STEM Education Initiatives

John P. Kowalcyk

STEM Education Initiatives

            In order to compete in an increasingly competitive global market, some believe that schools in the United States need to place a greater emphasis on the most competitive and fastest growing fields: science and technology.  In 2008, the U.S. ranked 28th in math literacy and 24th in science literacy in an international assessment of 15-year-old students (Kuenzi, 2008).  The U.S. ranked 20th among all nations with regard to the proportion of 24-year-olds, who earn degrees in natural science or engineering (Kuenzi, 2008).  Postsecondary degrees in STEM fields make up approximately 17 percent of all degrees awarded at this level in the US, while other nations around the world have seen a steady increase in degrees awarded in these fields (Kuenzi, 2008).  These statistics and many others point to the need for some sort of reform so that the US can continue to be a competitive force in the global economy. 

Beginning in the 1990s as an initiative through the National Science Foundation, STEM education has become a label for “any event, policy, program, or practice that involves one or several of the STEM disciplines” (Bybee, 2010, p. 30).  STEM is an acronym that stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education in schools.  Bybee (2010) identifies four key components of STEM literacy:

·         “Acquiring scientific, technological, engineering, and mathematical knowledge and using that knowledge to identify issues, acquire new knowledge, and apply the knowledge to STEM-related issues.

·         Understanding the characteristic features of STEM disciplines as forms of human endeavors that include the processes of inquiry, design, and analysis.

·         Recognizing how STEM disciplines shape our material, intellectual, and cultural world.

·         Engaging in STEM-related issues and with the ideas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics as concerned, affective, and constructive citizens” (p. 31). 

Students must not only be able to understand concepts within the STEM disciplines, but they must be able to apply their knowledge to real-life problems and understand how their knowledge impacts their everyday lives. 

Even though STEM education initiatives seems to offer a solution to allow US students to be competitive with others abroad, some are skeptical of the much touted initiatives by politicians and school reformers alike.  Sanders (2009) notes that although the acronym STEM seems to suggest interdisciplinary collaboration between science, technology, engineering, and math, many STEM programs offer little collaboration across disciplines.  Often, these programs are integrated in theory, but not in practice: “Many technology teachers are fond of saying they teach science and math in their technology education programs.  In truth, it is exceedingly rare for a technology teacher to explicitly identify a specific science or mathematics concept or process as a desired learning outcome and even rarer for technology teachers to assess a science or mathematics learning outcome” (Sanders, 2009, p. 21).  He goes on to explain that people should be skeptical when hearing that STEM offers something “new and exciting” to education, when in actuality, it is simply a shift in focus. 

Sanders (2009) suggests a different approach to STEM education, which he calls Integrated STEM Education.  This approach focuses on teaching and learning that occurs between or among two or more STEM subject areas or between a STEM subject area and another school subject.  He believes that we do not need more conventionally prepared STEM educators, but rather, we need to change the way STEM subjects are taught to motivate young learners to pursue more challenging course work and eventual jobs in these fields.  Sanders (2009) draws on the work of Bruning, et. al. (2004) to identify a pedagogical philosophy for Integrative STEM Education: “(1) learning is a constructive, not a receptive, process; (2) motivation and beliefs are integral to cognition; (3) social interaction is fundamental to cognitive development; (4) knowledge, strategies, and expertise are contextual” (p. 23).   Motivation among students through constructive learning experiences and collaboration among teachers in different disciplines are key to the success of STEM Education initiatives. 

References

Bybee, R. W. (2010, September). Advancing STEM Education: A 2020 Vision. Technology and Engineering Teacher, 70(1), 30-35.

Kuenzi, J. J. (2008). Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education: Background, federal policy, and legislative action. Congressional Research Service Reports, Paper 35.

Sanders, M. (2009, December). STEM, STEM education, STEMmania. The Technology Teacher, 20-26.