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The Importance of STEM for Modern Education
Abstract
STEM is essential for modern education. Nations become world leaders, in part, through the hard work of their experts in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM careers). Countries need to maintain a supply of qualified STEM graduates to meet their economic needs and to compete globally, especially since the workforce is becoming more technology driven. Therefore, it is important to introduce young children to STEM courses and to encourage them to pursue these subjects in every grade. This chapter describes various ways to promote STEM and combine it with modern education.
... However, limited studies focus on the education sector thus, this paper filled the gap and focused on the operational resilience of the education sector, particularly the private tertiary institutions in Southwest Nigeria. Prior to COVID-19, previous studies had shown that resilience measures such as workload, which is linked with mental health and psychological work environment (Bukoye, 2017;Daykin et al., 2017;Devdutt & Mehrotra, 2018;Ekechukwu & Isiguzo, 2016;Ishola, 2017;Weissman et al., 2017), and the technological work environment to efficiency in most school systems (public and private) had remained a concern, especially in most developing countries as the traditional way of operations still reigns with most academics not willing to adopt and adapt technological advancement (Collins & Halverson, 2018;Henriksen et al., 2018;Jaja, 2013;Kanematsu & Barry, 2016;Mishra & Mehta, 2017;Page & Thorsteinsson 2017;Runco, 2014). Hence, the lecturer-focused learning vis-à-vis student-focused learning in content delivery through operational resilience to efficiency was undertaken. ...
... Several scholarly investigations have been carried out on how operational efficiency is affected by the operational resilient in institutions or organizations. Previous studies found that technology advancement as a component of operational resilience affected how humans lived, worked, adapted, think, and communicated to achieve efficiency (Cascio & Montealegre, 2016;Kanematsu & Barry, 2016;Olofin & Aniede, 2016;. However, Coovert and Thompson (2014) study stressed that the direction of how technology affected efficiency is not in and of itself technology; rather, it is how to utilize, manage the impact, and implementation of emerging global and economic developments. ...
... García-Sánchez et al. (2018) findings are in line with previous scholars that, support for technology and improvement of technological skills and, technological distinctive competencies, promoted improvement in efficiency. Also, the importance of operational technological work environment and digitization of tertiary education to operational efficiency in order to be able adapt to global and economic environmental dynamic changes in today's world of works cannot be overstated (Coovert & Thompson, 2014;Kanematsu & Barry, 2016;Mishra & Mehta, 2017;Page & Thorsteinsson, 2017;Kinman & Wray, 2018;Steenkamp & Roberts, 2018;Zhao, 2012). Therefore, Foster and Smith (2015) stressed that the effects of disasters and disruptions on universities can be summarized in terms of enrolment, financial consequences and renewal. ...
The study investigated operational efficiency through operational resilience of private universities in Southwest Nigeria during COVID-19. Private universities were established to impact knowledge, enabled unhindered learning and timely turnout of graduates since their inception in 1999. However, private universities' operational efficiency was challenged and truncated by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which motivated the thrust to determine their operational resilience along with their efficiency. Primary data were obtained from academic lecturers in eight selected private universities in Southwest Nigeria. The questionnaire used was adapted, and the validity and reliability were established. Findings showed that operational resilience significantly affected the operational efficiency of the universities. Therefore, institutions should leverage technology to enhance response and fast-track learning to drive their operational efficiency in the face of disruptions and pandemic.
Abstrak: Studi ini meneliti efisiensi operasional melalui ketahanan operasional universitas swasta di Nigeria Barat Daya selama COVID-19. Universitas-universitas swasta ini didirikan untuk menunjang ilmu pengetahuan, pembelajaran tanpa hambatan, dan jumlah lulusan tepat waktu sejak didirikan pada tahun 1999. Efisiensi operasional universitas swasta ditantang dan terhambat oleh merebaknya pandemi COVID-19 yang memotivasi dorongan untuk menentukan ketahanan operasional terkait efisiensi. Studi ini menggunakan data primer yang diperoleh dari dosen akademik di delapan universitas swasta terpilih di Nigeria Barat Daya. Kuesioner yang digunakan disesuaikan dan validitas dan reliabilitas ditetapkan. Temuan menunjukkan bahwa ketahanan operasional secara signifikan mempengaruhi efisiensi operasional universitas. Oleh karena itu, institusi harus memanfaatkan teknologi untuk meningkatkan respon dan pembelajaran jalur cepat guna mendorong efisiensi operasional mereka dalam menghadapi gangguan dan pandemi. Kata Kunci: efisiensi operasional; ketahanan operasional; layanan misi penting
... Several studies, spanning from gamification to serious games and educational simulations, have explored the impact of DGBL on educational outcomes, particularly within STEM education [35]. These investigations highlight DGBL's potential to enhance learning achievements and comprehension across various educational levels, suggesting its efficacy in supporting the learning and teaching processes. ...
