Science, technology, engineering, & mathematics, curricular integration, and the story form

Abstract

As science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education continues to increase in popularity, it becomes imperative that generalist preservice teachers (PT) have both strong concept knowledge and pedagogical skills to properly support its integration. However, generalist PTs do not have enough knowledge or skills possessed by those in STEM's respective disciplines, impacting their perceptions of how the framework is disseminated. The finger, then, is pointed at PT education to provide the necessary education and training that would allow for high-quality STEM education beginning at the elementary level. One novel approach to mitigate this problem is to introduce Kieran Egan's education theory on imagination (mythic understanding) and the theory of integrated curricula to PT. Throughout this philosophical inquiry, we explore integrated curriculum models, imagination (mythic understanding) and storytelling, illustrating how they may appear in a STEM-oriented lesson within an elementary science PT course, and attend to the need for approachable, evidence-based interventions regarding generalist PT STEM education.