ABSTRACT. Nurturing 21st CC in students is a current focus to prepare them for a future where continual learning is needed to thrive in a fast changing and technology-driven world. Students in our school learn Physics through investigative-driven and inquiry-based hands-on STEM activities that focus on real-world applications of the scientific approach in problem solving. We designed formal and informal programme to help develop our students in areas of critical, adaptive, and inventive thinking and communication, collaboration, and information skills. Modelling our inquiry-based lessons after the 5E Learning Cycle, (Bybee, 2006), we designed activities where students work cooperatively in groups, and then present and discuss their solutions using the whiteboarding process with their teacher and peers. Whiteboarding promotes active learning among students by engaging them in the learning process through reading, writing, discussion, analysis, synthesis and evaluation. (Smart Technologies inc, 2006). Whiteboarding is a valuable teaching tool because it facilitates the declaration of understanding (Weller, 2016, p21). By making each group’s investigation public has also helped to ensure the members of each group are able to explain their ideas explicitly to others. In this study which spans 2017 to 2023, we used both quantitative (questionnaire) and qualitative (focus group interview) feedback to evaluate the impact of our inquiry-based STEM activities and the application of whiteboarding on students’ joy in learning. When compared with our conventional teaching approach, our findings in this study suggested that our students felt more joy in learning, were more confident in forming and communicating explanations through meaning-making, were better engaged and had a keener interest and motivation towards learning. We collected feedback from students in 2023 and we noted quite similar observations albeit some improvements. In this process we noted that our students acquired attributes of an engaged learner and demonstrated beginning inclinations of a life-long learner. We also found students in the Intervention group performed better in conceptual understanding in Physics as seen in their better results for all the Quiz questions to varying degree compared to Control group, with significant difference between the performance of the 2 groups in some questions in our T-test analysis.

ABSTRACT. An integrated STEM Activity is defined as a learning experience that allows the students to apply mathematics and science knowledge and skills, using the Engineering Design Process and assisted by technology, to solve real-world problems. An integrated STEM activity helps develop skills deemed important for students to thrive as 21st-century citizens and workforce, including computational thinking (CT) skills, which are important skills for a technology-based society. Given this importance, additional research is needed on what CT skills can be supported through integrated STEM activity, and how. Two integrated STEM activities for mathematics classrooms were implemented in two grade 7 classes in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Each classroom contained 32 students with mixed backgrounds and abilities. Videos of students in the classroom and students’ worksheets were analyzed qualitatively by identifying and describing vignettes of the classroom interaction that could be categorized as one of the computational thinking skills. The findings suggest that integrated STEM activities designed for mathematics classrooms can foster abstraction skills (data collection and analysis, pattern recognition, and modelling) and debugging, by embedding inquiry-based activity in the Imagine phase of the engineering design process.

ABSTRACT. Goals and Significance China’s 2022 compulsory education science curriculum standard has included a distinctively hands-on module “engineering design and materialization”. However, due to limited time and lack of experience, teachers struggle to effectively infuse high-quality engineering design projects into science class. The goal of this paper is to delineate and analyze a Chinese primary science teacher’s journey of exploring project-based learning in engineering design and the development of a curriculum model which suits the Chinese school science context. Methodology This paper adopts a case study method, collecting course material, interview data, video recordings, students’ products, and assessment data to delineate the evolution of a set of curriculum development principles through three projects and the professional growth of the teacher for and with the students. Findings and Discussions: Engineering design projects can be effectively done in four sessions within the Chinese school science context, with the first session devoted to analyzing and breaking down the problem, the second to designing solutions, the third to prototyping and testing, and the fourth to presentation, feedback, and improvement. For students, they feel ignited in collaboratively solving a real-life problem instead of just completing a task externally given and controlled by the teacher. They apply what they’ve learned and seek information on whatever to be learned, and they ask for help from all sources available. They enjoy the process and feel a deep connection with their products. For teachers, through learning by doing, they get more confident in project-based teaching, and their previous beliefs about teaching and students are challenged. Implications of findings: The concept of project-based learning is not foreign to Chinese teachers, but how to create a project which originates from real life situation and is both age-appropriate and intellectually challenging to pupils, is not a easy task. Teachers need to have faith in pupils to unleash their potential. And teachers should use their professional discretion to reallocate time within school science subject in order to ensure the time frame needed by engineering design.

ABSTRACT. Teachers’ understanding of formative assessment is one of the key elements of STEM learning and its implementation in classroom practices. However, little is known about how teachers understand and use formative assessment in STEM activities. This study aimed to examine how teachers understand formative assessment and how they combine formative assessment with STEM activities to improve students learning. Eliciting, Interpreting, and Responding (EIR), one of the formative assessment models, was introduced to 15 science teachers during their professional development program. Teachers’ understanding and their lesson design for formative assessment were captured by means of group discussion and their STEM lesson plans. The data were analyzed by an inductive process. The results indicated that science teachers had developed their own key characteristics of formative assessment and could integrate the EIR formative assessment model into each step of the engineering design process. They become aware that intended learning outcomes should be alongside EIR. They have also learned that considering students’ STEM competency helps them easily track students learning and promote their learning progression. They could indicate pedagogical techniques to elicit students’ STEM learning while interpreting the students' ideas and providing feedback to learners, which are very challenging. In this study, we also highlight the role of teachers’ reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action in their formative assessment practices in the STEM classroom.

ABSTRACT. STEM-based learning is considered as an effective way to develop 21st-century abilities, particularly problem-solving skills. Design Thinking, a method focused on problem identification and solution generation, is increasingly applied to support the development of problem-solving abilities in students. This study focuses on developing comprehensive assessment of problem-solving skills by evaluating proposal assessment objects, implementation processes, presentation of project results, and reflection. Assessment is conducted based on a rubric that reflects indicators of problem-solving skills, namely: 1) problem identification; 2) action planning; 3) execution; and 4) evaluation. The research subjects involve 7th grade students in an SMP during the 2023/2024 academic year. Data Collection methods employ observation, interviews, and analysis of student reflection results. The findings of the study highlight the correlation between proposals, implementation processes, presentation of project results, and reflection with demonstration of problem-solving skills. Furthermore, the researchers discovered that, in addition to the primary focus of the study, other 21st-century skills – such as Critical Thinking and Creativity - can also be assessed through a STEM-based learning framework.

ABSTRACT. This study investigates and evaluates and assesses the similarities and differences of the English speaking Caribbean (ESC) nations and the United Kingdom’s (UK’s) secondary education systems through the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) examination subjects administered to 11 graders and those subjects’ implications for national development and personal growth. As the UK is a developed nation and the ESC are comprised of developing nations, the UK is used as the reference country to judge the level of progress that ESC nations have made or need to make to achieve developed national statuses. Therefore, this work is significant as it can serve to bring awareness to ESC nations’ leaders and policy makers on what is needed to advance their STEM educational infrastructure for K-11 graders.

Sources of data and information for this study include STEM subjects offered and their syllabi descriptions in both the ESC and UK secondary education systems, 2018 and 2022 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) surveys, and the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and the UK’s General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) examinations statistics for 2019 - 2023. Initial findings show that for both the CSEC and GCSE English language and mathematics are core subjects and while science is emphasized in both systems, it is a core subject for the GCSE. Moreover, while information technology is offered for the CSEC, for the GCSE the more general computer science and engineering are offered. Additionally, in both systems, mathematics is relatively challenging for students. Overall, ESC’s CSEC subjects should include computer science and engineering and both systems need to develop and implement strategies to improve students’ mathematics performance. Students appear to do well in the physical sciences in both systems. However, deficiency in mathematics is likely to hamper graduating students’ successful pursuit of mathematics-intensive post-secondary STEM education and careers in such fields as engineering, computer science, data science, and quantum computing.

ABSTRACT. One of College General Education goals is to cultivate students’ creative application and interdisciplinary ability with humanities, social science and natural science three categories’ courses. As Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics (STEAM) education been using in high education, some competences like knowledge integration and project skill were emphasized. STEAM integrated education supports the challenges for cooperative problem solving, especially face the climate changes, COVID-19 and sustainability global issues. The theory of planned behavior (TPB) was employed as a theory model to investigate the factors influencing students' STEAM learning behaviors. The purpose of this study was to explore how students’ cognition, skill and emotion factors affect their STEAM learning with TPB. An online self-report instrument had designed as 28 items included knowledge integration, project skill, attitude, self-efficacy, subjective norms and intention six constructs. To ensure construct validity, we collected three expert instructors’ comments to adjust this instrument. Total 2231 effective responses (1162 female, 1069 male) who enrolled in 162 different general education courses at one central Taiwan university. In order to confirm the reliability of this scale, total Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient was .96 and each construct ranged between .73 and .91. Structural equation modeling revealed that data had an acceptable model fit (Standardized RMR = .0423, RMSEA (root mean square error of approximation) = 0.065, CFI (comparative fit index) = 0.941, TLI (Tucker- Lewis index) = 0.946). The results show that students’ attitude, self-efficacy and subjective norms toward STEAM enhance creating interdisciplinary artifacts. This study highlights the importance of knowledge integration and project skill which affect the self-efficacy, attitude toward students’ STEAM artifacts.

ABSTRACT. As the global workforce becomes increasingly required to be literate in STEM, students must strongly identify with STEM. Research, however, indicates that students’ identification with STEM tends to decrease as they move toward higher grades. This tendency is most likely to occur among girls, who are typically marginalized within STEM education. Given the lack of research on students’ STEM identities in Thailand, we investigated the extent to which students in elementary and secondary education identify with STEM and whether such identifications are related to gender. Participants included 174 boys and 109 girls in three schools in northern Thailand. Of these participants, 157 were in the elementary grades and 126 in the secondary grades. They completed a Likert-type questionnaire, which was validated and utilized in the country. It consisted of 10 items measuring interest, performance, and recognition in STEM in a five-point scale. Its reliability was acceptable, with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.840. Student responses were analyzed by calculating the means and subsequently comparing them using Mann-Whitney U tests with regard to educational level and gender. The results revealed that, on average, secondary graders demonstrated STEM identity more strongly than elementary graders in all three aspects. However, only interest (U = 7309.000, p < .001) and performance (U = 7730.500, p < .001) were significant. Girls showed STEM identity more strongly than boys in all three aspects. However, only interest (U = 7865.500, p = .007) was significant. As these results contradict the literature, they are discussed from a sociocultural perspective.

ABSTRACT. The world has been increasingly shaped by Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). This has resulted in educational systems across the globe implementing STEM education. To reap maximum benefits, researchers are now advocating for the integration of STEM domains, citing many benefits associated with it. In recent studies, the integration of science and mathematics has become increasingly popular. The domains are much more suitable for integration because of their fields of application and their mutual approach towards problem-solving. However, there is little empirical evidence to drive the development of a practical model for classroom implementation. This study aims to develop an integration model through integrating mathematics and science concepts when teaching the concept of density to two classes of Form 1 (13-14 years) students. A mathematics and a science teacher went through two cycles of lesson study, integrating and teaching the concept of density. The lesson series were carried out in a science laboratory at a secondary school in Zimbabwe. Processes of mathematical modeling and the BSCS 5E Instructional Model of inquiry were used as basis for categories to analyze how the teachers realized or intended to implement the integration of mathematics and science. From the study, the dimensions of an emerging pedagogical integrative model pertaining to the science teacher and to the mathematics teacher were drawn and compared. The model show striking commonalities in the processes and sequences of inquiry and modeling, and they also appear to be influenced by the teacher’s characteristics. Further, the model were compared against those that have been previously developed and the findings of earlier studies on the topic. The study highlights and provides empirical evidence for the feasibility of integrating mathematics and science in a normal classroom situation. The integrative model can be used in the analysis of interdisciplinary teaching sequences that aims to promote integration of inquiry-based learning and mathematical modeling in education.

ABSTRACT. STEM teaching competency involves a blend of knowledge, skills, and abilities enabling educators to proficiently teach Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), fostering critical thinking, problem-solving, and cultivating an interest in STEM fields. STEM teaching competency encompasses an understanding of STEM education, including the construction and execution of STEM lessons and the creation of appropriate assessments. To improve the STEM teaching competency of preservice teachers (PSTs), this research pursued three main objectives: 1) to conduct a needs identification for STEM teaching competency, 2) to analyze the identified needs that focus on the development of PSTs’ STEM teaching competency, and 3) to propose a solution to address the identified needs and enhance PST STEM teaching competency. The study involved 16 PSTs selected purposefully from those who had taken STEM courses. Research instruments included a needs assessment questionnaire and a semi-structured interview protocol. Quantitative data from the questionnaire were analyzed using mean, Standard Deviation (SD), and the modified priority needs index (PNImodified), while qualitative data from interviews were subjected to content analysis. Questionnaire data revealed areas of concern for PSTs regarding their STEM teaching competencies. The primary areas they highlighted were creating scenarios for design challenges and developing lesson plans, which they identified as crucial needs for enhancing their STEM teaching competency (PNImodified=0.62). The interview focus was on understanding both their perceived needs and the reasons behind them. PSTs recognized difficulties in choosing topics for STEM problem scenarios and a lack of skill in developing STEM lesson plans. PST also suggested solutions including a recommendation for more dedicated time in the pre-service program for developing STEM lesson plans. Additionally, they also recommended incorporating more reflection activities on STEM problems in order to better align the problems with STEM learning activities and then, more explicit opportunities for practicing the teaching of these lessons.

ABSTRACT. STEM practices reveal the activities around a scientist inquiring about knowledge and an engineer designing solutions. Meanwhile, the scholars develop STEM lessons by emphasizing the scientific contents or concepts or the client’s needs, but a few literatures shared that STEM teaching practice requires more understanding of teaching procedural knowledge and the nature of each practice. Also, to accomplish a STEM lesson with worldwide views, real-world problems, or the know-how of multiple solutions from STEM careers that might be too complex to design by oneself. This study aims to interrogate the teaching of STEM practices for 30 high school science stream students and how they change over five STEM learning activities based on various STEM careers. A qualitative descriptive case study was conducted in this study; the transcriptions of co-teaching members before, during, and after teaching were collected and analyzed by deductive coding, and the students’ tasks were gathered to confirm their changes and the effectiveness of teaching practices. The findings presented the three STEM practices had shifted to the highest level which consists of planning or carrying out the solutions, using or developing the models, and using mathematical or computational thinking to optimize the solutions. The gathering of combined STEM careers in probing questions during finding out and developing solutions led them to connect necessary factors with optimizations, while a mathematician’s view around statistics, probabilities, or linear programming further engaged them in risk-taking and decision-making on the solutions based on scientific ideas. In contrast, this co-teaching aimed to improve students' critiquing practice through entrepreneurial role-playing, but we found out students lacked understanding and capacity to use or engage evidence. That affected all activities that require the quality of evidence in explaining, communicating, and arguing as the difficulty of learning procedural knowledge, while explicit sharing STEM career goals in each task would guide them to reach or choose the appropriate evidence. However, this study provides the framework of S.E.M. co-teaching with combined indicators based on STEM careers to reimagine designing the next normal of STEM lessons for science teachers or STEM teachers and connect STEM lessons to authentic contexts.

ABSTRACT. STEM education has gained popularity at all levels of education in recent decades. However, integrating teaching across different disciplines remains a challenge. The importance of STEM professional learning is increasingly focused on integrated STEM. We found that most teachers faced difficulties working collaboratively with other teachers from different disciplines. Additionally, teachers faced challenges working with STEM people outside of schools, such as engineers, parents, and experts in STEM disciplines. This study presents the development of a STEM partnership guideline as a checklist. We developed this checklist while working together in our STEM partnership and as mentors of STEM partnership professional development programs. We, as researchers, work collaboratively in STEM partnership. Our STEM partnership consisted of five researchers: a science educator, a mathematics educator, a scientist, an engineer, and a science teacher. Our theoretical framework is rooted in integrated STEM and constructivism learning theory. The checklist provides teachers with guidelines for creating their STEM partnership. This paper presents how we developed the checklist and the trials with teachers. The checklist has four themes: 1) Eliciting and equipping all parties with an understanding of STEM, 2) Creating STEM lesson plans, 3) STEM team teaching, and 4) Reflecting on team teaching. These themes emerged from our previous research on developing the STEM partnership. We identified the items on the checklist within each theme to help STEM teachers prepare for a STEM partnership. The checklist was trialed with ten STEM teachers and revealed suggestions for redesigning it to help teachers create their STEM partnerships.