... Robot (25,06); Game (23,92), robotic (17,81); game_construction (15,44); risk (15,26); peer (15,27); simulation (15,05); computing (12,89); Europe (12,73); climate (11,81); mechanism (10,54); meaningful_learning (10,27); competition (9,59); child (8,35); software (7,74); curriculum (7,47); successful (7,24); quiz (6,69); serious_game (6,49) Activity (-6,94); periodic_table (-6,93); teaching (-6,21); Covid-19 (-5,89); coding (-5,19); student_engagment (-5,19); STEM (-5,19; post_test (-4,5); Game_Based_Learning (-4,38); satisfaction (-4,17); pre-test (-4,15); narrative (-4,15); Earth (-4,15); teacher (-4,02) ...
Recently, interest in STEM education has grown among researchers and educators, also considering the skills required to address the challenges of the 21st century. Supporting learning in STEM subjects is an open challenge, especially during secondary education, which is reflected in the implementation of innovative pedagogical practices, including approaches focused on Game-Based Learning (GBL). This study analyzed the main issues addressed by research on game-based educational approaches applied to STEM teaching and learning in secondary school and their evolving trends. A text analysis of abstracts published in the past decade was conducted using T-lab software. The “Word Analysis” function was used for preliminary visual mapping; then the “Specificity Analysis” and “Thematic Analysis of Elementary Contexts” functions were applied to explore changes in research directions and to map the themes covered by the most recent studies. The results showed that the implementation of games in STEM disciplines is a promising area of inquiry. A shift in research directions also emerged, currently more focused on studying how GBL can foster engagement and the emotional component of learning. Adapting to rapidly changing technology and integrating essential skills such as coding and computational thinking are additional challenges that the research community is facing.
... Literature review: Conceptually, despite divergent definitions on creative process based on industry, Copley and Copley [20] stated that the creative process involves information, preparation, incubation, clarification, verification, communication and validation. Kanematsu and Barry [21] opined that the approach involves the analysis of the means by which creativity is produced referring to the phases, steps, theories, techniques, models or mechanisms. Hussain et al. [22] added that it includes the critical thinking and the acts that take place to produce an original product. ...
... Therefore, the joint result for this study is corroborated by results from previous works that since, the creative person is connected with the creative process in the creativity phenomenon, factors that would boost worker's wellbeing for creativity is paramount [4,44,63] . Meanwhile, Kanematsu and Barry [21] posited that since, the creative process approach in creativity involves the analysis of the means by which creativity is produced referring to the phases, steps, theories, techniques, models or mechanisms involved and since, it also includes the critical thinking and the acts that take place to produce an original product [22] ; Usoro [64] claimed that for a worker to maximally contribute productively and be creative, whatever affects the worker adversely must be removed and substituted with functional operational resources and wellbeing measures. Supporting Usoro [64] , Dissanayake et al. [18] added that aside emphasizes on the importance of helping people to become more creative in their work environment it should focus also on the role and effect of wellbeing. ...
Creativity discourse as conceptualized in Rhode’s multidimensional theory has engendered commentary and debate as to the interaction among the components and with predictor variables. However, limited empirical evidence exists in the education sector in developing countries. Therefore, this paper determined worker’s wellbeing dimensions to creative process in selected private universities. The study research design perspective was tailored through a cross-sectional survey by the collection of data from 532 academic staff ranked as Senior Lecturer, Associate Professor and Professor through the multi-stage random sampling technique. The adapted questionnaire was considered reliable and validated through the criterion, construct and content tests conducted before it was administered. The result from multiple regression analysis revealed that worker’s wellbeing dimensions had a positive significant effect on creative process (Adj. R2 = 0.300 (F (6, 525) = 38.900, p<0.05) in selected private universities in South-West Nigeria. It recommended that worker’s creative potential linked with the creative process should be appropriately utilized by management through fitting wellbeing strategies.
