Should we embed careers education in STEM lessons?

Schools have a particular responsibility to introduce young people to the range of possible options for them after they leave education as few families can provide this. However, in the United Kingdom, careers education is currently not strong in most schools for a number of reasons but principally due to its low status and shifts in government policy and funding. As a result, too many young people make subject choices for post-16 study that they subsequently regret. In particular, fewer young people in the United Kingdom choose post-16 STEM subjects than might do. Yet, STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) graduates are especially valued by employers. We draw on the findings of two research projects, ASPIRES and UPMAP, and argue that one way forward may be to embed careers education in STEM lessons. This can be done in ways that are respectful of and helpful to students. We recommend that an England- or UK-based project to investigate the consequences of embedding careers education in STEM lessons be undertaken.     

Building undergraduate STEM majors’ capacity for delivering inquiry-based mathematics and science lessons: An exploratory evaluation study

Recruiting and preparing STEM majors for teaching has become one of the major efforts at improving mathematics and science teacher quality at secondary level. One question is whether STEM majors who have not had the chance to experience active learning in mathematics and science classes as secondary students themselves know what inquiry pedagogy is. Secondly, it is unclear whether those who experienced inquiry in their college introductory discipline courses will be able to utilize the pedagogy in teaching secondary content. We address these questions through studying an undergraduate research methods course designed to improve STEM majors’ capacity for delivering inquiry-based mathematics and science lesson. Analysis of data from pre-and-post course surveys and students’ written research reports including students’ reflection on their inquiry projects suggests that offering future STEM teachers opportunities to conduct inquiry and reflect explicitly on how inquiry can be used to teach secondary content is important and beneficial.     

The effect of an informal science intervention on middle school girls’ science affinities

This study investigates the impact of an informal science outreach programme built around theories of identity formation and self-efficacy on middle school girls’ science affinities. A lottery-based, randomised control trial was used to identify programme effects on four science affinity outcomes: science interests, efficacy with science, science attitudes, and science identity. A multivariate analysis of variance demonstrated that programme participants scored higher than their control group peers on weighted composite of post-programme affinity indicators. These results suggest that informal science education may offer a venue through which to support the formation of science identities and efficacy in girls. Implications for including psychosocial support elements into science classroom pedagogy and science education standards are discussed.     

面向整合式STEM的教师跨学科素养：结构模型与发展路径

整合式STEM能够有效解决STEM教育中的“形式化”和“异化”等问题,更好地培养学生的跨学科思维与行动力,其有效实施依赖于STEM教师的跨学科素养。因此培养教师的跨学科素养既是STEM教育转向整合式STEM教育发展的时代诉求,也是教师专业发展的现实需要。STEM教师的跨学科素养主要包括跨学科意向、跨学科认知、跨学科应用与技术应用能力4个核心组成维度,并可将其进一步划分为10个素养指标,为STEM教师跨学科素养发展提供方向指引。当前STEM教师跨学科素养的发展受学校等外部环境、教师知识基础与跨学科体验等个体特征变量以及有效的专业发展培训的综合影响。未来我国STEM教师跨学科素养的培养应当注重：变革学校制度和支持系统,鼓励教师成为课程开发主体;组建跨学科学习共同体,创新教师“学习”方式;善用技术创新培训,通过智能研修支持教师持续自主发展。     

Does attending a STEM high school improve student performance? Evidence from New York City

We investigate the role of specialized science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) high schools in New York City (NYC) in promoting performance in science and mathematics and in closing the gender and race gaps in STEM subjects. Using administrative data covering several recent cohorts of public school students and a rich variety of high schools including over 30 STEMs, we estimate the effect of attending a STEM high school on a variety of student outcomes, including test taking and performance on specialized science and mathematics examinations. While comparisons of means indicate an advantage to attending a STEM school, more thorough analysis conditioning on a rich set of covariates, including previous grade test performance, reduces or eliminates this advantage. Females and males in STEMs do better than their counterparts in Non-STEMs, but the gender gap is also larger in these schools. We also find that the black-white and Hispanic-white gaps are smaller in STEM relative to Non-STEM schools across almost all outcomes, but the Asian-white gap, in contrast, is larger in STEMs relative to Non-STEMs.     

Studying Career Science Teachers' Personal Histories: A Methodology for Understanding Intrinsic Reasons for Career Choice and Retention

Career choice and retention of nineteen secondary science education graduates were studied using a biographical approach. Autobiographical papers written as preservice teachers and rewritten as career teachers were compared for intrinsic reasons for vocational choice. Comparisons were made between early vocation teachers and those who chose science teaching later in their higher education studies. Participants beginning college as science education majors wanted to teach for student learning and to shape their students' lives. Participants beginning college as science majors wanted to continue learning science while also enhancing their students' science literacy. Ten participants' data from both groups showed great similarities in self as teacher across autobiographical papers. Teaching for impact on students appeared to support retention in this study. Implications for development and potential retention of future science teachers are discussed.     

服务于人才培养的STEM教育——《制定成功路线：美国STEM教育战略》的解读与启示

长期以来,美国一直引领全球教育改革的潮流。2018年12月,特朗普政府公布了《制定成功路线:美国STEM教育战略》。该战略从愿景、目标、路径等方面规划了未来五年美国STEM教育的发展蓝图,对美国未来的STEM教育发展与人才培养具有战略指导作用。基于此,文章首先梳理了该战略提出的背景,随后从发展目标与实施路径两个角度对该战略进行了重点解读,最后从顶层设计、参与主体、教育实践、效果评估等方面探讨了该战略对我国STEM教育的启示,以期推动我国STEM教育的发展,为课程改革和人才培养提供参考。