STEAM Education in Ontario, Canada: A Case Study on the Curriculum and Instructional Models of Four K-8 STEAM Programs

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) learning and project-based learning are important educational initiatives in North America. However, it is important to consider whether current STEM educational practices are sufficient to prepare students for the world they are to live and work in. This prompts discussions about STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) which is shifting educational paradigms towards art integration in STEM subjects. This study investigates the STEAM education reform movement in Canada to better understand the STEAM curriculum and instructional programs offered by non-profit organizations and publicly funded schools. This research study addresses the following major questions: 1) what curriculum and instruction models of STEAM education are implemented in non-profit and in-school contexts in Ontario, Canada? 2) What do students learn through different models of STEAM education? 3) What types of assessment of student learning is happening in STEAM education? 4) How do classroom teachers view such models of STEAM education in meeting their curriculum and instruction goals? To explore these questions, I took a small sample of four different STEAM programs in Ontario, Canada. I conducted interviews, observations, content analysis of curriculum documents and a focus group interview. At the four research sites, the main pedagogies used are design-based and inquiry-based models which focused on the students’ interests and encourages students to construct their own knowledge. Students learn character-building skills that empower them to solve real-world problems, develop perseverance and grit, engage in their community and develop a global perspective. The instructors/teachers describe the STEAM tasks at each site as rich and authentic experiences. The findings also suggest that sharing the learning in the STEAM program with the community extends the learning experiences to a wider community and contributes to the collective knowledge about how students learn. This study can inform teaching practices for teachers who seek to engage and motivate students by integrating the arts in STEM subjects. This study also promises to deepen the field’s understanding of STEAM education in Canada and to provide new insights into the practicality, affordances, and tensions of designing and implementing a STEAM program

Integrated STEM Learning Activity: Effect on Student Engagement and Learning

Student engagement in math and science courses decreases starting in middle school and continues throughout high school (Museus et al., 2011). This lack of engagement results in students taking only the required math and science coursework and not advanced coursework that would help prepare them for future careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields. Integrated STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) learning activities may be used to promote student engagement and learning. This experimental design study was conducted with students in grades 3-5 in one rural mid-sized school district in the upper mid-west. Student engagement was analyzed using a pre/post-survey. Content-specific learning was analyzed using a pre/post-test. Modeling analysis measured the extent to which lesson type, integrated STEM lesson or traditional non-integrated lesson, predicted student engagement and learning. Additionally, I examined the extent to which engagement mediates the relationship between lesson type and student learning. Findings from this study indicate that integrated STEM learning activities increased student engagement, which may lead to students taking additional math and science courses in high school and pursuing a future in a high-demand STEM career

Mathematics and interdisciplinary STEM education: recent developments and future directions

This special issue introduces recent research on mathematics in interdisciplinary STEM education. STEM education is widely promoted by governments around the world as a way of boosting students' interest and achievement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and preparing STEM-qualified workers for twenty-first century careers. However, the role of mathematics in STEM education often appears to be marginal, and we do not understand well enough how mathematics contributes to STEM-based problem-solving or how STEM education experiences enhance students' learning of mathematics. In this survey paper, we present a narrative review of empirical and conceptual research literature, published between 2017 and 2022. These literature sources are organised by a framework comprising five thematic clusters: (1) interdisciplinary curriculum models and approaches; (2) student outcomes and experiences; (3) teacher preparation and professional development; (4) classroom implementation and task design; and (5) policy, structures, and leadership. We use the framework to provide an overview of the papers in this issue and to propose directions for future research. These include: investigating methods and rationales for connecting the constituent STEM disciplines so as to preserve the disciplinary integrity of mathematics; clarifying what is meant by student "success" in interdisciplinary STEM programs, projects, and other educational approaches; moving beyond classroom practices that position mathematics as just a tool for solving problems in other disciplines; understanding what makes a STEM task mathematically rich; and asking how STEM education research can productively shape STEM education policy.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Transdisciplinary STEM curriculum enactment: an exploratory case study in the Queensland context

Kristy Schulz investigated a case of transdisciplinary STEM education in a secondary school context in Queensland. She found that the enactment strategy, which focused on 21C skills and problem-framing, clearly addressed policy language of what STEM education could be and was a genuine attempt to prepare students for an uncertain future. Her findings provide a novel approach for secondary schools that are looking ahead of tech-focused STEM to a meaningful, human-centered curriculum

Positive Influence Of Education Partnerships For Teaching Integrated STEM Through Drone Competition

While enhancing the STEM career pipeline through improved quality and quantity of STEM teaching available to an ever-widening diversity is K-12 students is garnering significant attention across the U.S., there lacks widely adopted implementation and support models that efficiently make full advantage of the vast human and fiscal resources available. A wide swath of STEM education stake-holding partners—schools, businesses, government agencies, non-profit organizations, and institutions of higher education—frequently are compelled to provide support and guidance but lack easy to follow pathways in order to do so. This research study describes and documents a unique vehicle to bring often disparate partners to a unified effort under the banner of drone education designed to improve STEM and technology-oriented career pathways. Identified barriers that the collaborative partnership helped overcome to ensure success include providing: modest start-up costs for modern high-tech equipment for participating schools (drones); an infrastructure for leveraging the consistently successful approach to providing regional and statewide competitive events (precision drone flight and knowledge competitions); large-scale buildings and facilities to host competitive festivals and events (e.g., indoor sports stadiums); and K-12 teacher professional development programs along with classroom-ready instructional materials needed to nurture and sustain student drone education programs

