Examining technology integration in middle school STEAM units

ABSTRACT

This research draws on a longitudinal study in which middle school math and science teachers enacted STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics) teaching in their classroom after participating in intensive STEAM professional development aimed at increasing effective STEAM teaching. The authors address one important aspect in STEAM teaching, technology integration practices of teachers during instruction, and theorise their work using connected learning theory. Qualitative case study is used to identify and describe technology integration themes which emerged during STEAM instruction. Results suggest 17 of the 21 teachers participating in the study demonstrated technology integration involving one or more areas of instructional approaches, assessment and student use. The research expands what we know about how technology can be integrated in STEAM instruction and suggests ways to capitalise on technology to broaden access and appeal to all students during STEAM instruction.     

‘No One Should Destroy the Forest': Using photo-based vignette interviews to understand Kenyan teachers' views of the environment

In the midst of the current environmental crisis, scientists, academics, authors, and politicians worldwide are urging citizens to create sustainable communities. However, there is little capability to build a sustainable society without an informed, active, and engaged populous. This requires more than just environmentally knowledgeable citizens. It requires a society that understands the principles of the environment and can also exemplify them in daily life. In order to create a more environmentally literate world, there has been a push for environmental education integrated into schools. This qualitative study sought to examine Kenyan teachers’ perspectives on the human–nature interaction by conducting vignette focus-group interviews. It is a subject not widely explored but vital for conservation not only in this area, but also other areas that seek to have an ecological informed populous. The vignettes were created using photographs and explanations of the photographs that the participants collected and emailed to the authors. For the focus-group vignette interviews, there were a total of 55 participants (30 females and 25 males). After InVivo analysis, we had 6 codes (resentment, pride, perils, blame, pragmatism, and self-interested) within 3 major themes. This study has implications for informing science education to combat these traditions of subjecting students to a science curriculum that demotes Kenyan cultural heritage and lifestyle. By incorporating local knowledge such as the ideas discussed in this paper into Kenyan science education, Kenyans can reach one of most challenging objectives of education, which is to produce children who are fundamentally aware of their environment.     

If We Teach Them, They Can Learn: Young Students Views of Nature of Science Aspects to Early Elementary Students During an Informal Science Education Program

There have been substantial reform efforts in science education to improve students’ understandings of science and its processes and provide continual support for students becoming scientifically literate (American Association for the Advancement of Science in Benchmarks for science literacy, Oxford University Press, New York, 1993; National Research Council in Mathematics and science education around the world, National Academy Press, Washington DC, 1996; National Science Teachers Association in NSTA position statement 2000). Despite previous research, it is still unclear whether young children are actually developmentally ready to conceptualize the ideas that are recommended in the reforms (Akerson V, Volrich M (2006) Journal of Research and Science Teaching, 43, 377–394). The purpose of this study was to explore how explicit-reflective instruction could improve young students’ understanding of NOS. During an informal education setting, the authors taught NOS aspects using explicit-reflective instruction. Overall the students participating in the program improved their understanding of the target aspects of NOS through use of explicit reflective instruction. However, the levels of improvement varied across different aspects. Students improved the most in their understanding of the tentative nature of science and the roles of observation in scientific work, although there was still some confusion regarding the distinction between observation and inference. More work needs to be done exploring these specific topics and the role explicit reflective practice can play in identifying the particular problems students have in distinguishing these constructs.     

Designing a Deeply Digital Science Curriculum: Supporting Teacher Learning and Implementation with Organizing Technologies

This paper examines the impacts of technology (e.g., Chromebooks, Google Drive) on teacher learning and student activity in the development and implementation of a deeply digital high school biology unit. Using design-based implementation research, teachers co-designed with researchers and curriculum specialists a student-centered unit aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) that utilizes classroom technology. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected to understand the barriers that inhibit the implementation of a digital curriculum as well as the extent that teachers engage in the design process and begin to make shifts in their practice. We found that through the co-design process teachers began to shift their knowledge of NGSS, technology implementation, and adapted to tensions and barriers inherent in the process.     

Emotions in teaching environmental science

This op-ed article examines the emotional impact of teaching environmental science and considers how certain emotions can broaden viewpoints and other emotions narrow them. Specifically, it investigates how the topic of climate change became an emotional debate in a science classroom because of religious beliefs. Through reflective practice and examination of positionality, the author explored how certain teaching practices of pre-service science teachers created a productive space and other practices closed down the conversations. This article is framed with theories that explore both divergent and shared viewpoints.     

“Women and the environmental are together”: using Participatory Rural Appraisal to examine gendered tensions about the environment

Environmental education research (EER) rarely includes women’s perspectives. This means that in environmental education research, an entire knowledge source is largely ignored. This study employed a methodology called Participatory Rural Appraisal, a methodology new to the field of EER, of Kenyan teachers from the Maasai Mara region to understand the tensions around environmental views. The purpose of this work was to examine, through the use of a participatory methodology, the conceptions of the environmental of these teachers and to uncover gendered tensions. The analysis included a continuous, thematic review that included the participants during the analysis. The findings included the following themes: Why are people doing what they are doing? Who is or is not acting? How do we move forward? This research documented gendered tensions such as the burdens of responsibility, the power imbalance disadvantaged women feel regarding solving environmental issues, and the blame that is directed at both men and women as a result of these burdens and power imbalances. This methodology provided a way for participants to understand each other’s viewpoints in layered ways, and pointed to gender issues throughout that sometimes caused blame. However, it also helped the participants think about how to work together.     

Book review

Diploma Mills: Degrees of Fraud by David W. Stewart and Henry A. Spille. (New York: Macmillan Publishing, 1988. 253 pp. $19.95)     

With Their Help: How community members construct a congruent Third Space in an urban kindergarten classroom

Through the use of narrative enquiry, this paper tells the story of how a kindergarten teacher in an all-girls' school incorporates family and community members' involvement to the construction of the congruent Third Space present in the classroom, and the ways the girls respond to this involvement, thereby providing a successful model for other schools in marginalized communities. In this study, the author sought to understand how this teacher and the community members' in this classroom create a congruent Third Space. This research enquiry includes the systematic use of the methodology portraiture with analysis of critical events. The portraits are titled: Mutual Desire for the Girls to Succeed and Community Members' Involvement. This paper moves Third Space theory towards praxis through concrete examples in an urban, kindergarten classroom.