Stepping Carefully: Thinking Through the Potential Pitfalls of Integrated STEM
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Stepping Carefully: Thinking Through the Potential Pitfalls of Integrated STEM Richard Lehrer 1 & Leona Schauble 1 # Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Abstract In light of discussions about the benefits and tradeoffs of integrated STEM education, we present a case that focuses on an apparently promising context for integrating mathematics and science. First- and second-graders observed changes in prairie plants over a year and sought a way to locate their plants in the prairie, as a planned prairie burn would soon destroy the top growth. They agreed to use compasses and pacing to write directions from a common landmark to the plants. Later, the class attempted to reinterpret their conceptions of location and wayfinding in the context of two new representations: a 2-dimensional map and a hoop on the floor that depicted the outline of the prairie. During this conversation, children struggled to integrate their memories of distance and unit-length, experienced within the prairie, to inscriptions that presented an external perspective of the same space. Some problems appeared to stem from the authenticity of the task, which inspired solutions that disrupted the teacher’s mathematical agenda. To promote STEM education, educators need to be aware of the task solutions that children are likely to invent, thoroughly address children’s understanding of representational conventions, and select tasks in which model-test and revision play a prominent role. Keywords STEM learning . Integrated learning . Mathematics and science learning
Introduction Like others in the learning sciences, we have been following on-going discussions about the potential benefits and tradeoffs of integrated STEM education (National Academy of Engineering and National Research Council 2014). Although the field is still working toward consensus about what integration means and how it should best be accomplished, nonetheless, there are aspects of the pro-integration argument that seem * Leona Schauble [email protected]
1
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
Journal for STEM Education Research
persuasive. For example, integration may promote the transfer of knowledge by illustrating how the same concept does explanatory work across differing representations and contexts (Nathan et al. 2013). Or, integration may make the relevance of STEM subjects more apparent to students by showing how domain concepts and principles support the solution of problems of evident importance (Mehalik et al. 2008). These insights may, in turn, enhance interest in and motivation for learning (Burghardt et al. 2010). Students who are encouraged to use their knowledge for solving problems may be more likely to build the kind of connected and structured knowledge systems that characterize expertise (Hmelo-Silver 2004). Moreover, most would agree that education should not be about reproducing what one has read and been told, but rather, should prepare students to put domain concepts and principles to active use, even to critique or extend them. An argumen
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