Articles

Using written work to investigate stages in sixth-grade students’ construction and coordination of units

Students’ ability to construct and coordinate units has been found to have far-reaching implications for their ability to develop sophisticated understandings of key middle-grade mathematical topics such as fr...

Authors: Catherine Ulrich and Jesse L. M. Wilkins

How personal, behavioral, and environmental factors predict working in STEMM vs non-STEMM middle-skill careers

Much of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medical (STEMM) education policy and research centers around developing the upper levels of the STEMM workforce sector. However, there are many positi...

Authors: Matthew A. Cannady, Debra Moore, Elizabeth Votruba-Drzal, Eric Greenwald, Regie Stites and Christian D. Schunn

Exploring teacher design team endeavors while creating an elementary-focused STEM-integrated curriculum

This study presents two teacher design teams (TDTs) during a professional development experience centered on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)-integrated curriculum development. The main...

Authors: Justin R. McFadden and Gillian H. Roehrig

Understanding the delivery of a Canadian-based after-school STEM program: a case study

Due to the rising demands for a Canadian workforce with science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM)-related education, there is a need to increase youth engagement in STEM education and programming. Rese...

Authors: Eugenia Duodu, Jessica Noble, Yusuf Yusuf, Camilo Garay and Corliss Bean

Required peer-cooperative learning improves retention of STEM majors

Peer-cooperative learning has been shown in the literature to improve student success in gateway science and mathematics courses. Such studies typically demonstrate the impact of students’ attending peer-led l...

Authors: Matthew Salomone and Thomas Kling

The test of basic Mechanics Conceptual Understanding (bMCU): using Rasch analysis to develop and evaluate an efficient multiple choice test on Newton’s mechanics

Valid assessment of the understanding of Newton’s mechanics is highly relevant to both physics classrooms and research. Several tests have been developed. What remains missing, however, is an efficient and fai...

Authors: Sarah I. Hofer, Ralph Schumacher and Herbert Rubin

The Young Innovators Program at the Eshelman Institute for Innovation: a case study examining the role of a professional pharmacy school in enhancing STEM pursuits among secondary school students

Professional schools, such as schools of pharmacy, are rarely involved with promoting STEM interests among secondary school students. To address this shortcoming, the Young Innovators Program (YIP) was create...

Authors: Adam D. Friedman, Carlos R. Melendez, Antonio A. Bush, Samuel K. Lai and Jacqueline E. McLaughlin

Polytechnic engineering mathematics: assessing its relevance to the productivity of industries in Uganda

The main objective of the study was to examine the relevance of engineering mathematics to the emerging industries. The level of abstraction, the standard of rigor, and the depth of theoretical treatment are n...

Authors: Peter J. Jehopio and Ronald Wesonga

Adolescents as agents of healthful change through scientific literacy development: A school-university partnership program in New Zealand

Scientific literacy development is widely emphasized as the overarching goal of science education. It encompasses development of understanding of the nature of science as well as knowledge, attitudes, and valu...

Authors: Jacquie L. Bay, Mark H. Vickers, Helen A. Mora, Deborah M. Sloboda and Susan M. Morton

Towards the STEM DBER Alliance: why we need a discipline-based STEM education research community

Authors: Charles Henderson, Mark Connolly, Erin L. Dolan, Noah Finkelstein, Scott Franklin, Shirley Malcom, Chris Rasmussen, Kacy Redd and Kristen St. John

Assessing teacher education and professional development needs for the implementation of integrated approaches to STEM education

Given the growing interest in, and relevance of, integrated approaches to STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education, there is an urgent desire to understand the challenges and obstacle...

Authors: David J. Shernoff, Suparna Sinha, Denise M. Bressler and Lynda Ginsburg

Factors contributing to students and instructors experiencing a lack of time in college calculus

Calculus is a foundational course for STEM-intending students yet has been shown to dissuade students from pursuing STEM degrees. In this report, we examine factors related to students and instructors reportin...

