When the Whole Winds Up Less Than the Sum of Its Parts: The Fuzzy Curricular Math of STEM With References

• In Event: 68.061 - Roundtable Session 30
  In Roundtable Session: 68.061-9 - Curriculum Parts in the Context of the Whole: Past, Present, and Future

Abstract

This paper critically explores the seemingly irresistible curricular assumptions of STEM. More broadly, the purpose of this paper is to critically explore the ways in which these assumptions (as well as actual curricular practices) related to interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary approaches of STEM sometimes serve to commodify subject matter (in the case of our particular study, mathematics) and can give rise to an instrumental approach to curriculum in which vital subject matter becomes objectified as tools in service of science rather than as "subjects" in their own right (Corlu. 2012).

Authors

• Laura M. Jewett, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

• James A. Telese, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley