International Journal of Stem Education最新文献

{"title":"A meta-analysis of interdisciplinary teaching abilities among elementary and secondary school STEM teachers","authors":"Xinning Wu, Yaru Yang, Xianfeng Zhou, Yonggeng Xia, Huiyan Liao","doi":"10.1186/s40594-024-00500-8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-024-00500-8","url":null,"abstract":"In the context of global educational reform, science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education, as an interdisciplinary educational model, has become increasingly central to foundational pedagogical reforms. However, research on the impact and development of STEM teachers’ interdisciplinary teaching abilities is relatively limited. This meta-analysis explored STEM education’s impact on elementary and secondary school teachers’ interdisciplinary teaching abilities. The review encompassed 21 empirical studies published between 2010 and 2023 and aimed to quantify the effect size of STEM interventions on teachers’ interdisciplinary abilities. A moderately positive correlation (r = 0.452) was found between STEM education and teachers’ interdisciplinary teaching abilities. The role of potential moderating variables, including demographic traits, gender, academic qualifications, subject specialization, pedagogical tenure, and prior exposure to interdisciplinary learning, was scrutinized. The findings highlighted a substantial improvement in teachers’ interdisciplinary teaching abilities through STEM education, emphasizing the critical role of knowledge integration. STEM programs significantly aided educators in bridging and amalgamating diverse disciplinary insights. Variations in the efficacy of STEM education across different educational tiers, subject domains, levels of teaching seniority, and interdisciplinary familiarity were identified, indicating that the benefits of STEM training were contingent upon individual teacher profiles. Notably, gender disparities in the enhancement of interdisciplinary teaching abilities through STEM education were not observed. Despite the methodological diversity of the included studies, which encompassed various research paradigms, sampling strategies, and evaluation instruments, the integration of findings across these diverse methodologies added intricacy to the interpretation of the meta-analytic results. The study’s potential limitations, such as the risk of sample selection bias and the use of potentially imprecise assessment tools, were acknowledged as possibly having influenced the meta-analytic outcomes. The findings had two implications. First, they provided a roadmap for the strategic design and execution of STEM initiatives aimed at fostering excellence in interdisciplinary teaching. Second, they highlighted the imperative for tailored approaches to the development of STEM teachers, which recognize the heterogeneous needs and potential based on their unique professional and experiential backgrounds.","PeriodicalId":48581,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Stem Education","volume":"11 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2024-08-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142184513","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Expansive learning in the learning assistant model: how instructors’ goals lead to differences in implementation and development of LAs’ practices","authors":"Jessica M. Karch, Sedrah Mashhour, Micah P. Koss, Ira Caspari-Gnann","doi":"10.1186/s40594-024-00496-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-024-00496-1","url":null,"abstract":"The learning assistant (LA) model supports student success in undergraduate science courses; however, variation in outcomes has led to a call for more work investigating how the LA model is implemented. In this research, we used cultural historical activity theory (CHAT) to characterize how three different instructors set up LA-facilitated classrooms and how LAs’ understanding and development of their practices was shaped by the classroom activity. CHAT is a sociocultural framework that provides a structured approach to studying complex activity systems directed toward specific objects. It conceptualizes change within these systems as expansive learning, in which experiencing a contradiction leads to internalization and critical self-reflection, and then externalization and a search for solutions and change. Through analyzing two semi-structured retrospective interviews from three professors and eleven LAs, we found that how the LA model was implemented differed based on STEM instructors’ pedagogical practices and goals. Each instructor leveraged LA-facilitated interactions to further learning and tasked LAs with emotionally supporting students to grapple with content and confusions in a safe environment; however, all three had different rules and divisions of labor that were influenced by their perspectives on learning and their objects for the class. For LAs, we found that they had multiple, sometimes conflicting, motives that can be described as either practical, what they described as their day-to-day job, or sense-making, how they made sense of the reason for their work. How these motives were integrated/separated or aligned/misaligned with the collective course object influenced LAs’ learning in practice through either a mechanism of consonance or contradiction. We found that each LA developed unique practices that reciprocally shaped and were shaped by the activity system in which they worked. This study helps bridge the bodies of research that focus on outcomes from the LA model and LA learning and development by describing how LA learning mechanisms are shaped by their context. We also show that variation in the LA model can be described both by classroom objects and by LAs’ development in dialogue with those objects. This work can be used to start to develop a deeper understanding of how students, instructors, and LAs experience the LA model.","PeriodicalId":48581,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Stem Education","volume":"24 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2024-08-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142184514","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Unpacking the role of AI ethics online education for science and engineering students","authors":"Maya Usher, Miri