was used to provide pseudo-formal peer mentoring activities to engineering, mathematics, and science undergraduates. A one-credit class was used to afford time for peer mentors and mentees to interact. During the fall semester, seniors augmented each week’s topics with personal experiences as to how they used the skill/topic that they had learned in their freshmen class in a future sophomore, junior or senior level course or on their co-op assignment. The last 10 min of every class were used for the seniors and freshmen to have an informal discussion. During the spring semester, the seniors served as an additional technical resource for the freshmen as they completed their class project. All participants found the one-credit class, project and peer mentoring activities beneficial to their education and would highly recommend the experience to incoming students.     

Interventions in education to prevent STEM pipeline leakage

The so-called leaking STEM pipeline (dropout in STEM education) has been the subject of many studies. The large interest of scholars in plausible causes of this leakage has resulted in a number of meta-reviews describing factors at system, school and student level related to interest and persistence in STEM education. The STEM pipeline discussion has also resulted in a large number of programmes aimed at enhancing STEM interest and persistence in STEM education. Although these programmes have been widely evaluated, there seems to be no consensus about which interventions are successful in raising interest in STEM or persistence in STEM education. This study reports the results of a systematic review of empirical studies in which the effectiveness of STEM-related interventions are assessed. Initially, 538 studies were found. The quality analyses showed that only a few of these evaluation studies are designed in such a way that it is likely that the found effects are caused by the intervention. Although some potentially effective interventions were found, this review shows that there is still a need for research into the effectiveness of those programmes, especially with regard to programmes preventing talented and initially motivated STEM students to drop out of STEM education.     

STEM教育的困境及出路

STEM教育的宗旨是整合创新,这对STEM课程的设计、开发和实施都提出了很高的要求。然而我国STEM教育领域却存在课程体系不明、课程目标不清晰、缺乏细致的探究学习设计、专业教师储备不足、未形成健康生态等问题。STEM教育遭遇的困境实际上是经验主义的前现代教育不适应现代社会发展要求的表现。STEM教育不是教学法意义上的教育革新,而是全新的教育实践。STEM教育需要与以往不同的教育实践生态。因此只有升级为现代教育,STEM教育才能摆脱上述困境。这就需要我们努力发展新教育学,并在新教育学理论指导下组建新的专业团队,构建健康的STEM共同体和企业联盟,开发新的STEM课程并提供STEM教师专业发展服务,培养STEM专业教师以基于一致性的新方式实施课程,允许教师以教育众筹的方式参与STEM课程升级,最终实现STEM整合创新的教育旨趣。     

美国STEM教育改革的走向——基于《STEM2026:STEM教育创新愿景》的分析

为了更好促进美国STEM教育改革,美国出台了《STEM2026:STEM教育创新愿景》。该报告提出:STEM教育要从娃娃抓起;STEM教育要丰富生源,让更多弱势群体接受优质STEM教育;STEM教育要从校内走向校外,构建校内外一体化的STEM教育环境;STEM课程要注重学科的交叉整合,不仅要实现科学、技术、工程和数学之间的融合,还要重视STEM与其他学科的融合;STEM教学要融入游戏且具有风险性,让学生在探究中感知STEM教育的魅力,且养成不畏险阻的科学精神;STEM考评方式要多样且能促进学生更好地学习,为此考评方式要创新且具操作性。     

Gender Disparity in STEM Disciplines: A Study of Faculty Attrition and Turnover Intentions

This study examines the underrepresentation of women faculty in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by comparing the intentions of attrition and turnover between genders in Research and Doctoral universities. It is found that the two genders did not differ in their intentions to depart from academia, but women faculty had a significantly higher likelihood to change positions within academia. The indications are that women and men are equally committed to their academic careers in STEM; nonetheless, women’s stronger turnover intentions are highly correlated with dissatisfaction with research support, advancement opportunities, and free expression of ideas. The findings suggest that the underrepresentation of women is more convincingly explained by an academic culture that provides women fewer opportunities, limited support, and inequity in leadership, rather than by gender-based differences such as roles in family responsibilities. Changes in academic STEM culture are needed in order to attract more women scientists and narrow the current gender gap.     

