Stem Education - Term Paper Example

Teaching and learning approaches and strategies in Stem Education Introduction STEM is a short from relating to the academic disciplines of Science,Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. The term is generally used in the USA when discussing education policy and curriculum selections in schools starting from kindergarten to class12 and through college to enhance competitiveness in technological domain. This education system has great impacts on the development of future workforces of the country. STEM normally broadening the scope of engineering within different subjects. It gives a flavor of engineering at younger standards even at elementary level in the school. In 2006, the United States National Academies showed their concerns related with the declining trends of STEM education in the country. It is clearly evident from the acronym that this education system focuses towards all these four areas. All these disciplines are having very significant influences on student’s future. This kind of education approach is suitable for the creation of future geniuses. With the help of this paper a detailed discussion will be done on the subject. This paper will be discussed in a step by step approach. Discussion Teaching and Learning approaches in STEM STEM education is a very different form education that deals with a different approach of learning and teaching so as to integrate the overall content of technology, mathematics, science and engineering. The practice standards of this specific type of education are aligned towards a behavioral combination that needs to be present within the students who are undergoing such form of learning. The behaviors that is very essential as a learning approach comprises of logical reasoning, investigation, inquiry and collaboration (Hill, Bloom, Black & Lipsey, 2008).The major aim behind such education is that the students should be proficient enough to answer various complex questions that is related to science, mathematics, technology and engineering. The learning approaches for this form of education would be totally different in relation to the traditional education system (Stone, Alfeld & Pearson, 2008).The teaching procedure is based more on real life investigation where the students are taught multiple ways so as to investigate different kinds of global issues and create solutions that would be applicable for real time problems and challenges. The STEM education is more focused towards developing the skills in the students which would help them to deal efficiently with real time situations (Boyd, Grossman, Lankford, Loeb & Wyckoff, 2009).The teachers who deliver this form of education needs to be continuously updated on the various changes that are taking place across the globe so that they are able to transmit the right information to their students. On the contrary the traditional education system is based on certain guidelines that need to be followed by the teachers and there is no scope for such innovation (Cohen & Hill, 2009).The teachers are expected to deliver more of theoretical knowledge to its students then to focus on practical knowledge. The teaching approach for this specific type of education is such that links all the interdisciplinary connections that is found across the four areas of study that are science, engineering, mathematics and technology (Desimone, Porter, Garet, Yoon & Birman, 2005).These connections need to be effectively established simply because of the factor that total procedure of learning would be based on these connections. The teachers need to be highly skilled as the information that needs to be communicated to the students would be based on the capability of the teachers (Maltese & Tai, 2010).The advanced technology forms the support of the teachers on basis of which the information is communicated to the students. The students as a part of the learning process need to interpret this information so as to develop answers that would help to solve questions such as those related to innovation and technology (Burris, Heubert & Levin, 2006).The teaching approaches majorly encompass tools such as audio, text and visual recording that would enable the students to closely relate to the four areas of study. The teachers generally need to incorporate domain based vocabulary when they are at the verge of communicating information that is related to mathematics, technology, science and engineering. The learning process in this education is such that the students need to analyze situations, write down various types of technical information and exercise critical reading (Burris, Wiley, Welner & Murphy, 2008).The teaching approach would also include different forms of evaluation process that would not be based on the traditional system of ranking and examination but it would be based on evaluating multiple information sources such as video, quantitative data, multimedia, etc. The teachers also need to create an atmosphere where the students would be motivated to engage into arguments and opinions related to those four areas of study and would be totally evidence based (Miller, Chang & Hoyt, 2010).The teachers even design approaches through which they ask their students to conduct research on some real time issues and even design some new questions that would help to analyze and solve certain global issues or challenges. The students are even asked to communicate with other students and engage into creative thinking so as to facilitate more of innovative ideas. This form of learning process is based on practical knowledge and initiates new ideas that could be implemented in the global scenario. The learning approach in the STEM education is focused towards analyzing situations in relation to the national as well as international level (Wai, Lubinski & Benbow, 2009).The team that is constructed through this form of education is a multidisciplinary team who works collectively so as to succeed towards the common goal. The