... As Portz (2015) notes, unclear goals and purposes for STEM education can hinder effective implementation. The core of STEM education lies in preparing students for the 21st-century workforce by equipping them with the knowledge and skills necessary for future careers (Kanematsu & Barry, 2016). For instance, in Western Europe, STEM education was introduced to address the shortage of a skilled workforce in STEM fields (Blackley & Howell, 2015). ...
The National Science Foundation (NSF) of the United States introduced the acronym STEM in 2001, integrating Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics as a key educational reform that emphasises an interdisciplinary approach to learning and teaching. The global focus on STEM has profoundly influenced educational policies, instructional strategies, assessment systems, and curricula in Bhutan, particularly in mathematics, science, and information communication and technology (ICT). This study explored the opportunities and challenges of STEM education in Bhutan using a mixed-methods approach. Findings revealed that while Bhutanese policymakers, curriculum developers, and educators commonly use the acronym STEM to refer to policies and curricula related to mathematics, science, and ICT education, some were unaware that it includes all four disciplines. Key opportunities identified for STEM education in Bhutan include enhancing student learning and achievement, preparing students for real-world challenges, providing career opportunities, and contributing to national development and the economy. The main challenges to implementing STEM education were the need for a comprehensive curriculum, a sufficient STEM teacher workforce, effective instructional methods, and adequate instructional materials and laboratory resources. The study recommends reforming STEM education in Bhutan by developing a comprehensive understanding of STEM principles, designing a strategic framework for curriculum development and implementation, securing resources, and ensuring effective teacher preparation to ensure high-quality STEM education. Additionally, stakeholders should address the identified challenges and leverage the opportunities in STEM education to promote a more sustainable and prosperous future for the country.
... Several studies, spanning from gamification to serious games and educational simulations, have explored the impact of DGBL on educational outcomes, particularly within STEM education [35]. These investigations highlight DGBL's potential to enhance learning achievements and comprehension across various educational levels, suggesting its efficacy in supporting the learning and teaching processes. ...
The need to support science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning in secondary education is reflected in the ongoing investigation of innovative pedagogical practices, including game-based learning (GBL). Using an analysis of scholarly publications based on word co-occurrence, this study aimed to identify the main research themes addressed in the past decade by the scholarly community on game-based teaching and learning solutions in the context of STEM education in secondary schools, their evolution over time, and the key issues addressed in recent years. After a systematic selection, the titles and abstracts of the publications were collected in a text corpus and analyzed using T-LAB software version 7.2.1.4 (2022). A preliminary visual exploration of the keywords was performed to obtain an overall view of the issues addressed by the research. Specificity analysis was then applied to identify, for each subset of the corpus identified by the years of publication, the evolution of themes reflected in a change in the frequency of lemma use. Finally, to explore the most recent topics, the main thematic clusters of publications in the last three years were identified (thematic analysis of elementary contexts). The results suggest some changes in the issues addressed over the past decade, such as a shift in focus from the specific technologies and competitive elements of games to understanding how GBL can support engagement, motivation, and understanding of complex scientific concepts. The five key thematic clusters identified ("Expe-rience", "Application", "Validation", "Emotion", and "Programming") also indicate a stronger emphasis by the latest publications on the experiential and emotional components of learning, the need for empirical studies, and the integration of computational thinking and coding into GBL. Overall, this study indicates that GBL has the potential to become an integrated component of STEM education , evolving with pedagogical and technological innovations.
... Conceptually, a creative person refers to originality, flexibility, fluency, and elaboration of ideas (Kanematsu & Barry, 2016;Kenetta et al., 2017). In addition, the creative person possesses a desire to grow and be puzzled, spontaneous, a divergent thinker, open to new experiences, and persistent (Krippner & Arons, 1973;Runco, 2014). ...
The strength of an organisation lies predominantly in her personnel as the creative person. However, limited studies on well-being input exist in developing countries. Also, the scope and methodological gap in a previous study conducted on flexible well-being and smart-head necessitated this study. Thus, the paper determined the effect and sensitivity relationship of redefined well-being dimensions on creative person. A cross-sectional survey research design was used while a validated questionnaire was distributed and 532 retrieved from academic staff ranked as Senior Lecturer, Associate Professor and Professor. The multi-stage random sampling technique was applied to eight selected private universities in South-West Nigeria. Findings from multiple regression analysis conducted revealed that redefined well-being had a combined positive significant effect on creative person [(Adj. R2 = 0.331 (F (6, 525) = 44.877, p<0.05)] and the artificial neural network analysis showed technological work environment as the best individual predictor. The paper strengthens the Person Environment (P-E) Fit Theory assumptions and the position to consistently redefine well-being input as a maxim to stimulate academics’ creativity for a novel knowledge-based economy, patent, and ranking.