ABSTRACT. Pedagogical reasoning, as one of the major components of the teacher knowledge base, is crucially important in teacher education. While many studies have explored STEM teaching, little emphasis has been placed on the dynamic decision-making processes of teachers. This paper reports on an exploratory study that investigated the pedagogical reasoning for teaching STEM of three high school science teachers as they gained experience in teaching STEM at the upper secondary level. STEM pedagogical reasoning (STEM-PR) is developed in the real context of a teacher’s practice; hence, teachers need to have the experience of learning to teach with STEM in their actual classes. We found that the anxiety regarding the scientific content of teachers, the level of understanding in implementing STEM curricula, as well as the underlying differences in integrated STEM thinking, significantly influence teachers' STEM-PR and instructional design. The results indicated three distinct cases of integration among the participants. Interviews with teachers from each case revealed three themes that varied across teachers’ experiences: the nature of integration and choosing between STEM disciplines. Further, it appears that the degree of STEM integration that occurs in instruction may be related to teachers’ ability and teacher learning. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed for how pedagogical reasoning can be integrated into learning design curricula and also shed light on the importance of teacher-educators modelling both types of PCK, as both are equally important for in-service teachers.

ABSTRACT. Primary school teachers significantly influence students' perceptions, attitudes, and aptitude for STEM subjects, making their STEM understanding and enthusiasm pivotal for the next generation's engagement in these crucial fields. To address this, we present a pioneering project to empower primary pre-service teachers with immersive experiences to deepen their connection with STEM concepts and teaching methodologies. This project immerses 28 primary pre-service teachers in hands-on STEM labs, school-based pedagogical experiences, and real-world applications of STEM education. This immersive course is delivered as part of a Master-level initial teacher education program, encompassing five intensive one-day workshops over September and October. Data collection, ongoing throughout the course, will conclude in early November. Participants in this study are 'career changers' from diverse professional backgrounds. Our study leverages two key data sources, pre- and post-survey data and focus group discussions. We anticipate that the outcomes of this project will not only enhance primary pre-service teachers' STEM knowledge but also empower them to advocate passionately for STEM education in their future classrooms. By bridging the gap between pre-service educators' perceptions and the transformative potential of STEM, this project seeks to cultivate a new generation of STEM teachers capable of inspiring and engaging students in an ever-evolving STEM-driven world. Early results indicated changes in the participants' perceptions about STEM in the classroom and also highlighted the unique perspectives and skills that career changers brought to STEM learning and teaching. Ultimately, this study assists in advancing teacher preparation and enhancing the quality of STEM education in schools. It equips future educators with invaluable tools to excel in resource-constrained, time-sensitive educational environments, promising a more promising future for STEM education.

ABSTRACT. Our Applied Learning Programme (ALP) focuses on developing problem-solving skills and nurturing innovation through the integration of concepts involving Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). With a burgeoning aviation industry in Singapore, our school has focused our ALP on aerospace. With this, our students will be able to tap on exciting prospects in the aviation sector or other STEM-related fields.

In addition, the programme seeks to underscore the relevance of students’ learning to the STEM industry, allow students to apply STEM knowledge to solve real-world issues, and to facilitate students’ exploration of post-secondary educational and career opportunities.

During the presentation, participants will learn about the three tiers of our ALP, namely our ALP lessons, workshops and competitions, student development in our Singapore Youth Flying Club co-curricular activity (CCA), teacher professional development, and overseas exchange programme. Participants will also hear about our efforts to engage students through innovation and to empower them by amplifying and harnessing their interests in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. We continuously adapt and review our programmes during PLT sessions to improve the learning experience for our students based on present demand for STEM skills.

We carefully planned our CCA programme to ensure students not only learn the various skill in aviation but also hone leadership skill and other 21st century CC skills.

With the strong partnership with CAAS, Science Centre, Rolls Royce and various Institutes of Higher Learning, we aim to uphold partnerships within the industry and provide our students with a diverse range of hands-on learning experiences through our STEM ALP Day. Likewise, our continuous exchange program with Toulouse Lycée-Saint Exupery has provided opportunities for our students and teachers to engage in cultural activities and experiences related to aviation.

In terms of professional growth, ALP teachers alternate between immersive learning journeys, immersion programs, and seminars to gain firsthand insights and stay abreast of the latest developments in the aviation industry. Our annual training sessions, conducted by various vendors, ensure we acquire authentic and pertinent knowledge, like drone coding and Flight Simulator operation.

ABSTRACT. Indonesia's new educational curriculum, Kurikulum Merdeka, has successfully integrated the Independent Curriculum and STEM education. The primary objective of this integration is to enhance the learning experience for students at the elementary, junior high, and high school levels by providing them with better facilities and developing the competencies of both teachers and students. The STEM-based curriculum utilizes project-based learning to make education more relevant and contextual, with teachers acting as facilitators. To determine the effectiveness of this curriculum and its integration with STEM in classrooms, an analysis is required. This study aims to identify the barriers and challenges faced by teachers in implementing Kurikulum Merdeka and STEM, the consequences of this integration, and the readiness of teachers to apply models or approaches to organize it. To gather data for this study, open-ended and close-ended questionnaires will be distributed to teachers in North Sumatra, West Java, and DKI Jakarta.

ABSTRACT. This study investigates the global application of generative AI Tools in STEM Education at Higher Learning Institutes, aiming to enlighten Bhutanese scholars. Embracing AI in education aligns with modern demands, yet ethical concerns arise, such as students using AI like ChatGPT for academic dishonesty. Strategies proposed by experts suggest using AI as an assignment aid and creating policies to curb cheating, marking a pivotal shift in education.

The objectives include exploring AI's potential in enhancing STEM education, teacher perspectives on AI integration, educator interest, and challenges in implementing AI tools in STEM education.

Through systematic research involving surveying academic databases and thematic analyses, 30 relevant papers were scrutinized. The study identified key themes, regional differences, and reliable findings, offering a comprehensive understanding.

Key findings highlight AI's potential to improve personalized learning, analytics, and automation in STEM education but raise concerns about shifting teacher roles and decision transparency. Despite widespread educator interest, obstacles persist in integrating AI into education. AI elements enhance career readiness, detect plagiarism, reveal diverse student perceptions, and emphasize the need for AI literacy education.

The research emphasizes the transformative impact of AI in STEM education and broader societal contexts, calling for multidisciplinary collaboration to navigate its complexities effectively. While highlighting AI's promise, it stresses the importance of addressing challenges, ethical concerns, and academic integrity.

For Bhutanese educators, the study recommends responsible use of AI for quality learning experiences advocating leveraging AI tools effectively and explores diverse global perspectives while acknowledging potential pitfalls. Ultimately, the research underscores the transformative potential of AI in STEM education, urging collaborative efforts and ethical considerations for its responsible integration.

ABSTRACT. Knowledge mobilization—efforts to understand and strengthen the relationship between research and practice—is increasingly being recognized in the field of education. However, barriers such as perceived inaccessibility and lack of time and skills can be significantly challenging for practitioners (e.g., teachers). To address this challenge, we employed generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) to develop the “STEM Learning and Teaching Theory Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT),” which could act as a research broker. This GPT possesses research knowledge on STEM education research findings. It is designed to elucidate the difficulties of learning these concepts and highlight teaching methodologies deemed particularly effective for facilitating comprehension among learners. In our study, we had science and mathematics education experts evaluate the performance of the developed GPT. We input several notoriously difficult science or mathematics concepts for middle school students into the GPT (e.g., Ohm’s law, state changes, irrational numbers, and proof). Experts (educators and researchers) independently evaluated the outputs of the GPT on plausibility (how convincing the explanations were) and utility (how useful the explanations were in science or mathematics lessons). The results indicated that the developed STEM Learning and Teaching Theory GPT could outperform GPT3.5 or GPT4.0 across various concepts in science and mathematics, but its outputs were still unstable. This study leverages the potential for utilizing generative AI to enhance STEM education. Future studies should refine the quality of information and instruction input into our GPT model to produce more plausible, useful, and stable outputs for other STEM concepts applicable to daily teaching practices.

ABSTRACT. Increasing learner interest in STEM is a key challenge in STEM education. Historically, the measurement of interest in STEM fields has used abstract items at the domain level and lacked specific items at the topic level. An interest scale with more diverse and topic-specific items is required to comprehensively measure the diverse interests of STEM learners. Therefore, this study aims to develop a diverse interest scale for STEM learners (the DI-STEM scale). We analyzed data from the Relevance of Science Education – Second (ROSES) survey, which involved 3,417 Japanese 9th-grade students, identified diverse interest areas, elucidated the factor structure of these interests, and evaluated item properties to construct a reliable, topic-level interest scale. The DI-STEM scale encompasses 50 items representing various difficulty levels and content areas and demonstrates robust statistical properties, including high discrimination and gender equity. The findings highlight the scale’s potential to enhance personalized STEM learning by identifying individual and collective student interests, thereby informing the design of more engaging and effective STEM education programs. Future research directions include validating the DI-STEM scale across different cultural contexts and integrating it with adaptive learning technologies to personalize STEM education further.