Authors: Jessica Ellis Hagman, Estrella Johnson and Bailey K. Fosdick

The effects of an afterschool STEM program on students’ motivation and engagement

One significant factor in facilitating students’ career intentions and persistence in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields is targeting their interests and motivation before eighth g...

Authors: Jessica R. Chittum, Brett D. Jones, Sehmuz Akalin and Ásta B. Schram

Integrating STEM in elementary classrooms using model-eliciting activities: responsive professional development for mathematics coaches and teachers

This research highlights a school-university collaboration to pilot a professional development framework for integrating STEM in K-6 mathematics classrooms in a mid-Atlantic suburban school division. Because m...

Authors: Courtney K. Baker and Terrie M. Galanti

Trends in Texas high school student enrollment in mathematics, science, and CTE-STEM courses

In the context of Texas of the USA, House Bill 5 signifies a major policy shift requiring entering high school students starting in fall 2014 to choose an endorsement, like science, technology, engineering, an...

Authors: So Yoon Yoon and Johannes Strobel

Faculty drivers and barriers: laying the groundwork for undergraduate STEM education reform in academic departments

Calls to improve student learning and increase the number of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) college and university graduates assert the need for widespread adoption of evidence-based instruc...

Authors: Susan E. Shadle, Anthony Marker and Brittnee Earl

A model for understanding teachers’ intentions to remain in STEM education

This study examined the relationships of various teacher retention factors with the intentions of math and science teachers to remain in the profession. With data collected from the 2007–08 Schools and Staffin...

Authors: John R. McConnell III

Women’s interest development and motivations to persist as college students in STEM: a mixed methods analysis of views and voices from a Hispanic-Serving Institution

The constructs of interest and motivation are often identified as factors that contribute to the persistence of undergraduate college women in physics, mathematics, engineering, engineering technology, and com...

Authors: Kimberly Grau Talley and Araceli Martinez Ortiz

Supporting integrated STEM in the elementary classroom: a professional development approach centered on an engineering design challenge

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education is becoming more prevalent at the elementary level, and there has been a push to focus on the integration between the STEM disciplines. Resear...

Authors: Anne T. Estapa and Kristina M. Tank

Female senior secondary physics students’ engagement in science: a qualitative study of constructive influences

Prompted by fewer females compared to males enrolling in physics and advanced mathematics at both secondary and university levels, our research investigated the views and experiences of female students current...

Authors: Mary C. Oliver, Amanda Woods-McConney, Dorit Maor and Andrew McConney

How do undergraduate STEM mentors reflect upon their mentoring experiences in an outreach program engaging K-8 youth?

Many university students are becoming involved in mentoring programs, yet few studies describe the impact of mentoring on the mentor. Additionally, many studies report that students graduating from college are...

Authors: Kari Nelson, Jaime Sabel, Cory Forbes, Neal Grandgenett, William Tapprich and Christine Cutucache

Characteristics of well-propagated teaching innovations in undergraduate STEM

The undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education community has developed a large number of innovative teaching strategies and materials, but the majority of these go unused ...

Authors: Raina Khatri, Charles Henderson, Renee Cole, Jeffrey E. Froyd, Debra Friedrichsen and Courtney Stanford

Examining study habits in undergraduate STEM courses from a situative perspective

A growing body of research in cognitive psychology and education research is illuminating which study strategies are effective for optimal learning, but little descriptive research focuses on how undergraduate...

Authors: Matthew T. Hora and Amanda K. Oleson

The eight essential elements of inclusive STEM high schools

Inclusive STEM (traditionally known to stand for “Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math”) high schools are emerging across the country as a mechanism for improving STEM education and getting more and dive...

Authors: Melanie LaForce, Elizabeth Noble, Heather King, Jeanne Century, Courtney Blackwell, Sandra Holt, Ahmed Ibrahim and Stephanie Loo

Astrophotography, a portal for engaging non-STEM majors in science

We report the results of an undergraduate course in astrophotography designed to engage non-STEM majors in the natural sciences to train future amateur astronomers and citizen scientists. Over 200,000 students...