teachers and students engage together to develop new ideas so that the objective of this education can be achieved. Strategies STEM education gives focus on science, technology, engineering, and math and has become an important choice for educational reform in USA (Rollins, 2011). The concept was prominently placed in President Obamas speech to State of the Union some years back. Different strategies related to this education system will be discussed in this section of the study (Palmer, Davis and Maramba, 2011). Learning by teaching is the most suitable strategy for this system. Only adding Design Media courses and complex calculus isnt enough (Smith, Douglas and Cox, 2009). Future successful engineers can be built with the help of suitable designing of curriculum which will inspire students to think scientifically towards proper direction. It should be done from tender ages (Fisher, Zeligman & Fairweather, 2005). Instead of traditional mathematics more and more applied math should be included in to the courses. It is often being noticed that students are very afraid of finding something new and often chose conventional way to avoid any failure but as consequence their scientific abilities are getting extinct. So, during this type of education fear of failure should be ousted from the minds of the students and they should be encouraged for mathematical and scientific thinking’s (Volkwein, Lattuca, Terenzini, Strauss & Sukhbaatar, 2004). The main idea of any STEM education program should be ways in which students create new products, not the end result of those products. Once products are ready then those products may be shown to teachers, parents, experts and to their peers. For the sake of this exhibition to other people the student should be very much comfortable with public speaking, presentation and many other things. Creativity should be allowed and must be given high priority. Basic concept of STEM education is to inculcate innovation and creativity in the thinking process of a student (Johnson, 2011). Generally, most of the educational institutions are very much pre occupied with traditional education systems. In those traditional education systems tolerance for creativity is very less. But in case of STEM education system scope of creativity should be given highest priority. Rest of the curriculum can be sacrificed but science, technology, engineering and mathematics should be given top most priority (Bybee, 2013). The courses can be designed by the consultation of different experts from the different related fraternity of the society. The course selection committee should be consists of experienced people from industry and the experienced academic personnel from scientific back grounds (Fisher, Fairweather & Amey, 2003). There should not be any grading system like traditional education systems. Here innovation should be measured on the basis of different criterions. Continuous learning and handling real-time problems can be a very suitable strategy for this education system. Scientific and technological world is changing day by day there is no saturation point. So, learning should be continuous for students (Fairweather, 2005). It is often being noticed that due to traditional education system students feel uncomfortable with solving any real time problem. During the course of this education system institutions may create real time problem scenarios related with the science and technology. Students should be asked to solve all those real time problems. In this way students will be able to experience the practical flavor of different problems. At first, they may struggle to solve those problems but in course of problem solving endeavors internal scientific believes will be created in the mind of the students. It will attract them more towards science and mathematics. Team work is a very important strategy and has great impact on this education system. People have different level of knowledge in different subjects (Drew, 2011). With the help of team work a complex task can easily be done successfully. In a team environment a task is being shared by all team members. In this process scientific ideas are being shared between those team members. In class room a proper coordination is required between the students and teachers. Student must have fun during this education. If students feel fun, then they will be attracted towards this type of education and will give their hundred percent towards their learning. Asking questions is very must important for this kind of education. As long as questions are coming in to the minds of students, it means they are trying to gather in-depth knowledge of science and technology. Different questions from the sides of students always should be encouraged in this education system. Conclusion Modern world is ever-changing. Change is the only constant thing in this world. STEM education system is a change agent as far as scientific and engineering education system is concerned. It makes a student more logical, science oriented and practically well equipped. It is a modern concept. As the time is passing by this education system is gaining popularity. Parents, industrial managements and academic experts around the world are sensing the importance of this education system very well. Countries like USA, Japan, Russia and China are giving significant stress on this type of education system. As this education is being provided from child hood to mature period so it has great impact on human minds. This type of education system is creating innovative thinking and developing future genius at the young and tender age. STEM education is a very innovative form of education and similarly the teaching and learning approaches towards this education is totally different. The objectives of these approaches is to encounter the real time situations and develop strategies and ideas that could deal effectively with the issues and challenges across the globe. 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