Tan, Aik-Ling

STEM education, when perceived as integrated learning that encompasses knowledge, skills and practices of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, points to a need to re-examine ways of classification of school subjects and learning. Consequently, dilemmas related to integrated STEM education arise. School leaders are faced with the task to organize teams to address issues such as the ownership of STEM, identity issues such as STEM teacher or teacher of STEM subjects, evaluation of STEM programs and resources to support STEM education. The unique characteristics of integrated disciplines demand leaders who understand the unique characteristics and demands of each discipline and to apply them to build a synergistic platform to magnify the similarities and harness the differences for learning. In this paper, we present an argument for STEM leadership to focus on building STEM teachers’ agency, identity and sense of belonging to a community. These three aspects are important for meaningful planning, enactment and sustainability of STEM programs since teachers’ beliefs, intentions, actions and empowerment are known to be instrumental in the success of many educational reforms.

This article presents an empirical study of the use of Indigenous knowledge of the Bulan kite to teach the concept of “equilibrium” among Muslim students (n = 109 students) in private Islamic schools (in the southern part of Thailand). The design of the culturally responsive teaching comprising three lessons was guided by the 5E model. The study took 7 months from creating three lesson plans and a pre- and post-test until it was implemented in the physics classroom. A pre- and a post-test with 40 multiple-choice items were used to assess students’ understanding of equilibrium. A hypothetical model of the construct was validated using a dichotomous Rasch model. To measure learning gains, we fixed the pre- and post-item difficulties and estimated the post-instruction person’s ability. The Welch t-test was used to compare the means of pre- and post-instruction person ability. The results indicated that the Rasch model fits the data well. The hypothetical model was confirmed. The successful students showed the person measures with a statistically significant increase (p < 0.01) at the end of the intervention (M₂ = 1.061, SD₂ = 0.64) compared to the person measures before the implementation (M₁ =  − 0.001, SD₁ = 0.591). The implications for learning progression of students are discussed.

Classroom discourse is an indispensable process through which the teaching and learning of any discipline, including science, takes place. In classroom discourse studies, many researchers use a variety of approaches under the umbrella term of “discourse analysis” to understand the dynamic of interaction and sometimes how learning happens in the classroom. Discourse analysis is recognised and frequently discussed as a methodology in applied linguistics (Rex et al. 2010). Researchers in science education typically borrow several analytical tools from discourse analysis and apply them to study the teaching and learning process in the science classroom (broadly defined as a space of learning in and out of school). For many years, the adoption of methods from discourse analysis developed outside science education was not a major issue. However, in light of the increasing emphasis and contextualisation on the disciplinary nature of science, some unique features of science discourse become more evident: the first characteristic that is overwhelming in this issue is multi-modality. Science discourse in general, and science classroom discourse in particular, is multi-modal in the sense that it needs more than verbal language to make sense. Another feature which appears in several papers in this special issue is that science is related not only to its content but also to the epistemic process of creating scientific knowledge. Science is an inquiry-based enterprise, it values more questions than answers, and it has an empirical base. The language of science itself has some particular features, such as the use of nominalisations, which goes beyond technicality (Fang 2005). Accordingly, it is time to review the methods that were historically adopted from other disciplines and evaluate how they have evolved to take into consideration the unique multi-modal and empirical character of science. There has been little discussion thus far within the science education community on the overarching methodology of discourse analysis, such as its underpinning paradigm and the relative advantages and limitations of various approaches. This special issue dedicated to discourse analysis is therefore the first of its kind within science education. Compilations focusing on discourse analysis have appeared in applied linguistics and language education (e.g. Gee and Handford 2012; Zuengler and Mori 2002). What is different in this special issue is the attention to the conditions, settings and peculiarities of science classrooms. It is also written mainly by science education researchers who use discourse analysis to address issues that are more unique to science education. Through an open call, we initially received 59 abstracts for this special issue from 24 countries across 6 continents. We were encouraged by this overwhelming response, which affirms the central role analytical methods play in science classroom research. As our focus is on the methodology of discourse studies, we asked the authors to highlight the rationale, application, and affordances of their methods, rather than reporting the full results from their study. After an initial selection by the guest editors and double-blind peer review process by the reviewers of Research in Science Education, we are pleased to present 11 original articles and a commentary for this special issue. The 11 papers highlighted similar yet different interpretations and applications of discourse analysis in science classrooms. In this editorial, we offer our perspectives of discourse analysis distilled from the collective ideas in all the papers.

This study describes an inquiry approach involving a practitioner-researcher partnership and examines its impact on teachers' capacities to conduct explicit instruction of disciplinary literacy. The partnership comprised iterative cycles of sessions that engaged content teachers in exploring their students’ language challenges using student writing as the stimulus of inquiry. Data from the inquiry sessions and lessons provided evidence of the impact of the inquiry on the teachers. The impact includes self-reported changes in their language sensitivity, beliefs and assessment practices as well as observable changes in their classroom instruction. The relationship between the impact and teacher language awareness are discussed.

