Rationale for Establishing an Effective STEM Education Environment
The United States needs a bold new mission and strategy for improving education that includes the development of high-quality teachers, effective instruction, and curriculum materials with grand challenges of society at the center of study. It is time to move beyond slogans and make STEM literacy a reality for all students.
Rodger W. Bybee, 2013
In his book, The Case for STEM Education, Challenges and Opportunities, Bybee affirms that different schools, organizations, and leaders voice different meanings for STEM. He explains that STEM literacy refers to an individual’s:
· Knowledge, attitudes, and skills to identify questions and problems in life situations, explain the natural and designed world, and draw evidence-based conclusions about STEM-related issues;
· Understanding of the characteristic features of STEM disciplines as forms of human knowledge, inquiry, and design;
· Awareness of how STEM disciplines shape our material, intellectual, and cultural environments;
· Willingness to engage in STEM-related issues and with the ideas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics as a constructive, concerned, and reflective citizen.
Through varied professional development experiences, the staff of the Math & Science Collaborative has come to recognize that:
· Students must be prepared to use the Common Core Standards of Practice for Mathematics and the Next Generation of Science Standards of Practice for Science and Engineering.
· Educators need to see a reason for the necessary changes that must occur in the educational environment.
· Educators need a knowledge background that is related to the real world, and they need help in planning.
· Misunderstandings for STEM education exist.
· Understanding the importance of establishing a STEM environment is essential---not hype.
As a result, the Math & Science Collaborative has developed a program that combines Bybee’s work with the Educator Corporate Collaboration on Common Core (EC4) model. The program is designed to help districts prepare a plan for creating a high-quality STEM learning environment to better prepare students to contribute to society when they leave formal education. In order to do that, our educators need an understanding of what STEM really means. They need to understand the instructional changes to better prepare students. To help in developing that understanding, they will participate in the EC4 model to observe what is happening in the real world of business and industry and the skills students need to be employable.
The EC4 model enables K-12 educators to better understand why they need to modify classroom practice to reflect the requirements of the modern workplace. In particular, educators will be exposed to how the mathematical and scientific practices featured in the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) are utilized in the workplace. These practices represent the greatest shifts required of educators to adequately prepare students for the 21st century. The combination of the professional development using Bybee’s work with the EC4 model will provide educators with the essential understandings necessary to begin planning for an educational environment designed to enhance the learning of ALL students, better preparing them for the future.