Ding Zhou^a, Rafael Gomez^b, James Davis^c, Markus Rittenbruch^b,

Solution-based design process as pedagogy in constructing integrated STEM tasks: within the Australian curriculum

Contact Author: Ding Zhou (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

^aSchool of System Design and Intelligent Manufacturing, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen Guangdong 518055, China

^bSchool of Design, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane City QLD 4000, Australia

^bSchool of Teacher Education and Leadership, Queensland University of Technology, Kelvin Grove QLD 4059, Australia

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Integrated STEM education signifies teaching across two or more STEM-related subjects to address and solve authentic problems through design solutions (Zhou et al., 2020). Many researchers and teachers adopt design process models as scaffolding to construct integrated STEM tasks (Li et al., 2019); that is, educational projects that have a connecting idea, target curriculum content, and aim to improve student capabilities (Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA], 2016). ‘Solution-based Design Process’ (SBDP) holds the epistemology to integrate cross-disciplinary content, and enables students to identify, apply, and develop design concepts from the disciplines to find and solve problems (Zhou et al., 2022). To address the lack of research on using applicable design process models to construct integrated STEM tasks, we explore teachers’ perceived benefits and challenges when adopting SBDP to develop relevant educational projects, and then propose practical guidelines within the Australian curriculum.

Judy Anderson, Deborah Tully

Primary and secondary teachers as STEM curriculum designers

Contact Author: Judy Anderson (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

Sydney School of Education and Social Work, The University of Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

With reports into Australian students’ falling performance, participation and engagement in STEM school subjects, careers and university programs, there has been increased attention on changing school STEM curriculum and pedagogy through the provision of quality teacher professional learning (PL) (Tytler, 2020). Addressing STEM engagement and achievement in schools requires designing curriculum that enthuses students, challenges their beliefs about the role of the STEM subjects in solving real-world problems, and inspires them to continue to study STEM into the future. With the recent interest in STEM education in Australia, more teachers are keen to investigate how integrated STEM curriculum can prepare students with 21^st century skills and capabilities. To address these issues, separate year-long PL programs were developed to assist primary and secondary school teachers in designing and implementing integrated STEM curriculum for their students (Anderson & Tully, 2020).