Exploring critical components of an integrated STEM curriculum: an application of the innovation implementation framework

Abstract

Background: Increased emphasis on accountability in education reform and evidence-based practices underscores the need for research on the implementation of K-12 curricular innovations. However, detailed accounts of research examining fidelity of implementation for K-12 STEM curricula remain relatively scarce. This paper illustrates the application of one frequently cited framework for exploring fidelity of implementation, the innovation implementation framework. The paper describes how this framework was applied to identify and describe the implementation of critical components of a newly developed middle school STEM curriculum. Results: Drawing on classroom observations, student interviews, and teacher interviews, the paper provides illustrative findings and practical examples of methodology and instruments employed over the course of a 2-year study of curriculum implementation. The paper discusses three ways in which the innovation implementation framework enhanced our understanding of curriculum implementation: specifying critical components of the curriculum and their enactment, informing instrument design and data collection, and revealing implementation patterns.Conclusions: This paper provides support for the use of the innovation implementation framework to study the implementation of curricula developed within the context of research-practice partnerships. In addition to illustrating the application of the innovation implementation framework, the paper extends previous implementation work focused on efficacy and effectiveness studies to demonstrate the practical advantages of studying fidelity of implementation in the context of design and development projects.

The role of STEM Education in improving the quality of education: a bibliometric study

“…Early childhood education was raised by four more documents in the current data set (Gold & Elicker, 2020;Littell & Hartman, 2017;Simoncini & Lasen, 2018;Tippett & Milford, 2017). There were other documents discussing research hotspots such as educational technology (Chedid, 2005), computing education (Schnabel et al, 2010), gender disparities/educational equity (Nelson et al, 2020;Simon et al, 2017;Subía et al, 2020;Tam et al, 2020), project-based learning (Chen & Lin, 2019;Mustafa et al, 2016), educational environment (Dolgopolovas et al, 2020;ElZomor & Youssef, 2019;Ikarashi et al, 2019;Oreshkina & Gurov, 2020;Shapovalov et al, 2019), college and career readiness (Bragg & Taylor, 2014), evidence-based teaching (Hanauer & Bauerle, 2015), curriculum (Fan & Yu, 2016;Gale et al, 2020;Hsu et al, 2019;MacDonald & Huser, 2020;Sujarwanto et al, 2021;Suwarma & Kumano, 2019), and artifacts (Ryu et al, 2019;Teo & Osborne, 2014).…”

Action-Based Embodied Design for Proportions: From the Laboratory to the Classroom

“…The definition proposed by Century and Cassata (2016), "the systematic inquiry regarding innovation enacted in controlled settings or in ordinary practice, and the relationship between innovations, influential factors and outcomes" (Century & Cassata, 2016: p. 170), was the best match for the current work, which is still in the early stages of implementation. Their innovation implementation framework (Century et al, 2012;Century & Cassata, 2014) provides a useful conceptual framework for evaluating innovation implementation and identifying hindering or supporting factors (see application for K-12 STEM curricula in Gale et al, 2020). In Section 2.1, this framework is used to frame conceptualizations on innovations (the what), as well as two commonly acknowledged measures.…”

Exploration of physics concepts with traditional engklek (hopscotch) game: Is it potential in physics ethno-STEM learning?

“…The application of the Engklek game in physics learning can be integrated learning of Ethno-STEM (Ethnoscience, Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) because it combines local wisdom into STEM (Sudarmin et al, 2018). STEM is also very relevant to the latest 2013 Curriculum with student-centered learning (Gale et al, 2020;Maryani et al, 2021;Roehrig et al, 2021;Tan & Leong, 2014). One of the functions of local wisdom is to preserve the cultural values to become a character education (Sudarmin, 2014).…”