Moving towards engaged learning in STEM domains; there is no simple answer, but clearly a road ahead

Abstract

What is the best approach to educating students is, evidently, the pivotal question in educational research. In the general debate on this question, clear positions are often taken―for example, whether teacher‐led instruction or more student‐directed approaches should be followed. In the current narrative review, this central question and the different stances taken are explored for a specific field of learning, STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) domains. The current article starts with an argument as to why the traditional, more directive teacher‐led educational approach to STEM learning may not always lead to deep conceptual knowledge and proposes exploring more engaged forms of learning. More specifically, a particular arrangement for engaged learning, inquiry learning, is taken as an example in this exploration. It is argued that the effects of educational methods are influenced by a multitude of (interacting) factors related to student and teacher characteristics, context, domain, frequency of use, timing, and probably more. Therefore, this article tries to outline a more nuanced and balanced stance towards choosing educational approaches. A picture is presented to show that adopting and combining different approaches, at both the lesson and the curricular levels, may be necessary to reach optimal levels of learning. Existing and upcoming technologies may play a decisive role in realizing this more complex, but also more realistic view of learning in STEM.

From theory to action

“…The NGSS call for students to develop a coherent understanding of science concepts across discipline and grade level. To help students meet this goal, the unit was designed in accordance with evidence-based, inquiry science learning design principles [3], including direct instruction and numerous animations and models to support students in understanding the various processes that result in the warming of the Earth. The unit had a pre/post-test and embedded assessments of varying formats, which were completely individually and in groups, respectively.…”

Educación STEM en y para el mundo digital

“…Página 20 de 29 a separar los procesos de enseñanza (y de las herramientas y contextos usados) de los procesos de aprendizaje (y de los objetos de aprendizaje en sí mismo). A lo largo de la discusión hemos señalado hasta qué punto usar ciertas herramientas digitales de una cierta forma puede ser beneficioso tanto para el desarrollo del aprendizaje STEM como del aprendizaje digital de niños y jóvenes, pero huyendo del triunfalismo naíf que asocia herramientas digitales como garantía de mejora del aprendizaje (Pintó, 2009;Simarro y Couso, 2018;de Jong, 2019).…”

Class Experiences with Inquiry Learning Spaces in Go-Lab in African Secondary Schools

“…A meta-analysis of undergraduate STEM education shows that active learning is by far more effective than traditional lecturing (Freeman et al, 2014). Inquiry Based Learning (IBL) can be seen as a specific form of engaged or active learning (de Jong, 2019). In engaged learning, students perform meaningful activities with the learning content, and go beyond the information that is offered to them.…”

“…It is however important that students are given the appropriate level of control in an ILS (Bevins & Prince, 2016;de Jong, 2019;Lazonder & Harmsen, 2026).…”