Curriculum Development in STEM

Bernardo León de la Barra School of Engineering

Noleine Fitzallen School of Education

Community Engagement through STEM Education

http://www.utas.edu.au/stem

What is STEM?

Way of gathering things together

STEMM

STEM Integration in K-12 Education

3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlPJ48simtE&feature=player_embedded

STEM Integration in K-12 Education

4 http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=18612

STEM Integration in K-12 Education: Key contributions come from the US

• Integrated STEM education is an effort to combine the four disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics into one class, unit, or lesson that is based on connections among these disciplines and real-world problems.

• The goal of an integrated STEM education is to be an holistic approach that links the disciplines so the learning becomes connected, focused, meaningful, and relevant to learners.

(Moore & Smith, 2014)

The Australian Curriculum

• Mathematics

• Science

• Technology

• Engineering??????

• General Capabilities – Social and Personal Capability

– Critical and Creative Thinking

– Numeracy

– Literacy

– Information and Communication Technology Capability

• A commitment to integrate engineering design into the structure of science education by raising engineering design to the same level as scientific inquiry from kindergarten to grade 12.

• Aims to help students see how science and engineering are instrumental in addressing major challenges that confront society today, such as generating sufficient energy, preventing and treating diseases, maintaining supplies of clean water and food, and solving the problems of global environmental change

Engineering Design in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)

http://www.nextgenscience.org/next-generation-science-standards

Working within the disciplines

• Scientists

– generating new knowledge by inquiring and questioning

• Technologists

– finding solutions by creating and operating innovative products and processes

• Mathematicians

– making logical arguments and proving claims

• Engineers

– solving problems by creating and making products

Science Inquiry

• Questioning and predicting: Identifying and constructing questions, proposing hypotheses and suggesting possible outcomes.

• Planning and conducting: Making decisions regarding how to investigate or solve a problem and carrying out an investigation, including the collection of data.

• Processing and analysing data and information: Representing data in meaningful and useful ways; identifying trends, patterns and relationships in data, and using this evidence to justify conclusions.

• Evaluating: Considering the quality of available evidence and the merit or significance of a claim, proposition or conclusion with reference to that evidence.

• Communicating: Conveying information or ideas to others through appropriate representations, text types and modes.

(ACARA, 2014)

Engineering design process PD video series and educator guides http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/best/edp.html

STEM as a Way of Working

The Authentic Integration Triangle

(Treacy & O’Donoghue, 2014)

STEM as a Way of Working

(Vasquez, Sneider, & Comer, 2013, p. 67)

Interdisciplinary curriculum plan about the solar system

The Role of Teachers

• Providing the opportunity for students to be creative and innovative by guiding learning through inquiry, exploration, and discovery in hands-on projects set within meaningful contexts.

• At times teaching will involve guided inquiry, other times explicit teaching or other strategies. The needs of the students and the demands of the task will determine the approach needed

• Importantly: – To support students to identify and acknowledge the

contribution the various disciplines make to projects – For example, production of Folio pages from projects from

Top Design Competition provide the evidence they have made the connections

• Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Critical Appraisal for Teachers

• STEM Framework – A tool designed to assist teachers to select the STEM

resources best suited to your teaching circumstances.

– Underpinned by critical reflection.

– It is a working record of the resource selection process.

– Support for teachers who are teaching out of area.

• An Australian Maths and Sciences Partnership Program (AMSPP) funded initiative

STEM Framework Six Step Framework

Preparation

Planning

Context

Resource Usability

Support considerations

References Australian Curriculum and Reporting Authority (2014). The Australian Curriculum: Science. Retrieved from http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/science/Curriculum/F- 10?layout=1 Engineering Design in the Next Generation Science Standards Retrieved from http://www.nextgenscience.org/next- generation-science-standards Moore, T. J., & Smith, K. A. (2014). Advancing the state of the art of STEM integration. Journal of STEM Education, 15(1), 5-10. STEMCrAfT Project. Retrieved from www.stemcraft.weebly.com Treacy, P., & O’Donoghue, J. (2014). Authentic integration: A model for integrating mathematics and science in the classroom. International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, 45(5), 703-718. Vasquez, J. A., Sneider, C., & Comer, M. (2013). STEM: Lesson essentials. Integrating Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Portsmouth: Heinemann.

• Bernardo León de la Barra

Bernardo.LeonDeLaBarra@utas.edu.au

• Noleine Fitzallen

Noleine.Fitzallen@utas.edu.au