STEM Education in Secondary Schools: Teachers’ Perspective towards Sustainable Development

Teachers' views on the effect of STEM education on the labor market

Introduction

This paper explores teachers' views on the impact of STEM education on the labor market. This study focused on teachers' views to investigate STEM education and the labor market and the relationship between the two.

Methods

The sample consisted of 32 teachers from different branches. Participants were recruited using purposive convenience sampling. This paper adopted a qualitative case study research design. Qualitative data were collected using a semi-structured interview form. The qualitative data were analyzed using inductive content and descriptive analysis.

Results

Participants stated that STEM education offered new fields of work, promoted entrepreneurship, and increased job opportunities. They also noted that STEM education helped reduce social costs. They emphasized that STEM education made participants happy, prevented brain drain, and reduced social problems. On the other hand, they also noted that STEM education could lead to technological unemployment. The descriptive analyses showed that STEM education had a positive impact on employment, a reduction in social costs, and a positive impact on underemployment. In light of the results, we made recommendations for future research.

Impacts of integrating engineering design process into STEM makerspace on renewable energy unit to foster students’ system thinking skills

Currently, science education systems around the world are faced with global challenges, especially in anticipating environmental changes related to sustainable development programs. Complex system problems related to climate change, reduced fossil-based energy reserves, and social environmental problems that have an impact on the economy have made stakeholders aware of the Education for Sustainability Development (ESD) program. This study aims to examine the effectiveness of STEM-PBL integrated Engineering Design Process (EDP) in renewable energy learning units to improve students' system thinking skills. The quantitative experimental research with a non-equivalent control group design was conducted on 67 high school students in XI grades. The results showed that the performance of students who were taught with STEM-EDP was better than students who studied with traditional STEM learning approach. In addition, this learning strategy also encourages students to be actively involved in every EDP process so that they show good performance in mind-on and hands-on activities which have an impact on increasing students' system thinking abilities. Furthermore, the STEM-EDP learning is implemented to develop students' ability to design through applied technology and engineered activities, paying special attention to design-based theory. It does not require students and teachers to prepare super-sophisticated technology, because the integration of technology in this learning design used cheap, simple and 'easy to find' equipments, to create more meaningful learning packages. In the critical pedagogy, STEM-PBL integrated EDP can be used to systematically foster students' STEM literacy and thinking skills through the engineering design thinking process, thus expanding students' cognitive building and perspectives in reducing the routine in conventional pedagogy.

Building a sustainable model of integrated stem education: investigating secondary school STEM classes after an integrated STEM project

This study investigated the sustainability of an integrated STEM education program. Two US high school science teachers and an engineering technology teacher sustained implementation of an integrated STEM curriculum after the conclusion of the funded program, TRAILS. Class observations were conducted to examine how the teachers implemented the integrated STEM curriculum and how they maintained integrated STEM teaching in a science and engineering technology education (ETE) teacher pair using science and engineering technology shared practices. After the integrated STEM lesson, their students' academic achievements were compared to those of the students who previously participated in the project. The results reveal that the students showed no difference from the previous TRAILS students in terms of academic achievements as measured by STEM knowledge test scores, which may indicate that the teachers successfully maintained consistency and effectiveness of the implementation. Additionally, a twenty-first century skills survey was newly conducted to examine students' growth in confidence in twenty-first century skills after they were taught the integrated STEM lesson. The students showed increased confidence in critical thinking, which indicates that the students benefitted from the teachers' instructions even after the conclusion of the funded program and the absence of support. Based on the findings from the teachers' experiences of multiple years of integrated STEM teaching, the study discusses how to better support teachers for the successful implementation of an integrated STEM curriculum as a sustainable education program in secondary schools.

Teacher Views on Teaching Sustainability in Higher Education Institutes in Australia

Higher education for sustainable development (HESD) plays a key role in achieving the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This research study specifically examined HESD in terms of eLearning initiatives in Australian private higher education providers from the perspective of teachers. A qualitative structured interview method was adopted wherein 10 teachers were interviewed in order to gain an understanding of their general knowledge of HESD, their attitudes and experience towards HESD, their teaching practices related to HESD, and their understandings of strategy as well as planning initiatives for their institution. The main findings suggest that (1) teachers in private higher education providers tend to have a limited knowledge of sustainability concepts and limited experience in teaching sustainability; (2) eLearning can be a valuable approach in teaching sustainability, but this approach presents teachers with challenges such as student engagement; and (3) private higher education providers require proper resources and governance frameworks in order for any sustainability initiative to be successful. This research highlights the resourcing aspect of private higher education providers in training staff, developing learning materials, and developing practical guidelines to achieve the SDGs by 2030.