ABSTRACT. As policies promoting STEM education to increase economic growth spread globally, students must be prepared to develop valuable innovations, which require not only creativity but also creative confidence. Despite the existence of research focusing on gender differences in students’ creativity, studies examining differences between boys’ and girls’ creative confidence remain scarce, with mixed results being reported. Aiming to better understand this issue, we explored the creative confidence of fourth to sixth graders. Participants, who included 26 boys and 27 girls in two schools in northern Thailand, completed a Likert-type questionnaire, which was validated and utilized in the country. It consisted of eight items asking the students to self-report their perceptions of creative confidence, ranging from most (5) to least (1), in various situations. Its reliability was acceptable, with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.701. Student responses by gender were analyzed by calculating the means and comparing them using an independent sample t-test. The results revealed that, on average, boys and girls did not significantly differ in terms of creative confidence (t (51) = 1.605, p = .057). However, when we focused on individual items, Mann-Whitney U tests showed that boys were more confident than girls in their creativity when making models (U = 511.000, p = .002) and solving complex problems (U = 467.000, p = .013). In contrast, girls were more confident than boys when creatively solving problems (U = 242.000, p = .018). These results suggested that gender differences in students’ creative confidence may manifest depending on the situation.

ABSTRACT. Problem solving in integrated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) practices is not straightforward because it entails dynamic processes from the complexity and diversity of real-world STEM problems. To explore practical ways to support students’ STEM problem solving, this study focuses on the perspective of norms as ‘shared behaviour patterns desirable in a community’ by investigating the features and impact of epistemic norms formed in STEM problem-solving. Data consisted of lesson observations, interviews, students’ artefacts, teachers’ notes, and group chats from secondary students’ STEM lessons in Singapore. These students participated in a three-year programme to build their STEM capital. This paper focuses on the first-year programme that included a STEM hackathon, 3-day learning journey, and 10-weeks of STEM inquiry. Norms were extracted based on three essential criteria namely justifiability, sharing, and behaviours (Chang & Song, 2016). Results showed three central norms with six different attributes being found in the phases of STEM problem-solving. Among the six attributes, three attributes as being useful, creative, and iterative reflected STEM-oriented values; however, another three attributes as accessible, concrete, and feasible were shown as the contextual features of implementing STEM practices. Based on these results, educational implications are discussed in terms of understanding and supporting students’ STEM problem-solving.

ABSTRACT. This study embarks on an exploration of the factors influencing students' self-efficacy in design process practices, with a specific focus on the roles of gender, creative thinking, and academic achievements in science, technology, and mathematics. Design process practices, which encompass a range of skills from problem identification to solution prototyping, are increasingly crucial in our technologically driven world. They enable students to apply theoretical knowledge in practical, innovative ways, bridging the gap between academic concepts and real-world applications. The primary aim of this research was to determine the extent to which these aforementioned factors predict and enhance students' self-efficacy in engaging with such design processes. To this end, data were collected through detailed questionnaires from a representative sample of 200 students across three schools in the Bangkok metropolitan area. The research methodology incorporated a blend of descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis. This approach was designed to provide a comprehensive understanding of the interplay between gender, creative thinking, science, technology, and mathematics achievements, and their collective impact on self-efficacy in design process practices. The findings of this study revealed a significant positive correlation between all examined variables and self-efficacy in design process practices. This correlation underscores the importance of fostering an educational environment that not only emphasizes STEM disciplines but also integrates them within the context of practical design and problem-solving tasks. These results have profound implications for educators and policymakers, especially in the realm of STEM education. They highlight the need for curriculum and pedagogical strategies that not only focus on technical knowledge but also promote creative thinking and practical application through design process practices. Such educational approaches are vital in preparing students for the challenges of a technologically advanced society, equipping them with the skills necessary for innovation, creative problem-solving, and effective design implementation.

ABSTRACT. STEM-based learning is crucial for students at all levels of education to develop critical and creative problem-solving skills. To achieve this, a comprehensive product development process utilizing the Interaction Design method is necessary. The aim of this research is to identify the needs of teachers and students across elementary, middle, and high school levels, design products using the Interaction Design method, and evaluate STEM-based interactive products. The first step in this process involves conducting interviews with teachers and students from all three levels to identify their needs. The resulting product will address environmental issues by incorporating Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics concepts across these levels. Once needs have been identified, a design workshop will be conducted to explore various concepts. The project selected through qualitative and quantitative assessments will proceed to the prototype design stage. The developed prototype will be a high-fidelity prototype, allowing features and functions to operate like the actual product.

ABSTRACT. This paper explores the role of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) learning in shaping primary school children in Singapore into creators, communicators and contributors to society. When engaged in STEM, students exhibit heightened curiosity, problem-solving skills, and an intrinsic motivation to explore the world around them. The study conducted at Westwood Primary School in Singapore investigates the impact of using a design thinking approach for designing an integrated STEM curriculum . The study focuses on evaluating how this integrated approach influences students' development in adaptive thinking and inventive thinking, hones their communication skills, and develops in them a sense of responsibility, care and concern for others. It investigates the impact of STEM lessons on the development of inventive and adaptive thinking, communication skills, and civic literacy among Primary 4 pupils. Two classes of Primary 4 pupils were subjected to pre- and post-implementation surveys, accompanied by pupil reflections. The intervention included lessons on SLS as well as 4 face to face sessions of design thinking lessons for a selected group of student facilitators based on STEM lesson resources. These student facilitators provided support for their peers during the STEM lessons. Preliminary findings indicate a significant positive correlation between the application of design thinking principles and the development of these essential skills. In terms of adaptive thinking, students exhibited an increased ability to navigate uncertainties and adapt solutions to changing circumstances. Inventive thinking is demonstrated as students engaged in creative problem-solving, encouraging them to think outside conventional boundaries. Communication skills were honed through collaborative projects, enabling students to articulate their ideas effectively and engage in meaningful discourse with their peers. Students developed a heightened awareness of the societal implications of their innovations, fostering a sense of social responsibility. In conclusion, this study at Westwood demonstrates the tangible benefits of integrating a design thinking approach into the STEM curriculum, showcasing the potential to shape students into adaptable, inventive, and socially responsible individuals. Findings hold thoughtful implications for educational policy and practice, advocating for the continued integration of STEM and design thinking to prepare students for the challenges and opportunities of the future.

ABSTRACT. While STEM education continues to be a hot topic in many education systems around the world, including Singapore, STEM teachers commonly face the challenge of designing and enacting meaningful STEM activities. These teachers are presented with a diversity of definitions for STEM education, a variety of frameworks to guide them in designing integrated STEM activities, as well as observation protocols that communicate desirable ways of enacting STEM activities. However, existing integrated STEM lesson observation protocols appear to lack a coherent framework across the protocol items. Despite the protocols including a list of characteristics claimed as common across K-12 STEM classrooms and reflecting the desired outcomes of STEM education intended by the administrators/policy makers, these protocols lack guidance on how the learning environment could be redesigned to promote the intended learning outcomes of STEM activities.

To bridge this gap in the existing literature, we developed an integrated STEM classroom observation protocol (iSTEM protocol) based on the Productive Interdisciplinary Engagement (PIE) framework, which was in turn adapted from the Productive Disciplinary Engagement framework by Engle and Conant (2002). We have validated the iSTEM protocol and reported our analysis in a peer-reviewed journal article. We have also developed an educator’s version of the protocol with the STEM Learning Experience Reflection Tool 2.0 (STEM Tool 2.0).

In this presentation, we will conjecture which of the four design principles (problematising, resources, authority, and accountability) will lead to particular student outcomes, (ii) highlight and justify key revisions from the iSTEM protocol to STEM Tool 2.0; and (iii) illustrate the use of the STEM Tool 2.0 using examples of integrated STEM lessons enacted in two lower secondary (middle school grades equivalent) classrooms in Singapore. With regard to the particular student outcomes, we will focus on (a) group-based cognitive engagement, (b) interdisciplinary decision-making that is systematic and disciplinary-based, and (c) progression toward a better solution to the STEM problem. We will also suggest how the four design principles can be met to foster students’ productive interdisciplinary engagement during integrated STEM activities.

ABSTRACT. This paper is a comprehensive examination of a three-year STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) programme designed for 132 Grade 9 Singapore students. The programme was intended to support students in constructing their STEM portfolio by providing a range of STEM learning experiences (hackathon, inquiry project, learning journeys, symposium) that they can curate for personal use (e.g., applications into post-secondary school courses).

Students with less access to STEM capital, for example, may not have participated in STEM competitions compared to their higher ability peers, were selected. The goal of this study was to examine the epistemic infrastructure of the activities implemented to afford students opportunities to build their STEM capital. The research question was: Do the various events afford epistemic infrastructure for students to meaningfully engage in STEM learning?