... The adaptation to meet online demands is specially challenging in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) areas. STEM education demands the purposeful integration of disciplines in solving real-world problems, in order to create critical thinkers and innovators to deal with changing situations in an interconnected world [6], [7], [8], [9]. ...
... As we enter the 21st century, the pace of technological advances continues to accelerate, with great potential to improve people's lives and livelihoods, with profound implications for the global economy. The STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) areas permeate innovations relevant to the global competitiveness of companies and nations [1]. The workforce faces an alarming shortage of employees with STEM skills and the focus on STEM education in schools is becoming increasingly necessary for the workforce [2]. ...
... Among these, the use of technologies and computers applications becomes a skill in the university teaching [1], especially in the university degrees related to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) areas. Regarding the teaching in STEM, countries try to maintain a number enough of graduates in these areas to meet their economic needs and to compete globally since the development of the society is based on the technology advances [2]. The use of computer or virtual tools to improve the learning process in the different STEM degrees in general, and in engineering degrees in particular, is necessary for two main reasons: i) students will require the knowledge of this type of applications for their professional future and ii) applications and computer programs make easier the acquisition of technical knowledge and solving exercises in different subjects. ...
... Conceptually, a creative person refers to originality, flexibility, fluency, and elaboration of ideas (Kanematsu & Barry, 2016;Kenetta et al., 2017). In addition, the creative person possesses a desire to grow and be puzzled, spontaneous, a divergent thinker, open to new experiences, and persistent (Krippner & Arons, 1973;Runco, 2014). ...
The strength of an organisation lies predominantly in her personnel as the creative person. However, limited studies on well-being input exist in developing countries. Also, the scope and methodological gap in a previous study conducted on flexible well-being and smart-head necessitated this study. Thus, the paper determined the effect and sensitivity relationship of redefined well-being dimensions on creative person. A cross-sectional survey research design was used while a validated questionnaire was distributed and 532 retrieved from academic staff ranked as Senior Lecturer, Associate Professor and Professor. The multi-stage random sampling technique was applied to eight selected private universities in SouthWest Nigeria. Findings from multiple regression analysis conducted revealed that redefined well-being had a combined positive significant effect on creative person [(Adj. R 2 = 0.331 (F (6, 525) = 44.877, p<0.05)] and the artificial neural network analysis showed technological work environment as the best individual predictor. The paper strengthens the Person-Environment (P-E) Fit Theory assumptions and the position to consistently redefine well-being input as a maxim to stimulate academics' creativity for a novel knowledge-based economy, patent, and ranking.
Abstrak: Kekuatan sebuah organisasi terutama terletak pada personelnya sebagai pribadi yang kreatif. Namun, penelitian masih terbatas pada kontribusi kesejahteraan ada di negara berkembang. Juga, kesenjangan ruang lingkup dan metodologi dalam penelitian sebelumnya yang dilakukan pada kesejahteraan dan kecerdasan melatarbelakangi penelitian ini. Dengan demikian, tulisan ini hendak menentukan hubungan efek dan sensitivitas dari dimensi kesejahteraan yang didefinisikan ulang pada individu yang kreatif. Penelitian ini menggunakan desain survei cross-sectional, sementara kuesioner yang telah divalidasi didistribusikan dan 532 sampel diambil dari staf akademik yang diklasifikasikan sebagai Dosen Senior, Associate Professor dan Professor. Teknik pengambilan sampel acak multi-tahap diterapkan pada delapan universitas swasta terpilih di Nigeria Barat Daya. Temuan dari analisis regresi berganda yang dilakukan mengungkapkan bahwa faktor kesejahteraan memiliki efek signifikan positif gabungan pada individu yang kreatif [(Adj. R 2 = 0,331 (F (6, 525) = 44,877, p<0,05)] dan analisis menunjukkan lingkungan kerja serba teknologi sebagai predictor yang terbaik. Makalah ini memperkuat asumsi teori Person-Environment Fit Theory dan posisinya untuk secara konsisten mendefinisikan kembali kontribusi kesejahteraan sebagai prinsip untuk merangsang kreativitas akademisi untuk perekonomian, paten, dan peringkat berbasis pengetahuan terkini.