Using Bayesian Networks to Provide Educational Implications: Mobile Learning and Ethnomathematics to Improve Sustainability in Mathematics Education

There are many Western apps that help students strengthen their mathematics skills through learning and game apps. A research project was designed to create an IOS Math App to provide Grade 6 Emirati students with the opportunity to explore mathematics, then, using Bayesian Networks, to examine the educational implications. The learning app was developed using ethnomathematics modules based on the Emirati culture. Students were required to navigate through several modules to examine various mathematical concepts in algebra and geometry. The survey was written for Grade 6 English language learners. Based on the Bayesian Networks, the findings suggested that if students are allowed to explore mathematics based on familiar cultural norms and practices, students with grades A and C would get higher grades. However, if students are not allowed to explore mathematics in line with their local culture, more students would receive an F grade, while some students with an A grade would get lower grades. Additionally, the findings showed that incorporating cultural elements had a positive change in students’ liking and learning mathematics, even without a mobile device. However, not allowing a mobile device and not allowing culture had an increased negative impact on students’ liking and learning mathematics. The last finding suggested that students valued ethnomathematics examples over a mobile device to learn mathematics. The research findings could help to improve sustainability in mathematics education by promoting ethnomathematics and mobile learning.

An Assessment of Junior High School Students’ Knowledge, Creativity, and Hands-On Performance Using PBL via Cognitive–Affective Interaction Model to Achieve STEAM

This study aimed to discover the implications of using different teaching approaches for a hands-on STEAM activity for junior high school students’ STEAM knowledge, creativity, and hands-on performance. The teaching contents used in the study were designed based on the project-based learning (PBL) strategy and the cognitive–affective interaction model (CAIM). The students’ learning outcomes were tested through a hands-on activity with the theme of electric boat creation. PBL with the CAIM was the strategy used to implement the hands-on STEAM activity and to achieve the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4). In this study, a quasi-experimental design was used for 10 weeks, and the 366 students who participated in the experiment were divided into experimental groups (EGs, 199 students using PBL with the CAIM) and control groups (CGs, 167 students using PBL only). Through the analysis of covariance, the results showed that students in the EGs achieved higher academic performance in terms of STEAM knowledge, creativity, and hands-on performance. The study also found that the hands-on STEAM activity had a positive effect on creativity for students in the EGs, allowing them to develop different modes of thinking in the processes of designing and producing the finished product, which in turn enhanced the innovativeness of their products and solutions. In addition, using PBL with the CAIM in the hands-on STEAM activity brought about positive learning outcomes and creative abilities for the students, achieving the SDG 4 objectives. Moreover, the outcomes of this study are in line with the current international trend in the development of education, providing reference examples for the future development of STEAM activities and teaching materials at the junior high school level.

Sustainable Development Indicators—Untapped Tools for Sustainability and STEM Education: An Analysis of a Popular Czech Educational Website

Environmental education has been included in Czech curricula since the 1980s, albeit without clear evidence of education for sustainable development (SD), which addresses complex socio-economic issues using SD indicators (SDIs), such as charts, single numbers, tables, maps, and (interactive) images. However, understanding such a comprehensive topic requires developing basic mathematical knowledge and skills. In this study, we aimed to analyse the nature, quality, and availability of teaching materials for SD, primarily using SDIs, which could be applied by Czech teachers. For this purpose, we performed a qualitative and basic quantitative content analysis of several descriptors of documents retrieved from a website for teachers, provided by the National Pedagogical Institute of the Czech Republic. A full-text search identified 1376 records, which were analyzed for SD pillars and SDIs. Our results showed that most records (95%) do not contain SDIs in teaching materials. Only 59 records mentioned (128) SDIs, mostly covering the environmental pillar, 26 of which contain a single SDI. The most frequent issues were waste production, treatment, savings, water parameters, and energy consumption. Mathematical skills were used in 56 SDIs, primarily for evaluating data sets and quantitative expressions of an amount. Overall, only a small number of SDIs are used in education for SD, economic and social SDIs are in the minority, and the STEM potential remains untapped.

