Teo, Tang Wee

This article reports on the survey findings of a study on the STEM leadership of 134 STEM middle school educators (118 teachers and 16 principals) in Thailand who led in STEM curriculum writing and teaching in their schools. The data were analysed using Rasch analysis of three constructs, namely, their views about STEM teaching, STEM capital and self-empowerment to teach STEM lessons. The findings showed that the educators generally responded positively to the three constructs. They thought that STEM should be integrated and could potentially stand alone as an independent discipline. The teachers wished for more resources and had the support of colleagues. The teachers lacked confidence in STEM teaching. Implications for specific areas of support, especially the forming of STEM professional learning communities to support the teachers, are suggested.

The issue of integrated STEM curriculum design and evaluation requires a more consistent understanding and clarity among STEM educators. In this paper, we propose an instructional framework of STEM integration based on the theoretical notions of disciplinarity and problem-centred learning. The proposed S-T-E-M Quartet instructional framework utilises complex, persistent and extended problems at its core, and the problem solving process as the overarching frame. The key difference between the proposed S-T-E-M Quartet instructional framework and models such as the STEM road map and the Cubic model for STEAM education is the emphasis on the connections between different disciplines. Similar to the STEM road map, the application of the S-T-E-M Quartet framework begins with a single lead discipline as the focus and subsequently examines how knowledge and skills of the lead discipline are connected and related to the other three disciplines. As an instructional framework, the S-T-E-M Quartet requires description of learning outcomes for each discipline when students work with the problem. The learning outcomes within individual disciplines constitute the vertical learning within a discipline. Depending on the problem described, the learning outcomes for some disciplines might be more in-depth than others. As the S-T-E-M Quartet foregrounds connections between disciplines, attention is also paid to the strength of connections, whether they are weak, moderate or strong. A case example of application of the S-T-E-M Quartet instructional framework is presented as an illustration of how the S-T-E-M Quartet instructional framework can be used to design and reflect on STEM tasks.

Greater emphasis on helping ''students at-risk'' improve in academic achievements has become a key concern of many countries. The relatively large achievement gaps between high and lower academic groups is an educational issue, and also, a socio-political and socio-economic one as it suggests that a sector of a population is not equipped with the necessary academic qualifications, knowledge, skills, and aptitude to take on certain types of jobs and earn a reasonably good income to sustain their living. In 2008, the school dropout rate in Singapore was 1.6 percent?1 percent was attributed to secondary school dropouts of which approximately 90 percent of these students were from the Normal Academic (NA) and Normal Technical1 (NT) steams (Ministry of Education, March 4, 2008). The dropout rate has decreased over the years. In 2010, the primary one cohort which did not complete secondary school education was 1.0% (Ministry of Education, January 16, 2012). Based on the data drawn from the MOE Education Statistics 2012, NA and NT students make up approximately 29 percent and 12 percent of the secondary school student population, respectively. This research proposal for Examining Normal Academic/Technical Students' Science Learning from a Sociological and Cultural Lens seeks to investigate Singapore Normal stream students' science curriculum experiences. While most science education research focuses on mainstream Express and specialised school students, no studies have focused on how Normal Academic (NA) and Normal Technical (NT) students learn science. As a critical lens on the topic is absent, we are particularly concerned with the lack of deeper insights into the challenges, difficulties, and tensions NA/NT students' experience that may limit their interest and ability to learn science in meaningful and productive ways. The three key research questions we want to address are: 1. How do Singapore Normal Academic and Normal Technical students experience science learning in and outside the classroom? 2. How do structures shape Singapore NA/NT students' science learning? 3. How do Singapore NA/NT students' construct their science discursive identities? We have designed a research study using qualitative methods on case studies and quantitative surveys on a large purposeful sample of mainstream Singapore secondary schools and case studies (one NA and one NT class) in one school to investigate the above issues and identify support needed in the Normal stream science curriculum. Both quantitative and qualitative methods will be used to collect generalised and case specific data. We will apply the sociological and cultural lens, specifically, the theory of agency and structure, to analyse how various cultural schema and resources in the primary and secondary structures enable or limit the students' agency. Related to this, we will also examine the science discursive identities of students using discourse analysis. The overall goal of the study is to improve the teaching and learning of science for all. The short term goal of this research is to gain deeper insights into NA/NT students' experience in science classrooms and include identifying existing schema and resources that they engage with both from within and outside the primary structure (e.g., home, institutional, and social structures) and the secondary structure (e.g., scientific discipline and practice in science classrooms) to make sense of science and to develop their science-related discursive identities. The long term goals of this research are to address current gaps in research on NA/NT students' participation in science classrooms, particularly, how they learn science, how they relate to science, their views about science lessons, the factors and forces shaping their agency, and their motivation and interest to learn and pursue postsecondary education in science-related fields. The intellectual merit of this research is to advance the knowledge base.