Data collection included a student survey conducted right after the hackathon and at the end of the student symposium, videos of all events, student interviews at the events, and student focus group discussions after the symposium. Photographs of student artefacts and video recordings of their elevator pitches during the competition were also collected for analysis. The data were analysed using prescription codes (i.e., content, process, and apparatuses) and emergent codes (i.e., subcodes that provide clarity to the prescriptive codes). The constant comparative approach and inter-rater reliability are adopted to achieve validity.

The study explored the different affordances offered by each event and how the students adapted and adjusted their approaches to learning and doing. Preliminary findings suggest that depending on the required output of each event, students perceived, interpreted, and constructed knowledge differently within the context of the STEM activity. For instance, whilst the symposium provided a platform for them to communicate and present their ideas to the audience, the learning journey exposed them to the processes and tools of the STEM industry.

This study provides valuable insights for teachers and STEM programme organisers in designing and developing activities anchored in STEM. This work can also offer an analytical and theoretical lens for purposeful planning and implementation of STEM programmes that afford epistemic infrastructure that value-add to students’ STEM capital.

ABSTRACT. This review presents an illustrative case study that details the continued progression of multiple, non-traditional STEM learning environments at an urban secondary school campus. These environmental-focused ecosystems support integrated STEM learning by aligning with the United Nations Goals for Sustainable Development (SDGs). By providing for direct application of sustainability practices in STEM education through student projects and school courses/activities, the review calls attention to broader issues and topics related to environments that are supportive of STEM learning.

Beginning with an initial review of models, programs, and projects by the key stakeholders of the Falls Church City Public School's (FCCPS) sustainability program in Fall 2019, the AgroLab Uniandes emerged as a prime model for implementation in the FCCPS Academy for Sustainable Thinking during Fall 2022. The model served as a framework to streamline the efforts of the new and existing environmental science, energy, and design programs under the umbrella of an urban agriculture program focused on sustainability within the city’s public schools and the adjoining community. The model’s small-scale, local impact philosophy mirrors the image of the city, commonly referred to as the “Little City.” Located in the suburbs and less than 10 miles from the heart of Washington, D.C., the “Little City” has maintained its community-oriented beliefs even in the face of the significant urbanization taking place in surrounding counties.

The results of the case study found that students in the FCCPS sustainability program are developing deeper understandings of urban agriculture and environmental science each subsequent year through multiple, intentional experiences that combine their classroom instruction with project based activities in the schools aquatic education facility, the vivarium (indoor greenhouse) facility, the school gardens (pollinator, native plants, food production), and living labs (water retention area designed ecosystems). Multiple exhibits are presented of the student experiences within the educational facilities.

ABSTRACT. This paper presents a study that delves into the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into science lessons. As AI is not a traditional discipline in schools, there is no standalone curriculum for it. Hence, integration into traditional disciplinary subject matter is more feasible in implementation. This involved the design and implementation of an innovative AI-integrated science lesson package, which was piloted by three Grade 7 science teachers in Singapore. This presentation highlights the primary design considerations in the AI-integrated science lesson, as well as teacher experiences with implementation.

The primary considerations behind the lesson design were to prioritise simplicity, effectiveness, and accessibility for Grade 7 students. The lesson package utilised existing AI resources but adapted to fit the curricular context, including modifications to enhance scientific reasoning.

Findings from the study unveiled intriguing perspectives from teachers. Notably, the teachers exhibited a discerning awareness of the similarities between AI and science, emphasising the mutualistic roles these two domains play in the context of problem-solving. The recognition of this complementary relationship provides a foundation for fostering a holistic understanding of how AI can be seamlessly integrated into established scientific frameworks.

However, the study illuminated significant challenges faced by the teachers, notably a perceived lack of confidence in mastering AI content and apprehensions related to adapting the curriculum to accommodate AI concepts. These challenges underscore the importance of providing comprehensive AI resources to educators, addressing not only content mastery concerns but also facilitating a smoother integration process.

This research contributes valuable insights for curriculum designers, emphasising the need for well-crafted AI-integrated lesson packages. Moreover, it sheds light on the role of science teachers in contributing to AI literacy, ultimately empowering students to navigate an increasingly AI-driven world within the existing educational framework. As AI continues to permeate various aspects of society, this study underscores the significance of integrating AI education seamlessly into established educational paradigms.

ABSTRACT. In Ireland, the Primary Curriculum Framework (NCCA, 2023) presents STEM as one of five curriculum areas that structure learning at primary level. Across the framework, there is recurring reference to the need for balanced attention to teaching STEM subject concepts and skills, and teaching for integrated STEM (iSTEM) in ways that enhance and connect subject learning with real-world problem solving. While the challenge of balancing STEM disciplinary subject teaching and iSTEM is widely recognised in the literature, there is limited work on how best to prepare teachers to embed iSTEM into classroom practice.

In this paper, we document our learning from a research project in which we introduced iSTEM to a group of 85 final year Bachelor of Education (BEd) students, all of whom had specialised in either science education, digital learning or mathematics education as part of their programme. In the project, the three specialism groups were brought together with the aim of developing the students’ skills to act as ‘STEM Champions’ in schools. Supported by us and working in small cross-disciplinary teams over a four-week period, students researched renewable energy sources, studied the science of their generation, storage and use, and constructed a lego-based prototype of a renewable energy source and coded for its dynamic action.

Post-project, students reflected on their learning in their final assignments. We analysed these assignments with a qualitative focus on the nature of comments on the possibilities for learning through an iSTEM approach. Drawing on grounded theory methods, an inductive approach was adopted towards analysis. Key findings included: students’ willingness to lead iSTEM work and recognition of the range of transversal skills developed through iSTEM projects including problem solving, critical thinking, collaboration, and that students tended to view their project experiences through the lens of their specialism. Comments frequently reflected pedagogical approaches used within specialism learning, while noting the need for balance across MST in iSTEM projects. A key implication for us is to consider our own planning and the kinds of intervention required to balance across MST in authentic ways linked to the problem situation.

ABSTRACT. This study investigated the impact of Open Educational Resources (OERs) on the professional development of Bhutanese secondary school teachers, with a focus on physics. Collaborating with partner institutions in Tanzania, Nigeria, and India, Samtse College of Education developed and implemented 13 STEM modules—three each for Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Mathematics, complemented by a shared pedagogy module. The physics modules were Force and Motion, Work, Power and Energy, and Electromagnetism, embodying the essence of STEM by seamlessly integrating physics concepts, technological tools such as videos and simulations, engineering principles in experimental design, and the application of mathematical knowledge in problem-solving. Employing a mixed-methods approach involving pre-test and post-test assessments, analysis of lesson plans, reflections, and interviews, the study aimed to find the impact of OERs on teachers' Subject Matter Knowledge (SMK), Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK), and General Pedagogy Knowledge (GPK). The research also studied the dynamics of a Community of Practice (CoP) on Telegram to elucidate knowledge-sharing patterns within this professional community. The findings revealed that the majority of teachers experienced progress in their proficiency levels, indicating a positive influence of OERs on their professional development, enhancing their content knowledge, technological skills, and pedagogical practices. However, some teachers require further enhancement in SMK and PCK, specifically in the modules Work, Energy and Power, and Electromagnetism. The utilization of a Community of Practice emerged as a commendable practice for knowledge and practice sharing. The study recommends that educational institutions actively support the Continuous Professional Development (CPD) of physics teachers by facilitating access to OERs and supplementary resources. This strategic approach holds the potential to significantly enhance teachers' Subject Matter Knowledge and Pedagogical Content Knowledge, ensuring a dynamic and continually evolving landscape for STEM education.

ABSTRACT. Biology is often regarded as less conducive to the implementation of STEM activities compared to physics and chemistry. Nevertheless, a select group of biology teachers under the Office of Basic Education Commission of Thailand has demonstrated successful design and implementation of engaging STEM activities within the biological sciences. This research endeavors to elucidate exemplary practices to guide teachers in designing and conducting STEM learning in biology classrooms. Five teachers, each awarded for their outstanding instructional design activities at educational service area offices and/or national levels during the academic years spanning 2018-2023, were purposefully selected as participants. The study employed qualitative interviews to extract insights into effective practices for facilitating STEM learning. Thematic analysis was applied to distill salient themes from the interview transcripts. Findings reveal five commendable practices that contribute to the success of biology teachers in designing and conducting STEM learning experiences. Firstly, integrating learning modules grounded in existing biology-based innovations to cultivate essential STEM skills and practices. This involves guiding students in tasks such as designing a CPR machine within a lesson on the circulatory system, formulating an application for advising on antibiotic usage for strep throat within the realm of immunity, or creating a skin patch for measuring glucose levels from sweat inside the unit of endocrine system. Secondly, fostering STEM partnerships involves building relationships with specialized advisors both within and beyond the school environment, including engineers, physicians, technologists, biologists, and local wisdom experts. Thirdly, expanding instructional time by merging learning hours with other disciplines possessing congruent or complementary learning indicators. For instance, linking biology, health education and technology design. Fourthly, motivating students by accentuating the significance of their learning experiences, encouraging them to present or submit their works for publication or participation in higher-level competitions. Lastly, active immersion within a community that fosters positivity, knowledge exchange, and the provision of exemplars showcasing adept STEM activity design. This study addresses a crucial void in the literature by offering valuable insights into the facilitation of STEM education, particularly within the domain of biology classrooms.

