International Views of Authenticity in Integrated STEM Education
2022 (English)In: PATT 39: PATT on the Edge Technology, Innovation and Education / [ed] David Gill, Jim Tuff, Thomas Kennedy, Shawn Pendergast, Sana Jamil, St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada: Memorial University of Newfoundland , 2022, p. 394-399Conference paper, Published paper (Refereed)
Abstract [en]
Integrated STEM education aims for teaching and learning that goes beyond the individual disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Although authenticity is a widely used term in the literature, little is known about the meaning and application of the concept. The aim of this study is to systematically explore international views of authenticity in integrated STEM education. An online survey was responded to by twenty-eight experienced researchers and practitioners in science, technology, engineering, mathematics as well as related educational disciplines from around the world. We labelled the acquired participants the STEM expert panel, with expertise in STEM education, curriculum development, and the STEM root disciplines. The STEM expert panel responded to three open-ended questions that probed their opinions concerning opportunities and limitations of integrating the STEM disciplines. Data were analysed thematically and iteratively to reveal salient categories of authenticity. In terms of findings, views included three overarching themes. Firstly, experts opined that integrated STEM education requires authentic, real-world problems that support innovative and critical thinking capabilities in students. Secondly, real-world STEM education scenarios are in the panel’s view primarily technology and engineering based. Thirdly, model-based integrated STEM education approaches provide opportunities to include real-life solutions and genuine problem solving that are not otherwise possible. Consequently, what is meant by authenticity and authentic learning was addressed, not for whom something is authentic. Findings also suggest that although the international STEM experts often foregrounded ‘S’ and ‘M’ principles in their descriptions of STEM education, the ‘T’ and ‘E’ emerged as fundamental to implementing authenticity. Thus, the panellists viewed technology and engineering as providing authentic contexts that act as bridges between school and real-world settings.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada: Memorial University of Newfoundland , 2022. p. 394-399
Keywords [en]
Authenticity, STEM education, Experts’ views, Technology education, Engineering education
National Category
Didactics
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-186619ISBN: 9780889015050 (electronic)OAI: oai:DiVA.org:liu-186619DiVA, id: diva2:1678286
Conference
PATT 39: PATT on the Edge Technology, Innovation and Education, Memorial University, St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada June 21st-24th, 2022
2022-06-292022-06-292024-09-14