Most STEM curricula focus on problem-solving an authentic issue. However, design-centric STEM curricula have been addressed to a lesser extent. This article reports on findings from a case study on a group of students that have conducted a STEM inquiry project to problem-solve an authentic issue. The STEM inquiry transition to design-centric STEM was organically derived from the interactions between the teacher and students. Qualitative data analysis of the students’ interviews, written reports and reflections was conducted using a prescriptive list of codes that categorises different types of knowledge in 21st century learning. The findings showed students’ content, meta, and humanistic learning outcomes during problem-centric inquiry, and other humanistic outcomes during design-centric inquiry. Implications on integrated STEM curriculum design and contributions to the STEM education literature on the potential diverse affordances of different centricities of STEM curriculum are discussed.

Competency in making inferences is an important aspect of student learning in the 21st Century, for making better-informed decisions. The purpose of our study is to investigate the type of science capital that can predict the science inference competencies of lower track students. Science capital comprises diverse social capital, cultural capital, and mental schema. A total of 1,397 Normal Academic (NA) and 637 Normal Technical (NT) Grade 7 students from 37 public secondary schools in Singapore participated in the study. Three separate science inference tests were administered to the students over one academic year, and test scores were calibrated and equated using Rasch analysis. The relationship between students’ perceptions of science capital and their development in science inference competencies was investigated using Ordinary Least Squares regression analysis. The results indicated that NA students’ self-views in science learning and their views about the nature of science were significant predictors of their scientific inference competencies. For NT students, their views about science teachers was the only significant predictors of their performance on making scientific inferences. Based on the research design and findings, we draw implications for local and international science curriculum policy. Additionally, we demonstrate the usefulness of Rasch analysis.

This article reports the survey findings of a pilot study on primary students' views, attitudes, self-concept, identity, and experiences toward STEM education. This survey was held in China Shandong Province. Applying a mixed-method approach, we administered the survey to 332 students and interviewed 8 students to learn about their views about STEM education after the activity. The survey data was analyzed using Rasch on five constructs, namely views, attitudes, self-concept, identity, and experiences in STEM learning. The transcribed interviews were analyzed using emergent coding. The findings showed that students generally responded positively to the five constructs. Students thought that problem-solving was essential, but it was still difficult for them to solve a real-world problem. They agreed that joining STEM activities could enhance their interest in STEM jobs, but they still had less confidence in pursuing a STEM job. The findings provide some insights into a pilot STEM curriculum work in a province and open up possibilities for broadening and deepening knowledge about STEM teaching and learning in China, which is at its nascent stages.

This article presents findings from the document analysis of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) lesson plans written and enacted in Southeast Asian classrooms aimed at providing integrative learning experiences for students. The authors argue that the culture of STEM education is embodied in teacher-designed STEM lesson plans or cultural apparatuses. The authors applied Sewell’s theory of culture to unpack the cultural embodiments (physical and abstract elements) embedded in six STEM lesson plans comprising lesson schedules, worksheets, and handouts. The findings showed that certain categories of culture were more evident in specific components of a STEM lesson package. The article contributes to the relatively nascent literature that, to date, has not closely examined teacher-designed integrated STEM curricula using a cultural lens. The study also has implications for STEM teachers to consider making cultural embodiments and practices more visible during their lesson planning and framing of STEM curriculum.