Low-profile policy: the case of study support in education policy ensembles in England

This paper presents the case of a relatively low-profile policy initiative that has been successively reframed as part of larger policy ensembles within UK schools over a six-year period, and translated during this time at national and school levels. The policy examined is that of study support or out-of-hours learning. The trajectory of this policy is traced as it is first launched within an educational policy ensemble around the raising achievement agenda and then re-framed as part of the then New Labour government’s major educational and social policy agenda of Every Child Matters. Drawing on interview data from head teachers and teachers, the ways in which study support policy was translated in two contrasting schools over this period is explored, highlighting different tensions with national policy and local agendas. The ‘fate’ of study support as an initiative is questioned following a change of government in the UK and in the context of global education policy developments. This analysis of the re-framing of a low-profile policy adds to our understanding of the cycles of policy ensembles and their translation by different agents in different sites over time.     

Reinforcing the STEM pipeline in vocational-technical high schools: The effect of female teachers

Although secondary Vocational-Technical Education (VTE) is highly prevalent in low-income settings in the developing world, this sector remains understudied in the Economics of Education literature. Situated in the Chilean context, this study examines the effect of exposure to a female VTE teacher on STEM pipeline persistence from secondary to post-secondary level. We find that having at least one female teacher in secondary STEM-VTE programs increases overall enrollment in STEM higher education programs by 2.1 percentage points, primarily driven by women choosing postsecondary VTE diplomas in STEM fields. The effect of female VTE teachers in enrollment in these diplomas reaches 4.0 percentage points, equivalent to an 18% reduction in the observed gender gap. We argue that female VTE teachers, acting as role models, have the potential to mitigate the traditional barriers that young women encounter to persist in the STEM pipeline, thereby contributing to closing the STEM gender gap.     

Participation in structured STEM-focused out-of-school time programs in secondary school: Linkage to postsecondary STEM aspiration and major

In this paper, we explore how secondary school students' participation in structured, math- and science-focused programs outside of school is associated with the aspiration to, and actual enrollment in, a STEM major in college. Moreover, we examine how varying sociodemographic backgrounds are related to their participation in these programs. Using expectancy-value theory and social cognitive career theory as our conceptual frameworks, we conduct a path analysis based on a nationally representative panel dataset. Results indicate that students who participate in structured science-focused out-of-school programs in eighth grade are more likely to express an aspiration to and choosing a STEM major in college. The intersection of sociodemographic backgrounds further highlights the intricate differences in math-focused programs participation outside of school between Latinx and White adolescents of varying socioeconomic status.     

Reward and recognition for university teaching in STEM subjects

In recent years, universities have appointed an increasing number of ‘teaching-only’ or ‘teaching-dominant’ staff. While the balance of reward and recognition between teaching and research has been extensively considered for staff engaged in both, this is the first attempt to look at the situation of staff appointed on teaching–only contracts. Our survey reveals an enthusiastic workforce, which nevertheless feels undervalued by the system. This is an important issue for the development of higher education.     

STEM素养的内涵及结构框架模型研究

STEM教育的发展为创新型人才的培养提供了一条可行之路,而深入研究STEM素养的内涵及结构是当前推进STEM教育的关键所在。为此,文章首先通过分析现有研究明确STEM素养的内涵,再通过对国内外有关STEM素养构成要素的政策文件的梳理总结论述STEM素养的构成。在此基础上,从知能、情意、价值三个维度系统分析STEM素养的结构,提出STEM素养结构金字塔模型,将知能维度的STEM素养分为STEM学科基础知能、STEM学科核心素养、STEM共同核心素养三层内容。STEM学科基础知能层指数学、科学、技术、工程、计算机等具体学科或领域中的基本知识、基本技能、基本方法等;STEM学科核心素养层指解决STEM相关学科或多学科交叉融合领域复杂性问题所应具备的关键能力;STEM共同核心素养层指解决超越具体学科或工作领域的真实世界复杂性问题的综合能力。最后细化各个层次中STEM素养的构成要素和内容,以求为STEM教育的开展打好基础,明确方向。     

