Transcending disciplines: Engaging college students in interdisciplinary research, integrated STEM, and partnerships

Abstract

An authentic, interdisciplinary, research and problem-based integrated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) project may be ideal for encouraging scientific inquiry and developing teamwork among undergraduate students, but it also presents challenges. The authors describe how two interdisciplinary teams (n=6) of undergraduate college students built integrated STEM projects in a research based internship setting, and then collaboratively brought the project to fruition to include designing lessons and activities shared with K-12 students in a classroom setting. Each three person undergraduate team consisted of two STEM majors and one Education major. The Education majors are a special focus for this study. Interviews, field observations, and lesson plan artifacts collected from the undergraduate college students were analyzed according to authenticity factors, the authentic scientific inquiry instrument, and an integrated STEM instrument. The authors highlight areas of strength and weakness for both teams and explore how preservice teachers contributed to integrated STEM products and lessons. Teacher educators might apply recommendations for teacher preparation and professional development when facilitating authentic scientific inquiry and integrated STEM topics with both STEM and non-STEM educators. Undergraduate college students were challenged to fully integrate the STEM disciplines, transitions between them, and the spaces between them where multiple disciplines existed. By describing the challenges of integrating the spaces between STEM, the authors offer a description of the undergraduate college students’ experiences in an effort to expand the common message beyond a flat approach of try this activity because it works, to a more robust message of try this type of engagement and purposefully organize for maximum results.

Prospective teachers' design of STEAM learning units: STEAM capabilities' analysis

“…STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education is attracting lately the attention of researchers (Çalış, 2020;Kartika, Susanti & Indriyanti, 2021;Kilty, Burrows, Welsh, Kilty, McBride & Bergmaier, 2021;Yllana-Prieto, Jeong & González-Gómez, 2021). This is because STEM education follows the multidisciplinary and integrative approaches, so it can serve more than one discipline at the same time.…”

Capítulo 30. Estrategias para el fomento de las vocaciones científicas en alumnos universitarios para estimular el desarrollo de habilidades de investigación

“…Por otra parte, en los esfuerzos por impulsar las vocaciones científicas ya se ha mencionado que existen muchos beneficios, pero aún hay muchos retos por superar, coincidiendo con Kilty, Burrows, Welsh, Kilty, McBride & Bergmaier (2021), especialmente en términos de consolidar la educación STEM en el aula (Çalış, 2020).…”

Finding Spaces: Teacher Education Technology Competencies (TETCs)

“…Within the realm of science education, there are a myriad of hardware and software choices that enable preservice teacher educators to demonstrate their technological competence, as defined by the TETCs, while meeting the content and pedagogical knowledge requirements specified by the National Science Teacher Association's [2] standards for teacher preparation. Many of these technologies are cross-curricular in nature and have the potential for collaboration with other disciplines within the secondary school system (e.g., mathematics, CTE, social studies) [44][45][46][47][48][49]. Many of the technologies used in the science methods classroom are not implemented as standalone components; rather, they are used together with other technologies.…”