Barak","doi":"10.1186/s40594-024-00493-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-024-00493-4","url":null,"abstract":"As artificial intelligence (AI) technology rapidly advances, it becomes imperative to equip students with tools to navigate through the many intricate ethical considerations surrounding its development and use. Despite growing recognition of this necessity, the integration of AI ethics into higher education curricula remains limited. This paucity highlights an urgent need for comprehensive ethics education initiatives in AI, particularly for science and engineering students who are at the forefront of these innovations. Hence, this research investigates the role of an online explicit-reflective learning module in fostering science and engineering graduate students' ethical knowledge, awareness, and problem-solving skills. The study’s participants included 90 graduate students specializing in diverse science and engineering research tracks. Employing the embedded mixed-methods approach, data were collected from pre- and post-intervention questionnaires with closed-ended and open-ended questions. The study's results indicate that the online explicit-reflective learning module significantly enhanced students' knowledge of AI ethics. Initially, students exhibited a medium–high level of perceived ethical awareness, which saw a modest but statistically significant enhancement following the participation. Notably, a more distinct increase was observed in students' actual awareness of ethical issues in AI, before and after the intervention. Content analysis of students’ responses to the open-ended questions revealed an increase in their ability to identify and articulate concerns relating to privacy breaches, the utilization of flawed datasets, and issues of biased social representation. Moreover, while students initially displayed limited problem-solving abilities in AI ethics, a considerable enhancement in these competencies was evident post-intervention. The study results highlight the important role of explicit-reflective learning in preparing future professionals in science and engineering with the skills necessary for ethical decision-making. The study highlights the need for placing more emphasis not only on students’ ability to identify AI-related ethical issues but also on their capacity to resolve and perhaps mitigate the impact of such ethical dilemmas.","PeriodicalId":48581,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Stem Education","volume":"7 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2024-08-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141886454","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Scaffolded team-based computational modeling and simulation projects for promoting representational competence and regulatory skills","authors":"Alejandra J. Magana, Joreen Arigye, Abasiafak Udosen, Joseph A. Lyon, Parth Joshi, Elsje Pienaar","doi":"10.1186/s40594-024-00494-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-024-00494-3","url":null,"abstract":"This study posits that scaffolded team-based computational modeling and simulation projects can support model-based learning that can result in evidence of representational competence and regulatory skills. The study involved 116 students from a second-year thermodynamics undergraduate course organized into 24 teams, who worked on three two-week-long team-based computational modeling and simulation projects and reflected upon their experience. Results characterized different levels of engagement with computational model-based learning in the form of problem formulation and model planning, implementation and use of the computational model, evaluation, and interpretation of the outputs of the model, as well as reflection on the process. Results report on students’ levels of representational competence as related to the computational model, meaning-making of the underlying code of the computational model, graphical representations generated by the model, and explanations and interpretations of the output representations. Results also described regulatory skills as challenges and strategies related to programming skills, challenges and strategies related to meaning-making skills for understanding and connecting the science to the code and the results, and challenges and strategies related to process management mainly focused on project management skills. Characterizing dimensions of computational model-based reasoning provides insights that showcase students’ learning, benefits, and challenges when engaging in team-based computational modeling and simulation projects. This study also contributes to evidence-based scaffolding strategies that can support undergraduate students' engagement in the context of computational modeling and simulation.","PeriodicalId":48581,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Stem Education","volume":"45 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2024-07-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141871076","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Attending to STEM education in servingness at Hispanic-serving institutions: a systematic review of more than a decade of scholarship","authors":"Hyun Kyoung Ro, Stephanie Aguilar-Smith, Shirley Yang Anderson, Tricia Rodriguez, Elizabeth J. Ramon, Damaris Javier","doi":"10.1186/s40594-024-00489-0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-024-00489-0","url":null,"abstract":"Enrolling over 60% of all Latinx undergraduate students, Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs) are poised to play a critical role in diversifying and strengthening Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education and the STEM workforce. However, how HSIs serve STEM students is not well understood. Accordingly, guided by Garcia et al. (Review of Educational Research 89:5–745, 2019) multidimensional servingness framework, we conducted a systematic review of the research on STEM education within the HSI context. By attending to STEM education in conversations around how HSIs may serve Latinx students and their campus communities, our ultimate aim is to improve STEM education particularly at HSIs and advance STEM servingness more broadly. Through our systematic review of STEM education research at HSIs, we identified (under)studied components of servingness and gaps within this literature