Student engagement in large Life Sciences classes can be problematic, especially with the course work done outside formal class contact hours. To enhance student engagement with the content outside class time, we designed an assignment spanning one semester that required students to author MCQs. We used Bloom’s taxonomy to evaluate the MCQs. Additionally, we derived a three-level framework to analyse the demands on the student question-setters by determining the competencies required to construct the MCQs. This two tier analysis of MCQs allowed us to gauge the level of student engagement with course materials. The three-level competency framework referred to students’ foundational domain knowledge at level 1 to application and prediction of cellular functions in normal and abnormal situations, within a topic at level 2 and across different topics at level 3. From 40 sample MCQs, slightly over 50% targeted mid- to high-level Bloom’s taxonomy. Slightly under 50% of the questions required attainment of level 2 and 3 competencies for construction. However, we noted a high level of academic engagement and some level of cognitive engagement among several students which are consistent with self-reports in an anonymous student survey conducted after the semester. We suggest that using a competency framework to analyse student-authored MCQs can make explicit students’ efforts at constructing MCQs.

This study tracks the progression of students’ ideas by understanding how ideas are adopted or rejected. Understanding the discourses that lead to idea progression could help illumine sense-making and decision-making processes within student group discussions. Student-generated artefacts in the form of vertical farming prototypes were analysed. These artefacts were from four groups of students who were engaged in an integrated STEM activity to improve existing vertical farming solutions in land-scarce Singapore. In the authors’ analysis to understand how the final prototype came to being, they examined the progression of ideas through lesson phases of envisioning, sketching, collaborative modelling, feedback, and evaluation. A coding scheme was used to track whether ideas were rejected, improved, or assimilated in the final prototype. Idea maps were generated to track key developments of ideas. The findings revealed that groups that took greater risks in generating more ideas had more rejected ideas and were also more engaged in the feedback process. This resulted in richer idea development. Idea fluency was highly varied across all four groups. This suggests that group engagement and a culture of reflection and monitoring could significantly improve idea quality, although the lack of curriculum time could limit desired divergent idea generation.

In this study, we reviewed 76 journal articles on employing drawing assessment as a research tool in science education. Findings from the systematic review suggest four justifications for using drawing as a type of research tool, including assessment via drawing as (a) an alternative method considering young participants’ verbal or writing abilities, and affective or economic reasons, (b) a unique method that can reveal aspects not easily measured by other methods, (c) a major method that reflects characteristics of science subjects, and (d) a formative assessment to diagnose students’ ideas to benefit their learning. Furthermore, five research trends of studies using drawing as assessment tools are identified, including: (a) students’ conceptions of scientists from the Draw-a-Scientist-Test (DAST) and evolving studies, (b) students’ understanding or mental models of science concepts, (c) participants’ conceptions of science learning or teaching, (d) students’ inquiry abilities and modelling skills via drawing, and (e) technology to support drawing. For each trend, we synthesised and commented on the current findings. A framework conceptualising phases and issues when designing research and instruments employing drawing assessments is proposed. The review provides insights into the design and future direction of research employing drawing assessments in science education.

This study examined the processes that contributed to students’ aspirations for STEM careers and unpacked the relationships between students’ self-concept in science and mathematics learning, perceived parental expectations, perceptions of STEM professionals, career outcome expectations and STEM career aspirations. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse quantitative survey data of 2,477 primary and secondary school students studying in seven Asian regions (Hong Kong, Malaysia, Mainland China, Indonesia, Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore). The results demonstrated that students’ self-concept, perceptions of STEM professionals, and their career outcome expectations all significantly and positively predicted their aspirations for STEM careers. However, this study failed to establish a direct relationship or positive correlation between perceived parental expectations and STEM career aspirations. Students’ self-concept negatively predicted their career outcome expectations related to seeking parental approval. While no significant positive effects of perceived parental expectations on career aspirations were found, an indirect effect of perceived parental expectations on STEM career aspirations via career outcome expectations was observed. Moreover, career outcome expectations mediated the relationships between students’ STEM career aspirations and their perceptions of STEM professionals more strongly than self-concept. The implications of these results for STEM education are discussed.

This forum paper offers alternative insights into Pei-Ling Hsu’s “It’s a magic circle”! Using cogenerative dialogues to create a safe environment to address emotional conflicts in a project-based learning science internship. In her paper, she presented how cogenerative dialogues can be used to create an emotionally safe environment for conflict resolutions in a project-based science internship program. She examined the emotions during the cogenerative dialogues using the polyvagal theory. Here, we continue the discussion by raising alternative perspectives to view the events, particularly the “Lucy incident” that was described. We suggest the use of emotional regulation strategies such as situation selection, situation modification, attention deployment, cognitive change and response modulation as a means to enhance the way cogenerative dialogues could be carried out. The main argument on this commentary is that strong emotions cannot be dismissed if cogenerative dialogues are used as a means to resolve conflicts. Rather, participants in cogenerative dialogues need to apply specific emotional regulation strategies so that they can contribute and participate in cogenerative dialogues more constructively.