This article is published in the Journal for STEM Education Research.
CITATION: Pagkratidou, M., Michaelides, M., Pitsia, V. et al.
(2024)
Factors Associated with STEM Career Expectations of Greek 15-Year-Old Students. Journal for STEM Educ Res . https://doi.org/10.1007/s41979-024-00124-1
Science, technology engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professions offer competitive earnings, tend to be compatible with technological advances, and are predicted to remain in high demand in the future. Many countries, including Greece, have prioritised STEM education on their educational agendas, aiming to prepare students for careers in these fields. In this study, we investigated factors that may predict Greek students’ STEM career expectations through analysing data from the 2015 cycle of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). In doing so, we categorised the responses of 4910 15-year-old students to the question “What kind of job do you expect to have when you are about 30 years old?” into STEM and non-STEM professions, following a wide approach that included health and medical professions in the STEM category and a narrow approach that excluded these professions from the STEM category. Binary logistic regression results showed that student enjoyment of science, instrumental motivation, interest towards broad science topics, and their science performance were associated with their career expectations across both approaches; family economic, social, and cultural status was associated with students’ career expectations within the wide approach only, while gender and achievement motivation were associated with students’ career expectations within the narrow approach only. The differences in the factors predicting students’ career expectations between the two approaches indicate that transparency in the definitions and operationalisations of STEM is needed within the relevant research.
This article is published in Education Sciences.
CITATION: Bufasi, E.; Čakāne, I.; Greitans, K.; Dudareva, I.; Namsone, D. Lesson Study as a Professional Development Model for Teaching Spatial Ability in Primary STEM. Educ. Sci. 2024, 14, 512. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14050512
This study explores the efficacy of a professional development (PD) model that employs lesson study to teach spatial ability skills in primary STEM education. The structure of the PD supported the ‘Insights’ mechanism by focusing on visualisation, mental rotation, construction and deconstruction, and spatial orientation, which are vital for nurturing students’ spatial abilities. The ‘Motivation’ mechanism was addressed through goal setting in lesson planning, motivating teachers to integrate spatial tasks into their curricula. Continuous feedback and practical support facilitated the ‘Technique’ mechanism, embedding learned skills into everyday teaching practices. Last, the ‘Embed in Practice’ mechanisms, including action planning and prompts, were effectively translated into classroom practices, evidencing the model’s operational efficacy.
RECEICED 6 April 2023 REVISED 12 June 2023 ACCEPTED 12 June 2023 PUBLISHED 16 June 2023
CITATION:
Lennon-Maslin, Michelle,
Claudia Michaela Quaiser-Pohl, Vera
Ruthsatz, and Mirko Saunders. 2023.
Under My Skin: Reducing Bias in
STEM through New Approaches to
Assessment of Spatial Abilities
Considering the Role of Emotional
Regulation. Social Sciences 12: 356.
https://doi.org/10.3390/
socsci12060356
Extensive research has established that spatial ability is a crucial factor for achieving success in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). However, challenges that educators encounter while teaching spatial skills remain uncertain. The purpose of this study is to develop a research framework that examines the interrelationships, barriers, and enablers amongst various educational components, including schools, teachers, students, classrooms, and training programs, that are encountered when teaching for spatial ability development. A thorough examination of international research, in combination with a detailed review of the primary Science and Mathematics curricula in Ireland, Latvia, Sweden, and the Netherlands, is undertaken to acquire a more concentrated comprehension of the incorporation of spatial components in the curriculum. The review seeks to establish the fundamental factors that enable or hinder teachers in terms of curriculum, pedagogy, pedagogical content knowledge, and spatialized classroom practices.
SPECIALTY SECTION
This article was submitted to STEM Education, a section of the journal Frontiers in Education
RECEIVED 05 January 2023 ACCEPTED 14 March 2023 PUBLISHED 17 April 2023
CITATION:
Zhu C, Leung C.O-Y., Lagoudaki E, Velho M, Segura-Caballero N, Jolles D, Duffy G, Maresch G, Pagkratidou M and Klapwijk R (2023) Fostering spatial ability development in and for authentic STEM learning. Front. Educ. 8:1138607. doi:
https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2023.1138607
This article is published in the International Journal:
Engineering Pedagogy (iJEP).
CITATION:
Bufasi, E., Cakane, I., Dudareva, I., & Namsone, D. (2024). Professional Development for Primary School Teachers Intended to Promote Students’ Spatial Ability. International Journal of Engineering Pedagogy (iJEP), 14(2), pp. 130–144. https://doi.org/10.3991/ijep.v14i2.43673
Professional development (PD) plays a crucial role in equipping teachers with the necessary knowledge and skills to effectively foster spatial ability among their students. This study aimed to explore the potential of action research as a PD mode for primary school teachers to enhance students’ spatial ability. The findings of this study indicate the positive impact of PD on teachers’ practice, leading to significant improvements in student performance and engagement. The PD program effectively equipped teachers with new knowledge and skills, leading to noticeable progress in their instructional approaches and teaching practices. This research provides a foundation for future studies on PD programs aimed at enhancing students’ spatial ability.
This article is published in Frontiers Education as a part of the Research topic "Spatial ability in STEM learning".
CITATION:
Sonneveld, L., Klapwijk, R. M., & Stappers, P. J. (2024, April). Constructing and storytelling: accommodating different play orientations in learning spatial thinking. In Frontiers in Education (Vol. 9, p. 1307951). Frontiers Media SA.
https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2024.1307951
Spatial ability is malleable and belongs in the preschool. For preschoolers, many analytical activities with one correct answer such as tangram have been developed. Less is known about employing open-ended design assignments to creatively practice spatial thinking. Little attention has been paid to the mutual qualitative differences between children when engaged in spatial thinking and insight in children’s motivation is lacking. As design and play have much in common, our first study investigated play orientations during free play of 49 Dutch preschoolers during free play in a low and a high SES school. Participative interviews and observations in the construction and home corners of two schools uncovered different play orientations– construction and pretend play - and either a focus on open-ended objects or on defined objects. In a subsequent study, the influence of these play and object orientations on how children design was investigated. This study with 13 children also used generative design research methods grounded in ethnographic research and therapeutic practices. Using an empathic, story-based, open-ended design challenge, results showed that play-orientations of children influence the length and nature of the design activities as well as the design outcomes. Children with a pretend-play orientation are longer engaged and talk more about the character involved. They usually built organic structures with a variety of objects, while construction-oriented children mainly built sturdy and geometrical structures and mainly used open-ended objects. In all play orientations, spatial thinking was practiced and children were spatially challenged. For example, in all orientations difficulties arose around getting the character in out the structure, however, as different structures were build, the nature of these difficulties were also different. Open-ended design activities that contain characters and problems children can empathize with are a valuable addition to the palette of activities to develop spatial thinking in early classrooms. Our study shows that design activities stimulate children to practice spatial thinking in a creative context and have the ability to engage children with a pretend-play orientation who are otherwise less engaged in construction. The play-orientations and object-orientations are informative for research and the development of spatial educational interventions aiming at a diversity of learners.