Where Is the STS in the Pre-College Curricula?

• In Event: STS as Critical Pedagogy: Experiments in Undergraduate Teaching and Learning - II

Abstract

The National Consortium of Secondary STEM schools (NCSSS) was founded in 1988 to formalize knowledge exchange among teachers and administrators working in unique STEM-focused K-12 learning environments, whose classrooms and faculty more resembled those found in colleges than high schools. During these past last 30 years, as approaches to STEM-education in higher education have developed and changed, so too have the approaches of the NCSSS member institutions, albeit at a somewhat slower pace. The South Carolina Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics (SCGSSM) was established in 1988 and became a member of the Consortium the following year. It has been an active member of the organization with faculty and administrators serving in leadership and governance roles. SCGSSM, like many of the founding institutions, began as a free, two-year, public, residential high school. Now the institution also hosts robust virtual and outreach programs. More than 80% of SCGSSM’s faculty hold PhDs, many of whom came to SCGSSM after being tenure-track or tenured professors at colleges and universities. That said, as a public institution in a largely red state, SCGSSM is still bound to some of the restrictive policies and practices of K-12 education. This paper examines the process and pitfalls of infusing interdisciplinarity in general, and Science & Technology Studies specifically, into a pre-college Engineering curriculum and a student research program. These interventions reveal the value and limitations of these hybrid high school/college sites for students to first engage with critical approaches to science and technology in action.

Author

• Kathryn de Ridder-Vignone, South Carolina Governor's School for Science & Mathematics