Public dialogue with science and development for teachers of STEM: linking public dialogue with pedagogic praxis

Abstract

Despite evidence of quality teaching in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subject domains and insistence on the part of many national governments on the economic value of STEM, education, recruitment and retention into STEM subject fields and occupations is said to be continually blighted by a ‘leaky pipeline’. In the UK context, schools are seen to benefit from a multitude of external STEM engagement and enrichment providers and initiatives. However, despite evidence of the positive impacts of STEM engagement on learners, there exists a dearth of understanding related to how principles of STEM engagement can facilitate STEM teachers in becoming more pedagogically innovative and relevant and, therefore, engaging of their learners in the classroom context. In this article, we employ a secondary data analysis of two prominent cases of public engagement in science and technology (PEST) in the UK to elicit combined lessons for STEM engagement and the pedagogical development of teachers. We consider the successes of science dialogue in establishing principles of best practice that might be transposed to the development of teachers as more able and effective in the engagement of learners in STEM.     

STEM课程校本开发的国际经验与启示

在STEM教育起步阶段,课程选择是教学实践的首要问题。通过文献分析发现,“国家或地方非营利性组织机构”提供的支持或指导型STEM课程、“第三方机构”提供的直接交付型STEM课程以及学校自主开发或与其它组织合作开发的校本开发型STEM课程构成了STEM课程可选择的三种类型。其中,兼具“学生发展立场-学校改革创新-教师专业实践”多重内涵的“校本开发型STEM课程”是办学主体实践智慧的凝结。国际上主要从教育决策、学校发展定位、教师专业发展、课程开发方法和策略等四个方面展开STEM课程校本开发的研究和实践。STEM课程校本开发的国际经验为我国STEM教育起步和发展提供了有益借鉴。     

Science identity development trajectories in a gateway college chemistry course: Predictors and relations to achievement and STEM pursuit

This investigation of undergraduates’ heterogeneous science identity trajectories within a gateway chemistry course identified three latent classes (High and Stable, Moderate and Slightly Increasing, Moderate and Declining) using growth mixture modeling. Underrepresented minorities were more likely to exhibit Moderate-and-Slightly-Increasing science identities versus High-and-Stable patterns. Students with higher perceived competence were more likely classified into the High-and-Stable class compared to the other classes. Students classified into the High-and-Stable class scored significantly higher on the final exam and appeared to be more likely to remain in a STEM major across fall and spring semesters compared to the other two classes. Results suggest that some students’ identities shift within a single semester and supporting science perceived competence before college may support students’ science identity development.     

Gender norms and STEM: the importance of friends for stopping leakage from the STEM pipeline

More women are now entering male-dominated fields, yet, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) remain dominated by men. We examined the association between boys’ and girls’ STEM choices after secondary education and friends’ gender norms, and whether pressure to conform to traditional gender norms differs depending on the gender composition of the friend group. Drawing on 3 waves of longitudinal data (N?=?744) from the Netherlands, our sample consists of adolescents in STEM trajectories in secondary education. Their retention in STEM after secondary education gives us a better understanding of gender-specific “leakage” from the STEM pipeline. We found that girls’ likelihood of choosing STEM decreased drastically when friends had more traditional gender norms. Friends with traditional gender norms had less effect on boys. Nonetheless, boys with only same-sex friends were more likely to enter STEM. Our findings indicate that an environment with gender-normative ideas pushes girls out of the STEM pipeline.