... Therefore, STEM-integrated education is becoming more important for people around the world (Kumtepe & Genc-Kumtepe, 2014;Ministry of Education, 2016). Leading countries, exclusively known as global powers, need to have innovative industry fields and qualified STEM graduates who can solve these problems and compete globally (Kanematsu & Barry, 2016). Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), STEM aims at a production-oriented education approach along with providing high-level skills necessary in 21st-century (Moomaw & Davis, 2010;Oner et al., 2014). ...
The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of the scenario-based STEM project design process on pre-service science teachers’ perceptions of 21st-century skills, competencies, integrative STEM teaching intentions, and STEM attitude. In the study, a pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design, which does not contain a control group, was used. The participants of the research are 66 fourth-grade pre-service science teachers in the south-west of Turkey. The 21st-century skills and competencies scale and an integrative STEM teaching intentions questionnaire, and a STEM attitudes scale were used as a pre-test and post-test. Pre-service teachers designed projects using engineering design processes to solve the problems in the scenarios given to them. In the analysis of the data, paired-samples t-test and Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test were applied using SPSS-21. The results show that designing a scenario-based STEM project certainly contributed to the 21st-century skills competence perceptions, STEM teaching intentions, and STEM attitudes of pre-service science teachers.
... STEM is vital because it pervades every endeavor of human lives. The importance of STEM learning is becoming more and more apparent in today's ever changing world (Hunt 2016). STEM learning is an approach to making learning more connected and relevant to Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. ...
The study investigated the effect of using a design thinking teaching method on male and female students’ achievement in some selected secondary school physics concepts in the context of STEM learning. The study was carried out in an afterschool environment which necessitated the researcher using a single group quasi experimental research design conducted in purposively selected two secondary schools of comparable standards. Intact classes of physics students comprising of 48 male students and 41 female students overall in the schools were used in the study. A pilot study was conducted using a 25 item physics learning achievement test (PLAT) validated by experts in STEM fields. Reliability coefficient of validated PLAT using test retest method by Kuder-Richardson (KR-20) was established at .86 for the multiple choice test and Pearson product moment reliability coefficient for the semi-structured questions at .81. Study utilized the researcher’s developed STEM-design thinking modules validated by STEM experts. The modules combined the concepts of STEM learning and design processes of empathy, ideation, brainstorming prototyping, testing and retesting to learn selected physics concepts for 3 months. Prior to its use, students in each school of study were administered a pretest and similarly a posttest using PLAT after the study intervention. Study intervention was carried out using the developed and validated STEM-design thinking modules. Result obtained from statistical analysis using the paired sample t test and a one-way ANCOVA revealed that there were no significant differences between the achievement of male and female students in physics learning. Findings revealed that both male and female students improved in their achievements and that male participants had higher achievement scores than the females when STEM-design thinking modules were used to learn selected physics concepts. Implications includes necessity for physics teachers’ innovative training on developing and using a gender-balanced STEM-design thinking pedagogy. Such training should equip teachers on how such developed STEM-design thinking modules can be used to create opportunities relating learning of physics concepts to real life situations. This is necessary in order to improve male and female learners’ construction of knowledge through discovery in a constructivism environment. Such is vital in a world of rapidly changing nature of technology with the necessity of skills for solving real world problems in the twenty-first century. Conclusion and recommendations were therefore made in the study.
... STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education is a theme of great relevance, since STEM permeates everything today. STEM education is seen as a strategy to gather a workforce with deep technical skills to address challenges in our society [9], [10]. While STEM education considers the integration of disciplines to solve real-world problems [11], it also aims to support the development of curiosity, inquisitiveness, critical-thinking, innovation and problem-solving capacities [12]. ...
Critical thinking refers to the ability to analyze information systematically in a given scenario and make a reasoned judgment. While creativity is the ability to generate new ideas driven from the combination, changing or improvement of existing ideas. An interesting technique to engage people actively in critical and creative thinking is the Six Thinking Hats. In this paper, we propose a workshop based on Six Thinking Hats to reason about initiatives regarding STEM education. In the beginning of the workshop, we explain and practice the technique. Later, we propose cases to be analysed using the technique. The workshop evaluation shows that participants appreciated the workshop and really recognized the importance of Six Thinking Hats to support discussions as well as analysis of distinct perspectives.
... The heavily globalized economy requires STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) areas to face challenges regarding manufacturing, food production, health care, and so much more [1], [2]. Concerns regarding the low number of future professionals to fill STEM jobs resulted in a push for STEM education [3], [4]. ...
