A bibliometric analysis of the global landscape on STEM education (2004-2021): towards global distribution, subject integration, and research trends

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to provide a comprehensive review and bibliometric analysis of the literature in the field of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education over the past 15 years, with a specific focus on global distribution and research trends. Design/methodology/approach This study collected 1,718 documents from the Web of Science (WOS) database and analyzed their timeline distribution, geographical distribution, research topics, subject areas, learning stages and citation burst using a bibliometric approach with VOSviewer and Citespace. Findings Results indicated that: overall, STEM education has increasingly gained scholarly attention and is developing diversely by emphasizing interdisciplinary, cross-domain and regional collaboration. In terms of global collaboration, a collaborative network with the USA in the center is gradually expanding to a global scope. In terms of research themes, four key topics can be outlined including educational equity, pedagogy, empirical effects and career development. Social, cultural and economic factors influence the way STEM education is implemented across different countries. The developed Western countries highlighted educational equity and disciplinary integration, while the developing countries tend to focus more on pedagogical practices. As for research trends, eastern countries are emphasizing humanistic leadership and cultural integration in STEM education; in terms of teachers’ professional development, teachers’ abilities of interdisciplinary integration, technology adoption and pedagogy application are of the greatest importance. With regards to pedagogy, the main focus is for developing students’ higher-order abilities. In terms of education equity, issues of gender and ethnicity were still the hottest topics, while the unbalanced development of STEM education across regions needs further research. Originality/value This study provides a global landscape of STEM education along the timeline, which illustrates the yearly progressive development of STEM education and indicates the future trends.

Implementation of STEM education: A bibliometrics analysis from case study research in Scopus database

“…Such an analysis is currently absent from the literature and would furnish valuable quantitative insights to scholars who wish to explore this topic in future research. However, most of the available quantitative studies on STEM education (Gil-Doménech et al, 2020;Ozkaya, 2019), the role of STEM education (Jamali et al, 2022), analysis of the global landscape on STEM education (Zhan et al, 2022), or focus on STEM quantification in middle school education (Huong et al, 2021), higher education (Kundu et al, 2022), STEM education in specific territories such as ASEAN (Ha et al, 2020). Various techniques are available for conducting reviews, such as citation network analysis, content analysis, and topic mapping.…”

Metacognition in mathematics education: From academic chronicle to future research scenario–A bibliometric analysis with the Scopus database

“…Moreover, bibliometric analysis has been widely used in social science and educational science research with various topics such as research on lifelong learning (Do et al, 2021), learning management systems (Pham et al, 2022), mathematical education or STEM education (Julius et al, 2021;Phan et al, 2022;Zhan et al, 2022), internationalization in higher education (Cao et al, 2021;Pham et al, 2021), sustainable leadership (Hallinger & Suriyankietkaew, 2018), education for sustainable development (Hallinger & Nguyen, 2020), and scientific communication (Nguyen et al, 2020(Nguyen et al, , 2023Pham et al, 2022).…”

Developing professional capital through technology-enabled university-school-enterprise collaboration: an innovative model for C-STEAM preservice teacher education in the Greater Bay area

“…3.1 Development of professional capital for C-STEAM preservice teachers Professional development programs are crucial in enhancing the professional competencies of STEAM teachers, encompassing improvements in teaching beliefs, teaching knowledge, and teaching skills (Zhan et al, 2022b). Although existing studies have not explored C-STEAM teacher training based on the theory of professional capital, the typical professional STEAM teacher development methods still offer valuable insights.…”