Engaging Students In STEM Education

TLDR

STEM education has become essential in a global economy, evolving into an integrated meta‑discipline that emphasizes innovation, problem‑solving, and the engineering design process across all subjects. The study aims to promote student engagement by enabling higher‑education and K‑12 educators to collaborate on pedagogical models that deliver rigorous, well‑rounded STEM instruction. The authors define essential attributes of engaging STEM programs, describe several model programs, and outline ongoing assessment efforts.

Abstract

With the flattening of the global economy in the 21st century, the teaching of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) has taken on new importance as economic competition has become truly global. STEM education has evolved into a meta-discipline, an integrated effort that removes the traditional barriers between these subjects, and instead focuses on innovation and the applied process of designing solutions to complex contextual problems using current tools and technologies. Engaging students in high quality STEM education requires programs to include rigorous curriculum, instruction, and assessment, integrate technology and engineering into the science and mathematics curriculum, and also promote scientific inquiry and the engineering design process. All students must be a part of the STEM vision, and all teachers must be provided with the proper professional development opportunities preparing them to guide all their students toward acquiring STEM literacy. By focusing on student engagement, educators from institutions of higher education and K-12 schools can work together to develop pedagogical models that provide rigorous, well-rounded education and outstanding STEM instruction. This paper defines the necessary attributes of STEM programs designed to engage all students, describes a number of model programs focused on student engagement, and discusses assessments in progress.