Refining our understanding of what STEM is
With the last term of 2018 upon us I thought it would be timely to reflect upon the latest thoughts on what STEM is. There have been some great posts recently which summarise it nicely. Dr Jane Hunter in her blog High Possibility Classrooms recently wrote a piece titled Success in STEM in primary schools. In it she quotes from a book by Anne Jolly titled STEM by Design. She starts by by explaining what STEM should mean to the school leadership " Leaders must understand that STEM is intended to ratchet up rigor in science and mathematics through engineering applications … it’s not intended as a general ‘catch all program’ for subjects" and then points out that " STEM is: Not a subject or a content area and it is not comprised of four separate subjects taught in isolation from one another "
Dr Hunter summarises that "Teaching STEM is a way of teaching that helps prepare students for learning and working in the world – as a teacher it’s about engaging them in science, technology, engineering and mathematics as they exist in everyday life – interwoven and integrated – combining knowledge from four areas: S T E M to find and solve real-world, current problems."
- STEM lessons focus on real-world issues and problems
- STEM lessons are guided by the engineering design process
- STEM lessons immerse students in hands-on inquiry and open-ended exploration
- STEM lessons involve students in productive teamwork
- STEM lessons apply rigorous math and science content your students are learning
- STEM lessons allow for multiple right answers and reframe failure as a necessary part of learning
It doesn't mean that every lesson is a project or that every lesson combines all four of the STEM areas. However, these ideas should guide the thinking of lesson design and where possible and appropriate STEM based pedagogy should be used.
So how is your school doing? Are you seeing your kids engaged in this sort of learning?
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