Toward Integrated and Inclusive Education for Sustainability with School–University Cooperation

Sustainable development has been a topic in the Finnish core curriculum for several years, but integrating this cross-cutting theme into a subject-based curriculum is perceived to be difficult. Hence, the city of Lappeenranta has developed its own educational model to support the development of pupils’ ecosocial attitudes and abilities. This study evaluates the implemented educational model by empirically examining the pupils’ perceptions of sustainability as well as studying differences between different groups of pupils. Analysis methods consisted of a combination of factor analysis, linear regression, and statistical tests for group differences. Young people were discovered to hold three different kinds of orientations to environmental issues and ecological sustainability. These were coupled with different perceptions of science, technology, and business in a way that indicates three different types of perceptions of a more holistic conception of sustainability. The significant differences in the sustainability-related perceptions between girls and boys as well as between pupils with different educational aspirations suggest that in the future, special attention needs to be paid to develop the educational model for better equity and inclusivity.

Comparative Evaluation of Sustainable Framework in STEM Intensive Programs for Secondary and Tertiary Education

Sustainability of learning environments is a key pillar of all societal development frameworks. A variety of research address the development of education as a fine balanced relation between flexibility, adaptability, innovation, and efficient resource allocation. The main limitation of current approaches is the lack of correlation between various efficiency analyses and budget expenditure of learning environments. The current research aims at undertaking a comparative evaluation of a sustainable framework in STEM intensive programs for secondary and tertiary education. This was done using several established methods like the Plan, Do, Check, Act cycle for the development main framework, the Analytic Hierarchy Process for efficiency evaluation and Value Analysis for budget expenditure allocations and improvement identification. The main framework is based on learning objectives defined in accordance with Blooms’ revised taxonomy and student feedback was collected through surveys and group feedback. The main results of the study show that the framework had overall efficiencies over the 80% threshold in both secondary and tertiary education, whilst some of the components scored under 65%, identifying immediate improvement features. Further research involves the transition to an online and mixed teaching environment, by adapting the content and framework structure with the aid of smart learning environments.

A Comparison Study between Universal Design for Learning-Multiple Intelligence (UDL-MI) Oriented STEM Program and Traditional STEM Program for Inclusive Education

The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) model and Multiple Intelligence (MI) theory hold considerable promise for advancing inclusive education. However, the effectiveness of UDL and MI in supporting inclusive science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education has never been tested empirically. This study examined the impact of the UDL-MI-oriented STEM program on eighth-grade rural students’ attitudes towards STEM through mixed research design. A total of 122 students were selected through purposive sampling and randomly distributed into experimental (N = 62) and control groups (N = 60). The experimental group experienced STEM learning through the UDL-MI-oriented program and the control group received traditional classroom teaching. Both groups studied learning units on environmental sustainability and conservation for 10 weeks. Changes in students’ attitudes towards STEM were assessed over the time period (pre-test, post-test, follow-up) using an adapted Mahoney Student Attitude toward STEM instrument and individual interviews (post-test, follow-up). The results indicated that in comparison to the traditional classroom, the UDL-MI-oriented program significantly improved and maintained the students’ attitudes towards STEM. Next, the qualitative findings were presented to support the statistical analyses. This study provides empirical evidence for adopting the UDL-MI-oriented STEM program as an effective way of providing inclusive STEM education to rural students by enhancing their attitudes towards STEM.

Systematic Review on Which Analytics and Learning Methodologies Are Applied in Primary and Secondary Education in the Learning of Robotics Sensors

Robotics technology has become increasingly common both for businesses and for private citizens. Primary and secondary schools, as a mirror of societal evolution, have increasingly integrated science, technology, engineering and math concepts into their curricula. Our research questions are: "In teaching robotics to primary and secondary school students, which pedagogical-methodological interventions result in better understanding and knowledge in the use of sensors in educational robotics?", and "In teaching robotics to primary and secondary school students, which analytical methods related to Learning Analytics processes are proposed to analyze and reflect on students' behavior in their learning of concepts and skills of sensors in educational robotics?". To answer these questions, we have carried out a systematic review of the literature in the Web of Science and Scopus databases regarding robotics sensors in primary and secondary education, and Learning Analytics processes. We applied PRISMA methodology and reviewed a total of 24 articles. The results show a consensus about the use of the Learning by Doing and Project-Based Learning methodologies, including their different variations, as the most common methodology for achieving optimal engagement, motivation and performance in students' learning. Finally, future lines of research are identified from this study.