Fig. 1 STEM Practices framework

STEM Practices © SPLAT-maths Pty Ltd. Reproduced with permission.

The development of STEM Practices

SERC developed the STEM Practices framework in 2017 for use in early learning education. This framework has subsequently been a vital part of the Early Learning STEM Australia (ELSA) Pilot.

SERC’s use of the term ‘STEM Practices’ refers to research published by Lowrie, T., Leonard S. and Fitzgerald, R. (2018) “STEM Practices: A translational framework for large-scale STEM education design” Educational Design Research, 2 (1), 1-20.

Rather than focusing on the individual disciplines of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, STEM Practices identifies the ideas, methods and values that underpin STEM.

Note: the STEM Practices framework is an adaptation of the practice architectures approach of Kemmis et al. (2014).

Why use a STEM Practices approach?

There are a number of common approaches to teaching STEM education. One approach follows the trajectory of enrichment and outreach programs by external providers, with the aim of increasing students’ interest through exposure. A second approach involves schools investing in resources such as robotics or MakerSpaces. SERC—while acknowledging that these models are important—takes the view that, instead, what is required is an approach that educators can use on a day-to-day basis as part of their normal practice.

A STEM practice involves the use of an idea, method, or value to achieve something (Lowrie, Logan, & Larkin, 2017): For example, a STEM:

  • idea may be ‘problem finding’ or ‘exploring and challenging’
  • method may be ‘generating ideas’ or ‘thinking critically’
  • value may be curiosity or persistence

Fig. 1 (at the top of the page) represents the 18 STEM Practices, developed by SERC, which now underpin the ELSA project.

In contrast to many approaches to STEM that seek to integrate the four disciplines, SERC’s conceptualisation of STEM is associated with practices. The focus on practices helps ensure that STEM understandings relate to relevant contexts enacted through participation and engagement (Lowrie, Larkin, & Logan, 2019).

Fig. 2. STEM Practices across the four children’s apps (Larkin & Lowrie, 2018).

Fig. 2 (above) illustrates the broad sweep of the STEM Practices across the four children’s ELSA apps. Each ‘app’ includes a range of learning experiences. For example, the ‘build a water feature’ in App 4 involves the STEM idea of proposing, the STEM method of using tools to produce artefacts and the STEM value of teamwork. Each learning experience (there are approximately 150 such experiences in ELSA) was tagged as incorporating one or more STEM idea, method or value. As can be seen, most of the 18 ideas, methods and values were present to some degree in each app; however, certain apps focussed more strongly on particular practices.

STEM Practices and the needs of education

Lowrie et al. (2017) and Lowrie et al. (2018) argue that the STEM Practices approach responds to the needs of STEM education in a number of ways:

  • A STEM practices approach overcomes the arguments around approaches to STEM education as it focuses on all curriculum areas, both within STEM and in other areas of the curriculum.
  • Teachers feel comfortable in using STEM Practices as they don’t require specialist subject knowledge and can, in fact, be applied in all subject areas.
  • STEM Practices, because they are context bound, meet the individual needs of any student. This enables students to relate to what is being taught, by starting with what they know and building outwards from that.
  • Teachers can easily involve families and the broader community, as examples of STEM Practices are found everywhere. This, therefore, has the advantage of increasing the value placed on STEM and understanding of STEM applications.

References

Larkin, K., Lowrie, T & Hope, R. (2019). A Review of the Literature Related to STEM Education. Prepared by SERC for the Department of Education and Training.

Lowrie, T., Larkin, K. & Logan, T. (2019). STEM and Digital Technologies in Play Based Environments: A New Approach. In G. Hine, S. Blackley, & A. Cooke (Eds.). Mathematics Education Research: Impacting Practice (Proceedings of the 42nd annual conference of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia). Perth, Australia. MERGA.

Lowrie, T., Leonard S. and Fitzgerald, R. (2018) “STEM Practices: A translational framework for large-scale STEM education design” Educational Design Research, 2 (1), 1-20.

Lowrie, T., Logan, T. & Larkin, K. (2017). The “math” in STEM practices: The role of spatial reasoning in the early years. In A. Downton, S. Livy, & J. Hall (Eds.), 40 Years on: We are still learning. Proceedings of the 40th Annual Conference of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia. Melbourne, Australia. MERGA