Building Up STEM: An Analysis of Teacher-Developed Engineering Design-Based STEM Integration Curricular Materials

Abstract

Improving K-12 Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education has a priority on numerous education reforms in the United States. To that end, developing and sustaining quality programs that focus on integrated STEM education is critical for educators. Successful implementation of any STEM program is related to the curriculum materials used. Educators increasingly recognize the challenge of finding quality curriculum materials for integrated STEM education. In this study, 48 teachers participated in a year-long professional development program on STEM integration, and they designed 20 new engineering design-based STEM curriculum units. Each STEM curriculum unit includes an engineering challenge in which students develop technologies to solve the challenge; each unit also integrates grade level appropriate mathematics (data analysis and measurement) and one of the three science content areas: life science, physical science, or earth science. A total of 20 STEM integration units were assessed using the STEM Integration Curriculum Assessment (STEM-ICA) tool. Comparisons among the STEM units showed that the context or the engineering activities in physical science focused STEM units were more engaging and motivating comparing to the authentic contexts used in life science and earth science focused STEM units. Moreover, mathematics integration and communicating mathematics, science, and engineering thinking were not found to strongly contribute to the overall quality of the STEM units. Implications for designing effective professional development on integrated STEM education will be discussed.

Supporting Engineering Design Ideas with Science and Mathematics: A Case Study of Middle School Life Science Students

“…This unit was designed to address the concepts and pedagogies identified in the STEM Integration Curriculum Assessment, STEM-ICA (Guzey, Moore, & Harwell, 2016;Moore, Guzey, & Brown, 2014). The STEM-ICA is a tool that operationalizes the STEM Integration Framework to be useful in curriculum development and assessment.…”

Supporting integrated STEM in the elementary classroom: a professional development approach centered on an engineering design challenge

“…There were two data sources for this phase of integration, observer field notes and the modified STEM-ICA tool (Guzey et al 2016). Our summative content analysis of the observer field notes indicated that the enactment of the Hexbug activity was implemented in all 10 classrooms, with all three members of each of the triads co-teaching the lesson.…”

“…Third, data was collected as the triads enacted the design lesson. Data from the enacted engineering design lessons included field notes from one or two observers (that were part of the larger research project team) and completion of a modified STEM Integration Curriculum Assessment (STEM-ICA) tool developed by Guzey et al (2016). This modified STEM-ICA tool consists of seven specific items that are closely aligned with what has been suggested in the framework for STEM integration in the classroom ) as important considerations for integrated STEM lessons and curriculum.…”

“…Another common occurrence during enactment was that only four of the groups gave adequate planning time with the requirement to have students' plans approved before starting to build their designs. To further analyze the enacted Hexbug lessons and the incorporation of STEM concepts, the second part of the data from the enacted lessons, scores from the modified STEM-ICA tool (Guzey et al 2016) were analyzed. This tool identifies important considerations regarding what should be included when designing and implementing integrated STEM lessons and therefore provided a measure that could be used to compare across triads for enacted, integrated STEM concepts.…”

Supporting Mechanistic Reasoning in Domain-Specific Contexts

“…Although the nation seems to be orienting toward a new emphasis on engineering education for K-12 students, there is not one single definition or orientation towards what that should entail. Moreover, while some significant assessment work has been accomplished in engineering education to date (Guzey, Moore, & Harwell, 2016;Marra & Bogue, 2006;Marra, Rodgers, Shen, & Bogue, 2009, 2012National Research Council, 2001;Olds, Moskell, & Miller, 2005;Purzer, Douglas, Folkerts, & Williams, 2017;, there are still many opportunities for assessments to be developed for pre-college populations, and many states have begun to adopt the NGSS. In particular, mechanistic reasoning is an area where limited assessment work has been accomplished to date.…”