Usama Kalim, Yohana Kifel Meknon, Francis Stonier

Enabling STEM opportunities for developing countries’ children through innovative cost-effective STEM curriculum

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

Faculty of Education, Southwest University, Chongqing, China 400715

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

The economic growth of any country is linked with education. STEM education is a modern-day approach from developed countries to educate the pupils and prepare them for the 21^st century needs. The developed countries are encouraging creative and technological innovations through STEM education. These countries will be able to utilize new technologies to increase productivity and sustain economic growth. Different researchers worldwide highlighted the significance of STEM education for the future. This type of education fosters pupils' critical thinking and problem-solving abilities, which enables their creative and innovative thinking. This set of abilities prepares them for 21^st-century jobs. In the era of technological innovation, youth who possess these skills will be able to uplift the country’s economy through innovation and science. 

Despite the increasing focus from developed countries on STEM, the developing countries still struggle to integrate STEM into their education system. The biggest challenge of STEM education for developing countries comes from the financial aspect. The developing world is still trying to cope with the basic challenges, and despite realizing the importance of STEM, not been able to make any significant efforts in this regard. The literature on STEM education in developing countries is also just limited to describing its benefits for economy and nation development. It does not propose strategies to implement STEM education in developing economies efficiently. This paper aims to highlight the significance of STEM for developing countries' economies by extant review of the literature and propose strategies that how innovative and cost-effective curricula can make it possible for the developing world to overcome the financial challenges.

Douglas B. Clark, David Scott, Sandra Becker

Thinking design in education: positioning preservice teachers as agents of change

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

Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Calgary Alberta T2N1N4, Canada

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

A significant body of research suggests that the cultural configurations of schools, including their governance structures, organization, and teachers’ approaches to curriculum and instruction, have not substantially changed in North America over the last century (Cuban, 2020). The linear, instrumental, and technical rational tradition of design in education in North America stands in contrast to the ways design is conceptualized in design fields where there has been an emphasis on promoting more stakeholder-centered approaches to design (Buchanan, 2001; Dorst, 2011; Schön, 1984). Guided by contemporary theory and research from design fields, we propose a framework for conceptualizing K-12 educators’ stances toward design organized along a continuum from technical rational to designerly emphasizing four key themes: (1) view of the problem space, (2) approach to inquiry and stakeholder engagement, (3) framing and frame creation, and (4) conceptualization of design process. Our goal is to use this framework to position pre-service teachers as agents of change.