According to Morrison (2006), the implementation of STEM education should enable students to be:

• Problem-solvers – able to define questions and problems, design investigations to gather data, collect and organize data, draw conclusions, and then apply understandings to new and novel situations.
• Innovators – creatively use science, mathematics, and technology concepts and principles by applying them to the engineering design process.
• Inventors – recognize the needs of the world and creatively design, test, redesign, and then implement solutions (engineering process).
• Self-reliant – able to use initiative and self-motivation to set agendas, develop and gain self-confidence, and work within time specified time frames.
• Logical thinkers – able to apply rational and logical thought processes of science, mathematics, and engineering design to innovation and invention.
• Technologically literate – understand and explain the nature of technology, develop the skills needed, and apply technology appropriately.

On the other hand, each of the IB’s programmes is committed to the development of students according to the IB learner profile (‘Learner profile for IB students’, n.d.). The profile’s aims to develop learners who are:

• Inquirers
• Knowledgeable
• Thinkers
• Communicators
• Open-minded
• Caring
• Risk-takers
• Balanced
• Reflective

Read the excerpts in TIES STEM education monograph series, attributes of STEM education and Learner profile for IB students about the envisaged outcomes of the implementation of STEM and the IB programs.  Compare and contrast the two views. Support your ideas with examples based on this week’s readings and cite sources, using APA format where applicable. In your initial post, consider the following:

• Discuss how your views are similar or different.
• List some ways you will make your classroom more of an active learning environment.
• Discuss how you teach in order to achieve any of the envisaged learning outcomes.
• Compare and contrast your thoughts with the ideas of three other participants in the discussion forum.

connect your response to practical realities and make sure to give at least two references. 

References

1. Constructivism as a Paradigm for Teaching and Learning. (2004). THIRTEEN – New York Public Media. http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/constructivism/

• The view that knowledge cannot be transmitted but must be constructed by the mental activity of learners underpins contemporary perspectives on science education. In the classroom, the constructivist view of learning can point towards a number of different teaching practices (‘Constructivism as a Paradigm for Teaching and Learning’, 2004). In the most general sense, it usually means encouraging students to use active techniques (experiments, real-world problem solving) to create more knowledge and then to reflect on and talk about what they are doing and how their understanding is changing.

2. Dasgupta, N., & Stout, J. G. (2014). Girls and women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics: STEMing the tide and broadening participation in STEM careers. Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 1(1), 21–29. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/2372732214549471

• This article describes how specific learning environments, peer relations, and family characteristics become obstacles to STEM interest, achievement, and persistence in each period. Evidence-based policies and programs promise to eliminate these obstacles, increasing girls’ and women’s participation in STEM.

3. Erickson, L. (2012). Concept-based teaching and learning. International Baccalaureate. http://www.ibmidatlantic.org/Concept_Based_Teaching_Learning.pdf

• This paper examines the characteristics of concept-based curriculum instructional models and identifies the International Baccalaureate (IB) programs as a three-dimensional, concept-based model. A discussion of the benefits of concept-based instruction supports the majority of attributes in the IB learner profile. Concept-based instruction requires an understanding of synergistic thinking, transfer of knowledge and social construction of knowledge. This paper addresses these areas and discusses them in the context of the required IB pedagogy. It concludes with a review of the challenges in implementing a concept-based model and a summary of the rewards (Erickson, 2012).

4. Kirschner, P. A., Sweller, J., & Clark, R. E. (2010, June 8). Why minimal guidance during instruction does not work: An analysis of the failure of constructivist, discovery, problem-based, experiential, and inquiry-based teaching. Educational Psychologist, 41(2), 75–86. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326985ep4102_1

• Unguided or minimally guided instructional approaches are very popular and intuitively appealing, the point is made that these approaches ignore both the structures that constitute human cognitive architecture and evidence from empirical studies over the past half-century that consistently indicate that minimally guided instruction is less effective and less efficient than instructional approaches that place a strong emphasis on guidance of the student learning process (Kirschner et al., 2006).

5. Lantz, H. B. (2009). Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. What form? What function? https://dornsife.usc.edu/assets/sites/1/docs/jep/STEMEducationArticle.pdf

• STEM education is greater than any interdisciplinary paradigm. It is actually trans-disciplinary in that it offers a multi-faceted whole with greater complexities and new spheres of understanding that ensure the integration of disciplines (Lantz, 2009). STEM education offers students one of the best opportunities to make sense of the world holistically, rather than in bits and pieces. STEM education removes the traditional barriers erected between the four disciplines, by integrating them into one cohesive teaching and learning paradigm (Morrisom, 2006).

6. Learner profile for IB students. (n.d.). International Baccalaureate. http://www.ibo.org/benefits/learner-profile/ 

• This website shares the philosophy of the IB organization and the qualities and skills included in an IB education.

7. Morrison, J. S. (2006, August). TIES STEM education monograph series, attributes of STEM education. TIES 2006. http://daytonos.com/pdf/stem.pdf 

• This article outlines the tools, qualities, and skills students should develop as the result of the implementation of STEM education

Optional Reading

Koopman, P. (1997, October). How to write an abstract. Carnegie Melon University. https://users.ece.cmu.edu/~koopman/essays/abstract.html 

• This webpage explains what an abstract is and provides instructions on how to write an abstract.