“That Cross-Curricular Business”: The Engineering Design Process in Mathematics and Science Classrooms

The engineering design process (EDP) is one tool teachers can use to facilitate STEM integration. As part of a larger three-year longitudinal research project regarding engineering identity development among middle school youth in a summer robotics outreach program, this study aims to understand teachers’ willingness to incorporate engineering design in their classrooms through an exploration of their perceptions of the EDP, its applications to their subject matter and classroom context, methods of enacting the EDP, and perceived challenges to and supports for doing so. We conducted a qualitative case study and drew our results from focus groups and semi-structured interviews with eight teacher participants. Participants were successful in describing the EDP and its cyclical nature. However, classroom enactment of the EDP was predominantly indirect and often used to solve non-subject-specific classroom problems. Direct enactment was limited to projects already part of the existing curriculum. Issues with instructional resources, lesson planning, time, and student background were the EDP enactment barriers most frequently noted, while supports described were all responses to the identified barriers. The EDP offers a promising way to integrate engineering with math and science. However, additional support is needed for more meaningful classroom enactment of the EDP

The Effect of AdvancED STEM Certification on Elementary Achievement

STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education has become a panacea for many woes in our country’s educational and economic systems. Each year schools struggle with judiciously allocating their limited funds to various STEM programs in hopes that they may reap academic returns. This study examined the effect of a STEM certification from the AdvancED educational accreditation organization on elementary student achievement. The researcher analyzed extant student achievement data from twenty Georgia elementary schools that earned the AdvancED STEM certification to investigate any statistically significant difference between pre-certification and post-certification scores. The researcher analyzed scores from four content areas: English Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies. By using an independent sample t-test, the researcher concluded the AdvancED STEM certification did not have a significant effect on the achievement levels in any content areas

STEAM in Primary Education. Impact on Linguistic and Mathematical Competences in a Disadvantaged Context

This research has studied the impact of the use of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics) in education, specifically in the development of linguistic and mathematical skills. The instruments used to extract the learning results were the external evaluation tests carried out by the National Institute of Educational Evaluation INEE over a period of 4 years. The study included 242 third-level primary school students from an educational center in the city of Ceuta (Spain) located in a disadvantaged area. The objectives of the study were to describe the learning results obtained in the respective competencies according to the sex and the migratory history of the students’ parents, to compare the results obtained before and during the use of STEAM and to determine if there is a correlation between the understanding of writing and problem solving. The research method was quantitative descriptive, cross-sectional and correlational. The results of the study showed that the transversal and coordinated use of STEAM improves the learning outcomes of linguistic and mathematical competence of students of the third year of Primary Education, especially speaking, oral comprehension and calculation. The results were, in general, more positive in the case of girls and students whose parents were born in Spain. The study also revealed that there is a positive correlation between reading comprehension and problem solving

Design Affordances and User Perception: Investigating the Relationship Between Space Design and Pedagogical Possibility in an Innovative Learning Environment

This major research project explores how teachers and school leaders at Branksome Hall, an all-girls International Baccalaureate (IB) school in Toronto, Ontario, Canada perceive the affordances (potential uses) of a new Innovative Learning Environment (ILE) under construction. This study adopted a social constructivist approach. First, primary research involving virtual reality (VR) walkthroughs identified the spatial features participants perceived as supporting their current and future teaching practices. Following this research, a teacher workshop built upon these features, exploring how well they aligned with the stated aims of the building. Abductive thematic coding was applied to the data according to the themes presented in Frelin and Grannäs’ (2022) TEALE model—two additional themes were also uncovered that fall outside of this framework. The findings aim to guide the transition to utilizing the iCAST effectively through the creation of spatial profiles for each space under study. Each profile provides a dynamic resource for teachers that can be used to empower an exploration of the impact of space on pedagogy and to inspire the development of innovative practices. Seven insights were developed based on the analysis of primary data and secondary research. These insights were used to guide the development of five key practice implications for Branksome Hall’s next steps, which involve cross-team collaboration, revisiting the building’s aims, engaging in futures workshops, and intentionally developing teachers’ spatial literacy and professional learning. This project highlights the evolving nature of educational purpose and how educators’ perceptions of space are influenced by their core educational philosophies. Interestingly, the affordances perceived outside of the TEALE model align more closely with the European concept of “Bildung” and a more participatory approach to 21st-century learning

Equity-Oriented Conceptual Framework for K-12 STEM Literacy

We introduce a conceptual framework of K-12 STEM literacy that rightfully and intentionally positions each and every student, particularly minoritized groups, as belonging in STEM. In order to conceptualize the equity-based framework of STEM literacy, we conducted a systematic review of literature related to STEM literacy, which includes empirical studies that contribute to STEM literacy. The literature on the siloed literacies within STEM (i.e., science, technology, engineering, and mathematics literacy) also contributed to formulate the necessity of and what it means to develop STEM literacy. The Equity-Oriented STEM Literacy Framework illuminates the complexities of disrupting the status quo and rightfully transforming integrated STEM education in ways that provide equitable opportunities and access to all learners. The Equity-Oriented STEM Literacy Framework is a research-based, equity and access-focused framework that will guide research, inform practice, and provide a lens for the field that will ensure each and every student, especially minoritized students, develop, and are developing STEM literacy