Primary And Pre-School Teachers' Views On Stem Based Approaches

Abstract

At international level STEM education represents a still growing trend, its adoption as an important paradigm in education being determined by the need to adapt to nowadays society. STEM education has been imposed at the gymnasium, high school and university levels, where students possess disciplinary knowledge and skills that allow them to develop interdisciplinary and integrated approaches. Pre-school and primary school students have also to be initiated on STEM/STEAM or STREAM education by topics adapted to their interests and level of knowledge. This early openness towards STEM based approaches can support the future effort for the study of STEM disciplines, considered being difficult. The aim of this study was to investigate the opinion and practices of primary and pre-school teachers about STEM/STEAM subjects and their integrated approach. The research tools were a questionnaire, applied online to a sample of 97 respondents, teachers for primary and pre-school education and an analysis grid. The results show that respondents have favourable opinions about STEM/STEAM education, due to the knowledge, skills and behaviours developed by STEM based approaches to their students. As a result, even if integrated activities are time-consuming and need resources that are not provided by the school curriculum, textbooks, or infrastructure, respondents appreciate that they often do integrated STEM-based activities. The importance given to STEM education by respondents suggests the revision of the school curriculum and the development of a STEM culture at the level of school institutions.

Keywords: STEMSTEAMSTREAMintegrated approachprimary schoolsurvey

Introduction

As a concept, STEM education is relatively new in the Romanian educational system. The idea origins from the American continent and it is determined by a deeply technology-driven society and by the need to prepare the young generation for an active inclusion into the social life (Hasni & Potvin, 2015; Lamberg & Trzynadlowski, 2015).

International studies Pisa (OECD, 2019) and TIMSS (2015) raise concern over the pessimistic results and the low level of interest of the students in mathematics and sciences. A great majority of students find these fields / school subjects hard, challenging, full of useless knowledge and without connection with real life.

Research shows that the STEM study facilitates students' deeper understanding of the importance of exact disciplines, technology and engineering, of the interdependencies between them and of their role in real life (Roberts et al., 2018). For instance, mathematics enables the understanding of theoretical and practical problems, especially when combined with the other disciplines. The study of STEM school subjects helps students to cope with real-life problems/situations, motivates them and boosts their self-esteem (Baboș & Ciascai, 2020; Margot & Kettler, 2019). A significant aspect noted by the educators involved in STEM learning is that this approach develops students’ critical thinking (Stein et al., 2007) and also sets the basis for STEM thinking (Li et al., 2019). For STEM based learning to improve the learning process and students' academic performances, it should be integrated in teaching and it should unfold in a context where the education focuses on students and the teacher acts as a mediator, respectively as a facilitator.

Many of the studies conducted in this area focus on teachers’ perspective over STEM education (Park et al., 2016; Pimthong & Williams, 2018). Educational researches reveal a series of difficulties that prevent teachers from developing this kind of teaching approach: the monodisciplinary pre-service training, the poor material resources, educational establishments’ lack of interest towards STEM, even the lack of an appropriate curriculum and respectively curricular overloading and its rigidity are part of these difficulties.

Problem Statement

In our country the attempts to implement STEM based education are sporadic (excepting a few proactive teachers, some training programs), although the results of international research encourage us to consider that this approach would bring clear value to the Romanian school system, especially to the primary education. The pre-school and primary school are the phases in which pupils are most receptive and need tangible learning models; these are the moments when their thinking must make a major leap in quality towards that critical thinking that will serve them for the rest of their lives (Piaget, 2017).

Research Questions

The present study aims at answering the following questions:

1. How do pre-school and primary teachers perceive STEM/STEAM education, respectively school and curriculum openness towards this type of education?

2. What is the structure of an integrated STEM / STEAM / STREAM approach from the perspective of pre-school and primary teachers?

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study is to investigate the view that respondents, teachers for pre-school and primary education, have on STEM (with its branches STEAM and STREAM) and on integrated STEAM approach.

Research Methods

Findings

Conclusion

STEM/STEAM integration represents an innovative manner of rethinking teaching mathematics and sciences in primary school by valuing their connections with technology, engineering and arts.

Integrated STEM/STEAM approaches are perceived hard to conceive and implement in primary school. This fact is due to the increased workload required by the design of STEM/STEAM or STREAM activities. Teachers should benefit from trainings dedicated to integrated STEM based activities and general knowledge courses. Moreover, they should be encouraged by school management to keep up to date regarding this approach. In case of textbooks that serve this philosophy of learning are missing, teachers should benefit from financial support in order to have access to both digital and printed resources. Training institutions, as well as universities could provide support for pre-school and primary school teachers to enable them to develop the competencies needed for designing integrated STEM approaches. Also, to encourage teacher collaboration in projecting STEM education activities (Wang et al., 2020).

Integrated STEM approaches should be included in the curricula of bachelor’s and master’s degree for pre-school and primary education. We are confident that these approaches could build and strengthen a community of teachers that are both interested and competent in the area of integrated approaches based on STEM, respectively they could boost students’ interest for the study of STEM disciplines. What is most important is that the STEM education skills prepare students for life and for their future careers.

References

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