Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education in the U.S. has been identified as a significant national reform in K-16 education and curriculum in order to prepare students for the global economy of the 21st century. Korea has been facing very similar challenges to improve science, technology and mathematics education, in particular, the affective aspect of learning science and mathematics. Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) education has become a crucial issue in Korean education system. The major purpose of this exploratory study is to inform the exemplary framework of STEAM education in the U.S. for Korea and to provide descriptive and analytical accounts on STEAM teaching and learning as an innovative integrated convergence education. This study integrates the outcomes of research papers on STEM education and recent literature. It employs content analysis methodology qualitatively by analyzing and synthesizing the findings, conclusions, discussions, and recommendations of accumulated research works related to STEM/STEAM education. This study will help gain a stronger sense of the STEAM framework and will guide to develop the educational programs for Korea.
A number of national science and mathematics education professional associations, and recently technology education associations, are united in their support for the integration of science and mathematics teaching and learning. The purpose of this historical analysis is two‐fold: (a) to survey the nature and number of documents related to integrated science and mathematics education published from 1901 through 2001 and (b) to compare the nature and number of integrated science and mathematics documents published from 1990 through 2001 to the previous 89 years (1901–1989). Based upon this historical analysis, three conclusions have emerged. First, national and state standards in science and mathematics education have resulted in greater attention to integrated science and mathematics education, particularly in the area of teacher education, as evidenced by the proliferation of documents on this topic published from 1901–2001. Second, the historical comparison between the time periods of 1901–1989 versus 1990–2001 reveals a grade‐level shift in integrated instructional documents. Middle school science continues to be highlighted in integrated instructional documents, but surprisingly, a greater emphasis upon secondary mathematics and science education is apparent in the integration literature published from 1990–2001. Third, although several theoretical integration models have been posited in the literature published from 1990–2001, more empirical research grounded in these theoretical models is clearly needed in the 21st century.
If the concepts used in curriculum, textbooks, classroom teaching, and assessment are not consistent, students may have difficulty in understanding the concepts of science correctly and this may lead to the formation of misconceptions. The purpose of this study is to measure the alignment of science concepts by analyzing the semantic networks of curriculum, textbooks, classroom teaching, and student assessment with respect to the contents on meiosis as covered in Life Science I. The semantic network method using the NetMiner 4.0 program was applied. 11 concepts were extracted from the curriculum commentary. The textbook presented 36 concepts; classroom teaching presented 54 concepts; a total of 23 concepts were presented from assessment. With respect to alignment of relevant concepts, 6 (gamete, chromosome, meiosis, gene, daughter cell and cell division) were linked to all 4 sources (curriculum, textbooks, classroom teaching, and assessment). These concepts are mainly used to explain the process of meiosis. It is concluded that the key concepts of meiosis exhibited alignment in curriculums, textbooks, classroom teaching and assessment. However, there are many concepts used only in textbooks and classroom teaching. The greater number of concepts in textbooks and teaching can become one of the causes of a deficit in learning. Keywords: concepts’ alignment, meiosis concepts, upper secondary school, semantic network
The Korean education curriculum is making efforts to improve education to foster competencies that the future society demands through the 2007 and 2009 revised curriculum. The revised curricula focus on enhanced articulation for the quality curriculum. In this study, the curriculum is analyzed for vertical and horizontal articulation. In addition, the study found a problem in Korea's curriculum through international comparison and sought improvement. Furthermore, the study compared internationally articulation of the concept of photosynthesis, of which the results are as follows. First, our science curriculum focuses on vertical articulation and has relatively neglected the problem of horizontal articulation. To compensate for this problem, curriculum design should introduce aspects of 'nature' and 'environment' and should consider the interests and concerns of students, as countries with high horizontal articulation do. Second, the actual education field has a problem with the a lack of continuity and sequence because of concentration of concept in a specific grade or simply repeating the concept across multiple grades. These results have led to alternative proposals that should arrange basis of concept configuration such as 'Big Idea' and should establish the adoption of 'systems' frequently appearing in the other curricula. Finally, there may be mentioned a lack of research on students' learning progression, which can be a common standard of horizontal and vertical articulation. Research on learning progression has been a trend overseas, but there exists no study to fit Korea's situation, so education fields need to conduct the appropriate research on learning progression as part of the commitment to high-quality curriculum.
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