ABSTRACT. The objectives of this study were to 1) investigate changes in teachers’ STEM literacy that occurred as a result of participating in a workshop focusing on outdoor STEM PD workshop, and 2) determine their satisfaction levels regarding the outdoor STEM PD workshop. The research participants in this study were 30 in-service teachers from public schools in the Philippines. Teachers were purposefully selected for participation in the outdoor STEM PD workshop. At the beginning of the outdoor PD workshop, they were asked to complete an open-ended STEM literacy questionnaire that measured teachers’ STEM literacy in 6 components: STEM concept, STEM integration, STEM practice, STEM participation, STEM application, and STEM awareness. The program then included activities in three phases: preparation activities, a one-day workshop in a local garden, and following-up activities to link with curriculum and design activities. As a final research activity, teachers completed a satisfaction survey to determine their perceptions towards the conduct of the outdoor STEM PD workshop. Statistics for the questionnaires included descriptive statistics, standard deviation (S.D.), and a dependent t-test. The findings show that the post-test scores of teachers’ STEM literacy was 12.83 (moderate level), and had increased when compared with the pre-test score of 6.87 (fair level), with a significant difference at .05. The overall teachers’ satisfaction on the outdoor STEM PD program was excellent (M= 4.95, SD= 0.13). For further research, the researchers should provide additional follow-up activities to promote teachers’ STEM literacy.

ABSTRACT. The missing link between theoretical and practical in teaching STEM created the voids of lacking conceptualizing integration between the disciplines, which are constructed around beliefs around teaching STEM. In this study, we, one STEM teacher, one STEM educator, and one STEM school director who teaches STEM and works with STEM teachers, conducted a reflective-based collaborative self-study in order to better understand our beliefs and practices around STEM. These three members shared the common values of eagerness in STEM education and the need to achieve the next individual STEM missions, which are a STEM lesson plan, a STEM professional development program, and a STEM school roadmap by back-and-forth of taught and learned, defined as the STEM visions from STEM experiences. The data were collected from the transcription of five story-telling session videos, the participant’s reflective journal of STEM visions and missions, and the three individual STEM missions, then analyzed by a combination of content analysis and inductive analysis. The results visualized the essential keys of STEM visions to develop STEM lessons. Firstly, we faced and overcame the fears of designing an unsuccessful STEM lesson through experiencing various roles of practitioner, contributor, and expert in the profession. Those different STEM missions allow us to gain a better understanding of the continuum, creating STEM challenges and gathering the opportunity for learners to learn from failures. Secondly, we emphasized the STEM orientation, focusing on STEM learners’ characters with a greater understanding of the complexity of integration disciplines to reach the S-T-E-M milestone. Those kinds of learning steps help the learners reach multiple solutions and be evidence-oriented in their study. However, the three ‘I’ in this study provided self-practice and how-to as the systematic tools for growth in professional STEM education by individual or collaboration with others. Furthermore, the results would imply that STEM practitioners should increase their self-esteem in teaching STEM and make more contributions with-in the STEM learning community.

ABSTRACT. In Experience and Education (1938/1988), John Dewey asked a poignant question: “How many lost the impetus to learn because of the way in which learning was experienced by them” (p. 12)? This has certainly been an issue with which educators have been wrestling for years. How can we, as teachers, engender the impetus to learn? In this presentation I offer a response informed by the work of John Dewey and his theorizing on aesthetic experiences.

Although the term aesthetics often conjures up images of artistic works or thoughts of critical judgements of art, Dewey’s conception of the aesthetic is more focused on the centrality of experience for the individual. Dewey (1934/1987) was dismayed that “art is often identified . . . apart from human experience” (p. 9) and seeks to go “back to experience of the common . . . to discover the esthetic quality such experience possesses” (p. 16). I share many of Dewey’s ideas and argue that his way of thinking about an aesthetic experience—as uncovering the aesthetics inherent in everyday life—can offer insights for mathematics education, opening new ways to envision teaching and learning.

In this exploration of the relationships I see between Dewey’s concept of the aesthetic and mathematics education I begin with the traditional and historical connections between mathematics and aesthetics. Next, I offer Dewey’s ideas on aesthetics as an alternative perspective. From there I move to an overview of my experiences as a mathematics teacher and as a university professor working with pre-service primary and secondary teachers. Throughout, I put forward what I understand to be the curricular implications of Dewey’s sense of the aesthetic as they pertain to mathematics and STEM education. Every experience has the possibility of being an aesthetic experience—if treated the right way, the ordinary has the possibility to be transformed into the extraordinary.

ABSTRACT. In order to participate in society, it is necessary to recognize and understand the scientific, engineering and technological content and applications in everyday life. To do this, students need an understanding of both natural sciences (NOS) and engineering (NOE). Such an understanding can be fostered by an explicit and reflexive instruction of overarching contexts. Engineering content as well as its ways of thinking and working have little relevance in German science teaching. In addition, there is little involvement of engineering in all areas of school education. This is due to a lack of discussion in the education standards. In addition, teachers have insufficient ideas about the relevance and possibilities of implementing engineering content into the classroom. This is justified by the fact that engineering contexts require an understanding of diverse scientific content and this complexity often leads to cognitive overload. Therefore, a precise analysis of engineering contexts and a didactic reduction to the necessary scientific content is required in order to prepare it in a way that is understandable for students. In this study, interdisciplinary projects were developed in a university learning environment by 8 pre-service science teachers in cooperation with engineering students. The projects were developed in several stages, in which didactic decisions were made, which are analysed in this study as a course of development. In addition, the developed concepts and didactic descriptions of the projects were examined from the point of view of content analysis and the links between the interdisciplinary contents were determined. It was also investigated to what extent the content were linked and explicitly addressed in a teaching-learning laboratory. The results show that the pre-service science teachers succeed in identifying interfaces between science and engineering and in linking them appropriately theoretically. The pre-service science teachers had difficulties in identifying the appropriate scientific content in the projects and in achieving a didactic reduction to the essential contents.

ABSTRACT. During the Meiji Period of Japan, the national policy aimed to make the country more prosperous through the development of its industries. In particular, plans were made to develop engineering as a form of business education in addition to agriculture and commerce. However, these initial efforts showed little success with the fewest number of people choosing to enter engineering fields. The intention was to increase the number of engineering professionals by breaking away from the history of learning in the industrial field, which had been conducted exclusively through the traditional apprenticeship system. In other words, the aim was to create an education for specialists based on education for all. Today, the integration of science education and engineering fields is desired, although the background and significance are different, there are many perspectives to be gained from history. In order to clarify why and how the study of engineering fields should be conducted in science education, I examined it from a historical perspective. Based on the above, the following two research questions were set. 1. What were the objectives of science education during the Meiji period? 2. How was the content of industrial fields included in science textbooks during the Meiji period? The research methodology employed a literature survey utilizing materials published by the Ministry of Education and national textbooks from the Meiji period. The analysis focused on elementary school science. During this period, elementary school enrollment increased from 30% to 98%. The results of the research revealed that technological education was implemented to promote engineering. As part of the slogan "wealthy nation, strong army," the government wanted to educate people about technology so that more people would become experts in the engineering field. However, while elementary schools addressed underlying principles and concepts using familiar examples, specialized vocational education was not imparted at this level. Elementary school science textbooks contained information on the workings of devices like telephones and streetlights, yet it was not until the early Showa period that diagrams and drawings were incorporated. Textbooks from the Meiji period utilized simple diagrams and pictures, mainly relying on textual descriptions.