Authors: Mario A. De Leo–Winkler, Gabriela Canalizo and Gillian Wilson

Teachers’ use of classroom assessment techniques in primary mathematics education—an explorative study with six Chinese teachers

This paper reports on the use of classroom assessment techniques (CATs) by primary school mathematics teachers in China. CATs are short, focused assessment activities that can reveal students’ understanding of...

Authors: Xiaoyan Zhao, Marja Van den Heuvel-Panhuizen and Michiel Veldhuis

Gender, interest, and prior experience shape opportunities to learn programming in robotics competitions

Robotics competitions are increasingly popular and potentially provide an on-ramp to computer science, which is currently highly gender imbalanced. However, within competitive robotics teams, student participa...

Authors: Eben B. Witherspoon, Christian D. Schunn, Ross M. Higashi and Emily C. Baehr

Beyond “group work”: an integrated approach to support collaboration in engineering education

Working effectively in a collaborative team is not only an outcome required by ABET but also one that scholars and practitioners recognize as necessary for being a successful professional engineer. Technology-...

Authors: Rose M. Marra, Linsey Steege, Chia-Lin Tsai and Nai-En Tang

Elementary content specialization: models, affordances, and constraints

This study investigates the models of elementary content specialization (ECS) in elementary mathematics and science and the affordances and constraints related to ECS—both generally and in relation to specific...

Authors: Kimberly A. Markworth, Joseph Brobst, Chris Ohana and Ruth Parker

Promoting the asking of research questions in a high-school biotechnology inquiry-oriented program

Asking questions is an important scientific practice, and students around the world are expected to learn how to ask their own research questions while performing inquiry. In contrast to authentic scientific i...

Authors: Tom Bielik and Anat Yarden

Increasing STEM success: a near-peer mentoring program in the physical sciences

Mentoring supports professional success in a myriad of fields; in the physical sciences, mentoring increases the retention of diverse groups of students. While physics education has made progress in classifyin...

Authors: Anna M. Zaniewski and Daniel Reinholz

A framework for understanding the characteristics of complexity in biology

Understanding the functioning of natural systems is not easy, although there is general agreement that understanding complex systems is an important goal for science education. Defining what makes a natural sy...

Authors: Joseph Dauer and Jenny Dauer

My science class and expected career choices—a structural equation model of determinants involving Abu Dhabi high school students

This study is about Abu Dhabi high school students’ interest in science in different contexts. The survey was conducted in connection with the international project, the Relevance of Science Education (ROSE). ...

Authors: Masood Badri, Ali Alnuaimi, Jihad Mohaidat, Asma Al Rashedi, Guang Yang and Karima Al Mazroui

A conceptual framework for integrated STEM education

The global urgency to improve STEM education may be driven by environmental and social impacts of the twenty-first century which in turn jeopardizes global security and economic stability. The complexity of th...

Authors: Todd R. Kelley and J. Geoff Knowles

Situated instructional coaching: a case study of faculty professional development

Barriers to reforming traditional lecture-based undergraduate STEM classes are numerous and include time constraints, lack of training, and instructor’s beliefs about teaching and learning. This case study doc...

Authors: Charles Doug Czajka and David McConnell

Developing preservice elementary teachers’ specialized content knowledge: the case of associative property

Specialized content knowledge (SCK) is a type of mathematical content knowledge specifically needed for teaching. This type of knowledge, although serving as a critical component for preservice teacher educati...

Authors: Meixia Ding

Get a room: the role of classroom space in sustained implementation of studio style instruction

The characteristics of the classroom environment play an important role in shaping teaching practices and supporting research-based instructional strategies. One instructional strategy that has reimagined the ...

Authors: Alexis V. Knaub, Kathleen T. Foote, Charles Henderson, Melissa Dancy and Robert J. Beichner

The teachers’ role in developing, opening, and nurturing an inclusive STEM-focused school

This study is about teachers’ collective activity during the development and initial year of a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)-focused school in the USA. The target school of this stud...