base. Specifically, among the 128 qualifying articles, nearly two-thirds focused on student outcomes but overlooked institutions’ organizational context, raising questions about the effect(iveness) of the studied interventions. Additionally, we identified three thematic gaps in this literature: ghosting the HSI context (i.e., relying on HSIs as research sites without considering the unique HSI context); ghosting Latinx culture (i.e., decentering Latinx students and the Latinx community’s sociocultural aspects and assets), and ghosting people and places (i.e., under-examining certain student populations like Latino men in STEM and places like Hispanic-serving community colleges). Ultimately, our study extends the field’s understanding of servingness by attending to STEM education within the context of HSI institutions. By systematically reviewing studies on STEM education at HSIs, we identified (under)studied components of servingness and patterned gaps within this literature. In doing so, we highlight opportunities to advance STEM servingness at HSIs through future research, policy, and practice. Collectively, these avenues hold the promise of improving STEM education and diversifying the STEM workforce.","PeriodicalId":48581,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Stem Education","volume":"33 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2024-07-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141742409","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The development of mathematics expectancy-value profiles during the secondary–tertiary transition into STEM fields","authors":"Martin Mayerhofer, Marko Lüftenegger, Michael Eichmair","doi":"10.1186/s40594-024-00491-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-024-00491-6","url":null,"abstract":"To master the secondary–tertiary transition into fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), academic self-beliefs play a pivotal role, especially those related to learning mathematics. The framework of expectancy-value theory has been used widely in primary and secondary education and partly in tertiary education to assess the self-beliefs of students in terms of expectancy of success and perceived value of mathematics. Based on this framework, we measured how the intrinsic value, the attainment value, the utility value, and the cost of learning mathematics as well as the expectancy of success when learning mathematics developed during the secondary–tertiary transition of students into STEM fields. Data were collected in a quantitative repeated-measures questionnaire study with two measurement points (measurement point 1: n = 710, measurement point 2: n = 487, listwise: n = 409). We conducted a latent profile analysis to identify the prevalent patterns of mathematics self-beliefs, called profiles, at each of the two measurement points. We studied the relation of these profiles to prior education, achievement at school, and achievement at university. By performing a latent transition analysis, we determined the probabilities of transitioning from the initial profiles to the posterior profiles. Our analysis revealed four distinct prevalent profiles at each measurement point, ranging from highly favorable (i.e., high expectancy, high value, low cost) to highly unfavorable with respect to learning mathematics. The profiles with favorable manifestations remained stable over time, while those with undesirable manifestations deteriorated further. We observed a sharp increase in cost across all profiles. Prior achievement correlated strongly with profile membership. The expenditure of time and energy increased sharply during the secondary–tertiary transition, independently of the students’ initial motivational patterns. The perceived utility of mathematics for potential future careers was shown to be a significant source of motivation. The role of mathematics in future careers should thus be made visible in university teaching. Keeping the detrimental development of initially undesirable motivational profiles in mind, university teachers should create ample opportunities for students to gain a sense of accomplishment.","PeriodicalId":48581,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Stem Education","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2024-07-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141611695","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Employing technology-enhanced feedback and scaffolding to support the development of deep science understanding using computer simulations","authors":"Leonora Kaldaras, Karen D. Wang, Jocelyn E. Nardo, Argenta Price, Katherine Perkins, Carl Wieman, Shima Salehi","doi":"10.1186/s40594-024-00490-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-024-00490-7","url":null,"abstract":"Constructivist learning theories consider deep understanding of the content to be the result of engagement in relevant learning activities with appropriate scaffolding that provides the learner with timely and substantive feedback. However, any group of students has a variety of levels of knowledge and cognitive development, which makes providing appropriate individual-level scaffolding and feedback challenging in the classroom. Computer simulations can help meet this challenge by providing technology-enhanced embedded scaffolding and feedback via specific simulation design. The use of computer simulations does not, however, guarantee development of deep science understanding. Careful research-driven design of the simulation and the accompanying teaching structure both play critical roles in achieving the desired learning outcomes. In this paper, we discuss the capabilities of computer simulations and the issues that can impact the learning outcomes when combining technology-enhanced scaffolding and feedback with external teaching structures. We conclude with suggestions of promising research avenues on simulation design and their use in the classroom to help students achieve deep science understanding.","PeriodicalId":48581,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Stem Education","volume":"19 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2024-07-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141611806","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A microgenetic analysis of teachers’ learning through teaching","authors":"Yasemin