ABSTRACT. STEM education is essential in addressing the demands of an evolving world. With a growing emphasis on STEM education, STEM curriculum design is crucial as it empowers teachers to shape educational experiences that cultivate essential skills for students' future success. It enables teachers to craft engaging lessons that promote critical thinking, problem-solving, and interdisciplinary connections, providing students with the tools needed to navigate an increasingly technology-driven world. Through effective curriculum design, teachers play a pivotal role in preparing students for future careers and instilling a passion for lifelong learning in STEM subjects.

The study analyses the pedagogical practices of a teacher with a participating class from a school in a small village outside Prague, catering to a capacity of 90 students from Grades 1 to 8. The teacher devised a mathematical inquiry to foster students’ understanding of statistical concepts and use statistical analysis and mathematical models to interpret data. Within a broader framework of STEM, a specific focus is on the context of leveraging technologies like cameras and sensors to analyse driver behaviour. The approach is in line with an inquiry-based teaching framework designed to reinforce an in-depth understanding of STEM concepts through fostering curiosity, active participation, and a sense of ownership in learning.

On reviewing the above study, the following key considerations in STEM curriculum and teaching were brought into focus:

1. The role of mathematics pedagogy within the integrated STEM framework: Fosters students’ understanding of mathematics and its close connections within STEM. 2. Guided inquiry-based approach: Highlights the importance of setting up an environment conducive to the exploration and understanding of STEM principles. This strategy helps students formulate understanding and make connections to tasks and knowledge learning. 3. Teachers as facilitators: Guided by constructivist reasonings and informed by their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), teachers adapt and transform content according to students’ level of understanding. 4. Teaching as a thought-driven decision-making process: Engages Knowledge Quartet framework of analysis to evaluate teachers’ pedagogical practices within the STEM teaching context.

The study discusses pedagogical approaches, strategies, and tools, describing their key roles in effective STEM instruction.

ABSTRACT. Integrating STEM subjects allows students to see the connections between different disciplines, promoting a holistic understanding of concepts rather than isolated knowledge. By incorporating STEM into classroom activities, it cultivates skills and mindsets crucial for success in an increasingly complex world. These activities mirror societal challenges and prepares students to apply scientific principles and technology to explore solutions to problems in unconventional ways.

This presentation delves into the realm of STEM curriculum design and enactment, focusing on two aspects in designing STEM learning experiences which is to provide opportunities for application and opportunities for integration. Strategies such as differentiated instruction, interdisciplinary approaches, and project-based assessments are also examined to discern their impact on student learning outcomes and engagement in STEM subjects. The exploration and evaluation of diverse pedagogies, strategies, and tools utilized in crafting STEM activities will also be discussed.

A sample STEM activity will serve as an example to showcase the application of the integrated S-T-E-M Quartet Instructional Framework in guiding the design and implementation of a learning experience for a cohort of Chemistry students in a High School setting. Using Road Safety for Platform Workers as a theme, this creates opportunities within the curriculum to address the meta-knowledge and humanistic knowledge developments in 21st century learning. Students get to develop an understanding of users, consider the environment that the users live in and interact with various elements in their environment, and empathise with the unique challenges that users face individually and as a community.

By synthesizing findings from the implementation of these learning experiences, this presentation aims to offer insights into best practices and recommendations for educators seeking to innovate and optimize STEM education through curriculum design and enactment.

ABSTRACT. In Indonesia there is much interest from schools in the concept of STEM, although exact definitions of STEM vary as do approaches to coordinate, collaborate, or integrate learning across the STEM subjects. In the past, attempts to integrate learning across STEM subjects in Indonesia have been restricted by the structure of the curriculum and various government policies and regulations. However, in recent years the Indonesian schooling system has undergone significant changes, including the introduction of the new Kurikulum Merdeka or Independent Curriculum. The new curriculum specifies overarching aims and end-of-phase achievement standards for each subject that more explicitly include inquiry-oriented ways of working and learning. From this, schools are expected to define and sequence learning objectives that guide the development of students’ understanding and skills regarding each subject’s content. In comparison to its predecessor, these features of the curriculum provide schools and teachers with more flexibility and afford opportunities for the integration of learning across the STEM subjects. Against this background of curriculum change and adopting a design-based research approach to curriculum enactment, this paper presents the analysis of the Indonesian curriculum documents and the definition of subject-level learning objectives based upon the new taxonomy of educational objectives provided by Kendall and Marzano. The subject-level objectives reflect the many similarities in the intended ways of working across the Science, Technology, Mathematics and Science subjects, including Social Science, whilst also allowing for the representation of the unique differences of each subject. This affords the alignment and integration of learning based upon students’ cognition (or thinking) and the development of their associated understanding in relation to the subject-matter of each subject. This contrasts to approaches for STEM integration that focus primarily upon the selection and coordination of content and shape learning around a question or problem, often in the form of project-based learning, through which students’ understanding of the content develops. It is claimed that the integration of learning based on cognition rather than content may afford Indonesian schools more natural and authentic identification of suitable themes, questions, and problems upon which to base learning within and between subjects.

ABSTRACT. This research aimed to examine the STEM literacy of students who learned through outdoor STEM activities in a different context: elective subject, extracurricular activity, and student club. The participants of this study were 29 students in elective subject, 37 students in extracurricular activities, and 48 students in a student club. The research instrument of this study was a STEM literacy test. There were 6 open-ended questions to examine students’ STEM literacy in 6 components: STEM concept, STEM integration, STEM practice, STEM participation, STEM evaluation, and STEM awareness. A one-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to examine the impact of classroom conditions while controlling for pretest scores. The finding revealed that the mean scores of students’ STEM literacy after learning of three groups were significantly different at.01. Students who learned outdoor-STEM activities in the elective subject had a higher mean score of STEM literacy after learning higher than students who learned outdoor-STEM activities in extracurricular activities with significant different at.05. In addition, students who learned outdoor-STEM activities in student club had a mean score of STEM literacy after learning (M=16.18, SD=0.57) higher than students who learned outdoor-STEM activities in an extracurricular activity (M=10.53, SD=0.57) and in the elective course (M=12.99, SD=0.57) with significant different at.01. These findings provided recommendation for teachers’ using student club with outdoor-STEM activities to promote students' STEM literacy.

ABSTRACT. The education research community reported that critical thinking skills, problem-solving skills, flexible thinking skills, collaboration skills, and communication skills have been identified as key STEM skills by the STEM industries through their research. Among all these skills, critical and problem-solving skills are ranked as the most essential STEM skills. They can be developed in any of the educational settings from preschool, primary school, and secondary school through learning core subjects such as science and mathematics. Robotics can also be a learning tool to develop these STEM skills. Presently, in Singapore, some preschools have adopted robotics for preschool children to learn science concepts and to develop discovery, inquiry, and investigative skills to support discovery learning. Nevertheless, through in-depth analysis, critical and problem-solving skills are manifested in such a discovery learning process. A recent research study showed that a group of preschool children developed discovery, inquiry, and investigative skills by learning science concepts on a real fishing rod through a robotic fishing fish. The research was conducted based on quantitative research on documentary analysis in search of relevant literature to define the pattern behaviors of discovery, inquiry, and investigative skills, and qualitative research, a classroom observation to examine if these skills were manifested through the robotics program. Nevertheless, through a deeper analysis of the research study, these preschool children further developed critical thinking and problem-solving skills during the learning process. The goal of this paper is to discuss how critical and problem-solving skills are manifested in the discovery learning process for preschool children. It is based on an extended research study to conduct an in-depth examination of how the discovery learning process allows children to manifest critical and problem-solving skills. This study shall be carried out by reviewing relevant literature reviews to find out certain behavior patterns that show the manifestation of critical and problem-solving skills through the discovery learning process. The results will imply that critical and problem-solving skills are manifested and can be developed along with other development of skillsets, in this case, discovery, inquiry, and investigative skills.

ABSTRACT. Regardless of their liking or disliking science, conducting interesting lessons for students is a key goal in science education. However, in Japan, there has been insufficient analysis of which science- and technology-related topics might interest students who dislike science. Therefore, we used data from the Relevance of Science Education-Second (ROSES) survey, conducted using a stratified probability proportional cluster sampling method targeting ninth-grade students, to identify topics of interest with small variance among groups. We categorized 3,297 students into four groups—Specific Priority (N = 1,268, 37.1%), Other Priority (N = 1,137, 33.3%), Poor Priority (N = 837, 25.8%), and Not-Positive Priority (N = 55, 1.6%)—based on their positive or negative responses to the two items in ROSES: “School science is interesting” and “I like school science better than most other subjects.” Excluding the Not-Positive Priority Group owing to its small ratio, we compared three groups’ interests in 78 topics under “What I want to learn about” in ROSES. The results were as follows. First, the Specific Priority Group showed the highest interest in 75 topics, whereas the Poor Priority Group showed the lowest interest. Second, for 60 items, students showed interest in studying. Third, we observed that among the 60 items, some had smaller effect sizes than others, meaning students are more equally interested in studying these items. Finally, several items with higher interest and smaller effect sizes were identified, which can be candidate topics to deal with in the science curriculum because students are almost equally interested in studying those items despite their groups.

