Educators’ Perceptions of Integrated STEM: A Phenomenological Study

The study utilized a semistructured interview approach to identify phenomena that are related to integrated STEM education by addressing the question: What are the critical components of an integrated STEM definition and what critical factors are necessary for an integrated STEM definition’s implementation? Thirteen expert practitioners were identified and interviewed. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed for content in three different ways: by person, by interview question, and across all interviews using exploratory data analysis methods. Ten identified phenomena were grouped into two classes: structural implementation phenomena and interpersonal implementation phenomena. The structural implementation phenomena were: subject integration, project-based learning, and design-based education; nontraditional assessment; STEM content; time; professional development; and outside support (from businesses and industry). The interpersonal implementation phenomena include: leadership; collaboration; willingness; authentic, relevant, and meaningful experiences for participants; and outside support (from people in business and industry). The analysis concluded that these phenomena could be considered both critical components and key implementation factors due to their interconnected nature. The data showed that the identified phenomena are necessary as part of an integrated STEM curriculum, which makes them critical components, and that the identified phenomena are critical to create and implement an integrated STEM setting, making them implementation factors as well. Implications for further research include: the possibility of looking at the interconnectedness of the phenomena, examining how each phenomenon contributes to integrated STEM, and measuring current STEM implementations to see if they incorporate the identified phenomena. Additionally, inclusion of an absent phenomenon could be researched to see if integrated STEM education is improved

Gateway Experiences to Engineering Technology: Development of an Introductory Course

The launch of a new Engineering Technology undergraduate degree at a research intensive university prompted collaboration from six different disciplines within the College of Technology. With a flexible curriculum designed to meet existing and future workforce needs, the program of study incorporated both new and revised courses. One of the new courses is a gateway Introduction to Engineering Technology course designed to attract and retain both traditional and nontraditional students. In this introductory course, engineering technology is defined based on the skill set needed for the current and future economy. The gateway course employs a reverse course-content-delivery design whereby students engage traditional lecture-based subject matter in a user-friendly manner that encourages students to revisit lectures on-demand. Students work through a series of at-home assignments in a linear manner, labeled simply as read, watch, and do. These assignments build upon each other to develop both depth and breadth through repeated exposure and analysis of core concepts. This is consistent with learning theory literature, which is replete with studies showing that when students experience expectation failure, followed by a time of thorough and investigative feedback loops, learning gains are increased almost fourfold, from 20–30% to nearly 80% (Karpicke & Roediger, 2008). In addition, based upon student persistence theory (Tinto, 2003), common student experiences are developed for both engineering technology content and the social learning aspect of higher education to create learning-communities for the gateway students (Tinto, 1997)