The heavily globalized economy requires STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) to face challenges in a variety of areas of our society. Hands-on activities provide valuable opportunities for students immediately practice what they have learned. An open question is how to apply and conduct hands-on activities in order to guarantee effectiveness in sparking STEM. In this paper, we share our experience driven from a four-year project called 'Women in STEM'. We describe four distinct strategies to offer STEM hands-on activities, named: 'STEM in our institute', 'STEM in public spaces', 'STEM in schools', and 'STEM with replication in schools'. We detail the implementation of each strategy, discussing aspects such as organization, workforce, and participants' characteristics. Although all strategies can be effective in sparking STEM, the choice for a specific strategy depends on the project's proposal and maturity.
... The acronym STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) had its origins in the 1990s at the National Science Foundation (NSF). STEM areas permeate relevant innovations to global competiveness of enterprises and nations [1]. Workforce faces an alarmingly shortage of employees with STEM skills, driven the importance of STEM education [2], [3]. ...
... Mentoring programs can be useful to spark an interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) in youth, by promoting the knowledge of STEM concepts and by motivating the direction of STEM careers. STEM education is critical due to its capacity to create critical thinkers, and to enable the next generation of innovators to deal with the changing demands in an interconnected world [4], [5]. It is then important to demystify STEM and make youth more apt to take better decisions regarding their personal and professional lives. ...
... According to the "Teacher Policy Action Plan" issued in 2015, all teachers will have at least a Bachelor's degree by 2020 to ensure their capacity to educate the next crop of professionals ( as cited in Blanquat & Associates, 2016). However, it is hard for science teachers to teach without the necessary equipment to conduct experiments with students and show scientific concepts (Mathew, 2015). Presently, Cambodia has seen a massive trend in business graduates, creating a surplus in job seekers in that sector, and STEM sectors lack skills. ...
The role of kindergarten is to efficiently prepare preschoolers for their encounter with the real world. This includes developing their skills, competencies, problem-solving abilities, as well as acquiring knowledge about themselves and their surroundings. STEM education can be a reliable ally in this process. The STEM perspective integrates four areas: S-Science, T-Technology, E-Engineering, and M-Mathematics. It employs an interdisciplinary approach that uses these sciences as access points for fostering investigation, dialogue, and critical thinking in children, relying on a constructivist, integrated and applied learning-by doing approach. Teaching activities based on the STEM concept encourage open research, investigation, identifying problems, and proposing solutions. A formative, ameliorative psychopedagogical experiment conducted during the 2023-2024 school year aimed to identify the impact of STEM-specific didactic strategies in the Sciences domain on preschoolers’ scientific investigation skills. The research sample included 21 middle group children from Mărceni Bicaz Kindergarten, part of Regina Maria Bicaz Secondary School, in Neamț County. Through experiment, monitoring and statistical-mathematical techniques, data were collected, presented, analysed, and compared using an observation grid during pre- and post-experimental evaluations to highlight the impact of these strategies on developing scientific investigation skills in preschoolers.
Although many previous studies have examined the outcomes of STEM graduates, there is very limited research examining the educational attainment of their children. Given the increasing contribution of immigration to the supply of STEM graduates, we use data from the ACS to examine disparities in children's schooling progress in the families of immigrant and U.S born STEM graduates. Our analysis shows several findings. First, the children of STEM graduates are less likely to fall behind in school than the children of graduates in Business, Arts/Humanities, and other fields of study. This relative STEM advantage is, however, stronger in immigrant than U.S born families. Second, the children of immigrant STEM graduates have more favorable outcomes than the children of U.S. born STEM graduates; however, the favorable outcomes of the former are more consistent for children whose parents have U.S. rather than foreign STEM degrees. Finally, our results show that it is only among the children of STEM graduates that we find lower odds of schooling progress among 1.75- compared to second-generation children. These odds are statistically significant, implying that there is some convergence in the outcomes of first- and second-generation children of immigrant STEM graduates.
Significance
The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology has called for a 33% increase in the number of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) bachelor’s degrees completed per year and recommended adoption of empirically validated teaching practices as critical to achieving that goal. The studies analyzed here document that active learning leads to increases in examination performance that would raise average grades by a half a letter, and that failure rates under traditional lecturing increase by 55% over the rates observed under active learning. The analysis supports theory claiming that calls to increase the number of students receiving STEM degrees could be answered, at least in part, by abandoning traditional lecturing in favor of active learning.
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