ABSTRACT. In recent years, integrated Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education has been positioned as an appropriate educational approach to address the challenges of today's society. Teachers' competence could be a key element for the successful implementation of integrated STEM education.This study examined Chinese teachers’ view, experience, self-empowerment, attitudes, and confidence with implementing integrated STEM education in Chinese classroom settings. The adaptation of an instrument that evaluates teachers’ perceptions of integrated STEM education has been validated in Thailand. Data were collected through an online survey completed by 170 teachers in Shandong province in China, as well as Semi-structure interview with 8 teachers from different teaching level. The test scores were calibrated and equated using Rasch analysis. The results revealed that the participating teachers tended to have positive attitudes toward integrated STEM education. They believe that integrated STEM education is important, but lack confidence in good STEM courses. Novice teachers have higher self-empowerment than experienced teachers, and they are more inclined to turn to their school and colleagues for help when they encounter difficulties. Therefore, schools should carry out corresponding professional training and provide adequate teaching resources. The paper concludes by discussing the potential challenges of integrated STEM education in China based on the results of this study. Several implications are provided for future research.

ABSTRACT. Disciplinary language is a communication mediator in a specific context, while each discipline has its unique language. The integrated discipline, such as STEM, includes different disciplinary languages working together. People who can use disciplinary language will have a fundamental to access and communicate their knowledge to others. This case study aimed to investigate teachers’ views toward disciplinary language use in STEM disciplines. The participants were two science teachers and a technology teacher from a large secondary school in Bangkok, Thailand. Data were collected by semi-structured interviews and were analyzed by thematic analysis. The results found that science teachers’ views towards scientific language use related to the specific vocabulary and representations that stimulate explanations, consistent with science teaching goals that focus on student's knowledge and understanding and the application to their real life. Meanwhile, the technology teacher’s view towards technological language use involves using specific vocabulary, commands, processes, or methods related to programs and designs. This is associated with the goal of technology teaching that focuses on students using knowledge and skills to design programs according to the intended purpose. These findings provide information on the role of disciplinary language that promotes or inhibits students' understanding and contributes to the teaching and learning disciplinary language related to STEM.

ABSTRACT. The Monash Virtual School (MVS) represents an innovative approach in delivering free online STEM education to K-12 students, particularly focusing on disadvantaged and underrepresented young women. Diverging from typical studies on online STEM education’s impact on students, our research shifts focus towards future educators, examining their evolving knowledge, skills, values, identities, and epistemologies. Central to our study is the concept of epistemic frames, crucial for developing and refining MVS’s interactive, team-taught lessons. We adopted Quantitative Ethnography (QE), integrating quantitative and qualitative methods, and used Epistemic Network Analysis (ENA) for in-depth insights into pre-service teachers’ professional growth. Our investigation began by assessing the strength of connections within individual pre-service teachers’ epistemic frames, then exploring collaborative dynamics between teacher pairs. Data was collected via semi-structured interviews before and after teaching experiences, analysed using ENA web tool, version 1.7.0. Preliminary findings showed significant developments in the teachers’ epistemic frames, prompting further interviews across the academic year. These revealed five key situated learning processes: induction, transferability, interdependence, synchronicity, and negotiability, each instrumental in the observed shifts. This research highlights ENA’s limitations and the necessity of closing the interpretive loop in QE. It also underscores the importance of preparing future educators and the value of integrated research methodologies.

ABSTRACT. We are exposed to many risks in present and future. The risks we are exposed to are not only from natural disasters such as earthquakes, volcanoes, and droughts, but also from ‘manufactured risks’ caused by human activities. Ulich Beck says that most of the risks in modern society are caused by technology. This suggests that any citizen needs to have the ability to recognize, anticipate, assess, and rationally respond to risk. However, students sometimes express fear of the advancement of science and technology. For this reason, it has been argued that science education should actively introduce the concept of risk to differentiate itself from other subjects. Recently, several researchers have made the case for addressing risk education in science education. There are also recent studies that suggest that the risks of science and technology should be taught in conjunction with SSI (Socio-Scientific Issues) education. Teaching people to respond rationally to risk requires more than the traditional SSI approach of exploring issues and reconciling different positions to make decisions. To be able to design various risk education curriculum in the STEM field based on SSI and science education, it is necessary to analyze and reconceptualize the concept of risk education as it is currently used in various contexts. This study aims to analyze and reconceptualize the previous studies on risk education for STEM curriculum design. For this purpose, we collected and analyzed previous studies using keywords such as risk, disaster, and risk assessment. As a result, we reconceptualized risk education as including the following three domains. ‘constructivist perception of risk', ‘ability to interpret risk analysis results', and ‘understanding of uncertainty in science, technology, and society'. Based on our findings, we propose that it is important for STEM education to provide problem-solving situations that enable students to take an integrated approach to risk rather than the traditional dichotomous approach and to develop teaching and learning strategies that enable students to understand uncertainty in science and technology and society through data analysis.

ABSTRACT. Viewed as an equitable solution for STEM marginalised populations, productive integrated STEM learning experiences have the potential to positively influence adolescents' STEM identity-building, literacy development, and pursuit of STEM pathways and careers. However, the existing structural conditions do not necessarily support equitable and meaningful engagement for all learners. More targeted support for tackling systemic and structural inequities needs to be explored. To centre equity and justice in integrated STEM educational practices, this paper proposes a supportive framework for empowering equity literacy. The framework defends the rightful presence of every student in STEM education, particularly underprivileged groups, and their surrounding peers. A systematic review of the relevant literature on equity literacy, equity in STEM, and liberation pedagogy was conducted. Informed by Sewell's theory of structuration, this supportive framework illuminates that developing equity literacy should be a systemic, dynamic, and interdependent progression. Specifically, equity literacy is positioned as the internal schema within the structure, shaped by “agency towards equity” that emerges from the interactions between structures and actions. The four interrelated competencies required for equity literacy proposed by Gorski are conceptualised as four progressive dimensions of actions to empower equity literacy. Advocated in Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Paulo Freire's liberation pedagogy provides practical strategies for specific actions. In this framework, the construction of equity-oriented structures enables liberation actions, and these practices could achieve the reproduction of equitable structures. This paper provides an emerging research lens for inclusive STEM education and contributes to informing practices that direct individual equity literacy towards community-wide commitments to equity and justice.

ABSTRACT. Lightning is a powerful and potentially dangerous force of nature that can pose significant risks to individuals engaged in outdoor activities, including farming and fishing. In the Philippines, it is crucial for farmers and fisherfolks to have a good understanding of the science behind lightning in order to stay safe. This paper presents a training program aimed at providing 755 local farmer and fisherfolk-participants with the knowledge and tools they need to minimize the risks associated with lightning while working in the fields or out at sea. The safety of farmers and fisherfolks is of paramount importance, and being aware of the science principles behind lightning is a critical aspect of ensuring their well-being. By understanding the science behind lightning, individuals can make informed decisions and take appropriate precautions to protect themselves and others during thunderstorms. The paper also discusses the educational attainment of the participants, the effectiveness of the training program, and the challenges faced in implementing the program. It concludes by emphasizing the need for continued support and collaboration with local authorities to ensure the long-term success of the training program and its impact on the safety and well-being of farmers and fisherfolks in the community.

ABSTRACT. Entrepreneurship entails thinking and acting on possibilities beyond the typical space in which one typically operates. STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education has emerged as an entrepreneurial space for school leaders and teachers in recent years as border crossing from conventional monodisciplinary departments into the integrated space where diverse disciplinary content, practices, and dispositions have become frequent. While Asian economies have taken a cue from the U.S. on promoting STEM education to meet 21st-century demands, the former have interpreted the construct of “STEM” differently and taken on STEM education in its own capacities and to a different extent in diverse settings. This symposium will shed insights into how school leaders and teachers interpret, enact, and tackle STEM education in three economies: Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. Case studies involving interviews with one school leader and teacher from each of these economies were conducted. All the interviews were recorded online and transcribed for analysis. Qualitative methods were used to code the data and constant comparative approaches were used to analyse all six sets of data. The presentations will interest researchers, scholars, practitioners, and policymakers interested in learning more about STEM education from the stakeholders' perspectives, specifically, school leaders and teachers, who have actively engaged in leading the school and enacting STEM curriculum.