Copur-Gencturk, Sebnem Atabas","doi":"10.1186/s40594-024-00488-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-024-00488-1","url":null,"abstract":"What and how teachers learn through teaching without external guidance has long been of interest to researchers. Yet limited research has been conducted to investigate how learning through teaching occurs. The microgenetic approach (Siegler and Crowley, American Psychologist 46:606–620, 1991) has been useful in identifying the process of student learning. Using this approach, we investigated the development of teacher knowledge through teaching as well as which factors hinder or promote such development. Our findings suggest that teachers developed various components of teacher knowledge through teaching without external professional guidance. Further, we found that the extent to which teachers gained content-free or content-specific knowledge through teaching depended on their robust understanding of the concept being taught (i.e., content knowledge), the cognitive demand of the tasks used in teaching, and the lesson structure chosen (i.e., student centered vs. teacher centered). In this study, we explored teacher learning through teaching and identified the sources leading to such learning. Our findings underscore the importance of teachers’ robust understanding of the content being taught, the tasks used in teaching, and a lesson structure that promotes teachers’ learning through teaching on their own.","PeriodicalId":48581,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Stem Education","volume":"9 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2024-07-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141571700","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The impact of virtual reality on practical skills for students in science and engineering education: a meta-analysis","authors":"Chuanwen Yang, Jinying Zhang, Yongbin Hu, Xianmin Yang, Meitan Chen, Mengyue Shan, Li Li","doi":"10.1186/s40594-024-00487-2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-024-00487-2","url":null,"abstract":"Virtual reality (VR) has emerged as a promising tool for enhancing practical skills of students in science and engineering education. However, the effectiveness of VR in this context remains unclear due to inconsistent findings across studies. This meta-analysis aimed to synthesize the existing literature and investigate the overall impact of VR on practical skills among science and engineering students. A comprehensive literature search was conducted, yielding 37 empirical studies published between 2000 and 2022 that met the inclusion criteria. The analysis included 72 effect sizes, and the random-effects model was employed to account for heterogeneity among studies. The results revealed a significant moderate positive effect of VR on practical skills (g = 0.477). Moderator analyses indicated that the disciplinary category significantly influenced the effect size, with medical students demonstrating the largest improvement in practical skills. Additionally, using the practice approach combining with traditional methods yielded the highest effect size among the instructional approaches. The study also considered potential reasons behind the observed results and acknowledged certain constraints. Additionally, it proposed avenues for further inquiry to advance the understanding of the subject matter.","PeriodicalId":48581,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Stem Education","volume":"125 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2024-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141503972","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"“That’s just the way it is”: bullying and harassment in STEM academia","authors":"Estelle Corbett, Julie Barnett, Lucy Yeomans, Leda Blackwood","doi":"10.1186/s40594-024-00486-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-024-00486-3","url":null,"abstract":"The under-representation of women and other minority group members in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) academia is a problem internationally and is attributed in part to hostile workplace cultures. We draw on the social identity perspective to examine the dynamic inter and intragroup processes entailed in these experiences. In this paper, we report a reflexive thematic analysis of 219 responses to a free-text question on bullying and harassment embedded in a national survey of 40 STEM departments from across the United Kingdom. Most were women (53%) at an early, pre-lectureship career stage. Our analysis shows who is the perpetrator and who is the victim is not arbitrary, and neither is the form that it takes; majority group members draw on discourses that warrant the exclusion of minority group members (e.g., women are not smart; incompatibility with religious identity). In this ‘othering’, minority group members learn that one is not regarded as a bona fide STEM academic ingroup member and accordingly are constrained in being able to claim and act on that identity. Thus, it is not just the acts themselves that are problematic, but the ways in which being denied a shared STEM academic identity is consequential for a range of putative benefits and leads to a range of strategies that all confer costs. The solution must rest with senior STEM academics and with institutions. First, we need to challenge discourses and practices that narrowly define the boundaries and content of STEM academic identity. Second, all members of a community need to perceive an alignment between the purported values of an organisation for diversity, inclusion, and respect and how that organisation responds when those principles are violated. Formal processes of remedy need to recognise the dynamics entailed in status differences and remove the onus of complaint from isolated, low status individuals. In addition, there is a need to recognise the ways in which perpetrators are embedded in networks of support both within and without the university; and the importance, therefore, of widening the scope of evidence gathering and intervention.","PeriodicalId":48581,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Stem Education","volume":"42 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2024-05-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141190112","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}