Authors: David Slavit, Tamara Holmlund Nelson and Kristin Lesseig

NE STEM 4U: an out-of-school time academic program to improve achievement of socioeconomically disadvantaged youth in STEM areas

The Nebraska Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics 4U (NE STEM 4U) program was initiated at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) in 2013. NE STEM 4U is a student-run, faculty-led program facil...

Authors: Christine E. Cutucache, Jamie L. Luhr, Kari L. Nelson, Neal F. Grandgenett and William E. Tapprich

Challenging instructors to change: a mixed methods investigation on the effects of material development on the pedagogical beliefs of geoscience instructors

STEM educational reform encourages a transition from instructor-centered passive learning environments to student-centered, active learning environments. Instructors adopting these changes incorporate research...

Authors: Michael A. Pelch and David A. McConnell

On understanding and improving the teaching of university Mathematics

This paper reports on a professional development workshop in University level mathematics. The workshop was grounded in Schoenfeld’s (How we think. A theory of goal-oriented decision-making and its educational...

Authors: Alan H. Schoenfeld, Mike Thomas and Bill Barton

STEM education K-12: perspectives on integration

This commentary was stimulated by Yeping Li’s first editorial (2014) citing one of the journal’s goals as adding multidisciplinary perspectives to current studies of single disciplines comprising the focus of ...

Authors: Lyn D. English

Erratum to: Supporting students with disabilities and limited English proficiency: STEM educator professional development participation and perceived utility

Authors: S. Li, J. V. Ernst and T. O. Williams

Supporting sustained adoption of education innovations: The Designing for Sustained Adoption Assessment Instrument

Every year, significant effort and resources are expended around the world to develop innovative instructional strategies and materials to improve undergraduate Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematic...

Authors: Courtney Stanford, Renée Cole, Jeff Froyd, Debra Friedrichsen, Raina Khatri and Charles Henderson

Supporting students with disabilities and limited English proficiency: STEM educator professional development participation and perceived utility

Professional development offerings assist K–12 educators in addressing new and evolving classroom dynamics, circumstances, and situations. With the emerging demands of an increasingly science, technology, engi...

Authors: S. Li, J. V. Ernst and T. O. Williams

Standards-based mathematics curricula and the promotion of quantitative literacy in elementary school

Prior research has shown that students taught using Standards-based mathematics curricula tend to outperform students on measures of mathematics achievement. However, little research has focused particularly on t...

Authors: Jesse L. M. Wilkins

Describing undergraduate STEM teaching practices: a comparison of instructor self-report instruments

Collecting data on instructional practices is an important step in planning and enacting meaningful initiatives to improve undergraduate science instruction. Self-report survey instruments are one of the most ...

Authors: Cody T. Williams, Emily M. Walter, Charles Henderson and Andrea L. Beach

University-level practical activities in bioinformatics benefit voluntary groups of pupils in the last 2 years of school

Bioinformatics—the use of computers in biology—is of major and increasing importance to biological sciences and medicine. We conducted a preliminary investigation of the value of bringing practical, university...

Authors: Daniel Barker, Rosanna G. Alderson, James L. McDonagh, Heleen Plaisier, Muriel M. Comrie, Leigh Duncan, Gavin T. P. Muirhead and Stuart D. Sweeney

Analysis of errors in derivatives of trigonometric functions

This article reports on an analysis of errors that were displayed by students who studied mathematics in Chemical Engineering in derivatives of mostly trigonometric functions. The poor performance of these stu...

Authors: Sibawu Witness Siyepu

Incorporating effective e-learning principles to improve student engagement in middle-school mathematics

The expanded use of online and blended learning programs in K-12 STEM education has led researchers to propose design principles for effective e-learning systems. Much of this research has focused on the impac...

Authors: Kevin Mulqueeny, Victor Kostyuk, Ryan S. Baker and Jaclyn Ocumpaugh