Making STEM curriculum useful, relevant, and motivating for students

Abstract

More than ever, we live in a connected, global community. In this chapter we argue for a STEM school education that helps students to explore and experience the kind of connectedness that reflects life outside of school. While many would agree that STEM curricula should be embedded in real-world, authentic contexts, much of the current policy and practice favours disciplinary approaches to knowledge narrowly focused on what is readily measurable or amenable to achievement testing. In contrast, the issues that affect students' lives outside of school are not unidisciplinary, neither are the solutions to problems that beset our world today. Here, we explore the contribution of an integrated approach to STEM education with the goal of increasing students' opportunities to engage in contextual, multidisciplinary issue-based learning.