Module 1: Introduction to STEAM Education

STEAM Introduction

Nations invest in innovation to promote sustainable economic growth. While many countries are suffering from the effects of global economic difficulties, such as rising unemployment and soaring public debt, the role of labor input is decreasing in the 21st century economy. Only innovation-driven growth has the potential to create value-added jobs and industries (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD], 2010a). Because innovation is largely derived from advances in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines (National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, & Institute of Medicine, 2011), an increasing number of jobs at all levels require STEM knowledge (Lacey & Wright, 2009). Nations need an innovative STEM workforce to be competitive in the 21st century. Innovation involves the integration of diverse STEM skills and transcends disciplines. Innovation is a highly interactive and multidisciplinary process/product that rarely occurs in isolation and is tightly connected to life (OECD, 2010a). Today, there is a clear consensus among stakeholders on the importance of STEM education to economic innovation (Kuenzi, 2008; OECD, 2010b). STEM education in K-12 settings fosters interdisciplinary knowledge and skills that are relevant to life and prepare students for a knowledge-based economy (National Research Council, 2011). The overarching goal of STEM education is to raise the current generation with innovative mindsets. STEM education includes the knowledge, skills and beliefs that are collaboratively constructed at the intersection of more than one STEM subject area. The purpose of the present paper is to introduce STEM education in the Turkish context, which is conceptualized through a critical investigation of the global and local educational policies, previous research on curriculum integration and integrated teaching knowledge (ITK), and the Turkish educational reforms. Theoretical Framework of STEM Education Curriculum integration provides the theoretical framework for STEM education. Integrative learning and curriculum integration theories reflect the progressive tradition of Dewey, in which subject matter is connected to real-life and made more meaningful to students through curriculum integration (Beane, 1997). John Dewey’s elegant statement, “Relate the school to life, and all studies are of necessity correlated” (Dewey, 1910, p. 32) serves as an inspiration to educators who intuitively believe that curriculum integration produces greater learning outcomes in school subjects despite the lack of empirical evidence (Czerniak, Weber, Sandman, & Ahern, 1999; Frykholm & Glasson, 2005; McBride & Silverman, 1991). A major obstacle to conducting empirical research on curriculum integration is the different definitions of curriculum integration among scholars (Berlin & White, 1994, 1995). In this regard, some propose curriculum integration models that are too general and lack rigor in domain-specific knowledge while other models of curriculum integration posit radical changes in the K-12 school curriculum through interdisciplinary approaches (Hartzler, 2000). “The rigidity and resilience of the school curriculum structure should not be underestimated when proposing reform” (Williams, 2011, p. 27), likewise, many researchers ignore the power of status quo practices and teachers’ lack of readiness to adopt integrated approaches in their teaching (Schleigh, Bossé, & Lee, 2011). Nevertheless, curriculum integration helps educators understand four STEM disciplines as an interconnected entity with a strong connection to life. STEM education builds upon curriculum integration theories in two perspectives. One perspective is that STEM education enables teachers to integrate correlated subjects without ignoring the unique characteristics, depth, and rigor of their main discipline (National Research Council, 2011). However, there is a gap between how STEM subjects are taught in schools and the knowledge, skills, and beliefs required for STEM education (Cuadra & Moreno, 2005). Reducing the gap between current instructional practices and the actual skills needed for STEM education is contingent upon the expertise of STEM teachers to successfully transition from the departmentalized model of teaching to an integrated teaching model (Furner & Kumar, 2007). In this model, teachers are not only the expert of a single subject, but also have the additional responsibility of guiding their students in at least one other STEM subject (Sanders, 2009), which necessitates an investment in professional development of in-service teachers, as well as reorganizing the teacher education programs at universities (Kline, 2005). The second perspective is in regard to the STEM education curriculum that guides the teachers. A highly structured curriculum with rigid boundaries among STEM disciplines is likely to weaken the effectiveness of the teachers (Pinar, Reynolds, Slattery, & Taubman, 2000) whereas a flexible curriculum enables teachers to teach STEM subjects in their natural contexts in contrast to disparate curricular disciplines (Jardine, 2006). STEM education requires teachers to excel in utilizing natural and active exchanges of knowledge, skills, and beliefs among STEM disciplines. STEM Education Model The model in Figure 1 delineates the focus of teaching in STEM education. The model links the (integrated) STEM education to integrated teaching at the K-12 level. While the oval STEM shapes indicate the preservation of unique characteristics within each STEM discipline, such as in-depth knowledge, skills, and beliefs, the arrows from the shapes represent the teacher and student-driven interactions. The interactions exist because they are often integral parts of the STEM disciplines, rather than optional. However, the model also hypothesizes that it takes a well-educated teacher with a strong ITK to such interactions actually occur in the classroom settings. The notion of ITK is defined at the nexus of STEM teacher’s expert content and pedagogical content knowledge in their main subject area and working knowledge in another STEM subject, which is mainly developed through participation in professional learning communities (Corlu, 2014). The model is designed with the potential to address all other interactions between STEM subjects; however, the conceptualization of ITK is beyond the scope of the current paper.

The proposition that posits mathematics is abstract but science is concrete is not supported in practice. In contrast to one view, which argues that mathematics and science are epistemologically too different to be integrated (Williams, 2011), authors of the current paper believe that both subjects are related to life and dependent on each other to construct new knowledge (Akman, 2002; Başkan, Alev, & Karal, 2010; Levin, 1992; Ogilve & Monagan, 2007; Pratt, 1985). From this perspective, the relationship of mathematics and science can be defined according to different perspectives that emphasize one over the other, such as mathematics used in science or mathematically rigorous science education, depending on the expert knowledge of the teacher. In this regard, post-modern perspective claims that mathematics and science are indispensable to each other, being supported by an pluralistic understanding of the concrete applications and abstract functionalities that people gave to them (cf. Skovsmose, 2010). This post-modern view helps educators understand STEM education as an integrated entity. Therefore, STEM education invalidates the clear-cut distinction of mathematics and science. STEM education at the K-12 level can occur at the intersection of mathematical and scientific content and processes, such as problem solving and quantitative reasoning (Basista & Mathews, 2002; Frykholm & Meyer, 2002; Pang & Good, 2000). Students at the K-12 level experience mathematics extensively across the mathematically rigorous science curriculum (Jones, 1994). For example, while science teachers use mathematics as a tool or an inscription device (Roth, 1993; Roth & Bowen, 1994). mathematics teachers use science as an application (Davison, Miller, & Metheny, 1995). Mathematics used in science or mathematically rigorous science education provide educators with an understanding of STEM education that does not create an independent meta-discipline while preserving the subject-specific knowledge, skills, and attitudes. (Corlu, M. S. 2014)