54.076 - Interdisciplinary and International Perspectives on STEM Education: Opportunities and Challenges

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

This symposium focuses on the conceptualization and the design of STEM curricula and pedagogies in a range of countries. A comparison of these curricula reveals a tension between an emphasis on generic competencies (e.g., creativity and collaboration), versus a focus on traditional disciplinary knowledge and skills. A number of constructs (i.e., Discourse, Artefacts, Reasoning and Evidence) will be explored from their potential to constitute the basis of an interdisciplinary STEM curriculum. Research and design are discussed as interrelated activities that can be incorporated in curriculum materials and tasks that enable students to experience authentic interdisciplinary STEM practices, in productive relation to discipline-specific concepts and skills.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Science Teaching and Learning

Chair

• David J. Clarke, University of Melbourne

Papers

• Disciplinary Boundary Crossing: Permeability and Affordances in STEM Education - David J. Clarke, University of Melbourne

• Models of and Challenges to Interdisciplinary STEM Education - Russell W. Tytler, Deakin University

• The Integration of Research and Design in Interdisciplinary STEM Education - Jan H. Van Driel, University of Melbourne; Tessa Vossen, Leiden University; Marc De Vries, Delft University of Technology; Ineke Henze-Rietveld, Radboud University Nijmegen

Discussants

• Richard A. Duschl, The Pennsylvania State University

• Alan H. Schoenfeld, University of California - Berkeley