Toward Integrated STEM Education: Developing A Research Agenda

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STEM Integration in K-12 Education examines current efforts to connect the STEM disciplines in K-12 education. This report identifies and characterizes existing approaches to integrated STEM education, both in formal and after- and out-of-school settings. The report reviews the evidence for the impact of integrated approaches on various student outcomes, and it proposes a set of priority research questions to advance the understanding of integrated STEM education. STEM Integration in K-12 Education proposes a framework to provide a common perspective and vocabulary for researchers, practitioners, and others to identify, discuss, and investigate specific integrated STEM initiatives within the K-12 education system of the United States.

STEM Integration in K-12 Education makes recommendations for designers of integrated STEM experiences, assessment developers, and researchers to design and document effective integrated STEM education. This report will help to further their work and improve the chances that some forms of integrated STEM education will make a positive difference in student learning and interest and other valued outcomes.

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180 pages · 6 x 9 · paperback
ISBN Paperback: 0-309-29796-6
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-29797-4
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17226/18612

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National Academy of Engineering and National Research Council. 2014. STEM Integration in K-12 Education: Status, Prospects, and an Agenda for Research. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

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Margaret A. Honey

Margaret A. Honey, Chair, joined the New York Hall of Science as president and CEO in November of 2008. Among her current interests at the museum is the role of design-based learning in promoting student interest and achievement in STEM subjects. She is widely recognized for her work using digital technologies to support children’s learning across the disciplines of science, mathematics, engineering and technology. Prior to joining the New York Hall of Science, she was vice president of Wireless Generation, an education technology company. Earlier, she spent 15 years as vice president of the Education Development Center (EDC) and director of EDC’s Center for Children and Technology. There, she directed numerous large-scale research projects funded by the National Science Foundation, the Institute for Education Sciences, the Carnegie Corporation, and other organizations. As a member of the Educational Advisory Board of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, she worked closely with business representatives to define 21st century skills and consider how to teach and assess them. Her activities have included collaborations with public television, investigations of data-driven decision-making tools and practices, and creation of one of the first internet-based professional development programs in the country. She currently serves on the NRC Board on Science Education and as a committee member for the NRC study, Defining Deeper Learning and 21st Century Skills, and recently chaired the Committee on Learning Science: Computer Games, Simulations, and Education. Earlier, she chaired the steering committee for the workshop on IT Fluency and High School Graduation Outcomes. She received her Ph.D. in developmental psychology from Columbia University.

Linda M. Abriola

Linda M. Abriola is the Dean of the School of Engineering. She also holds a position as Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Adjunct Professor in Chemical and Biological Engineering. Dean Abriola is a member of both the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS) and is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union. Prior to her appointment at Tufts, Dean Abriola was the Horace Williams King Collegiate Professor of Environmental Engineering at the University of Michigan. Dr. Abriola's primary research focus is the integration of mathematical modeling and laboratory experiments for the investigation and prediction of the transport and fate of reactive contaminants in the subsurface. She is particularly known for her work on the characterization and remediation of aquifers contaminated by chlorinated solvents. Dr. Abriola's numerous professional activities have included service on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Science Advisory Board, the National Research Council (NRC) Water Science and Technology Board, and the U.S. Department of Energy's NABIR (Natural and Accelerated Bioremediation Research) Advisory Committee. Dr. Abriola served on the NRC's Committee on Ground Water Cleanup Alternatives, which was the first NRC committee to investigate the efficacy of pump and treat technologies, the NRC Committee on Gender Differences in Careers of Science, Engineering, and Mathematics Faculty, and the NAE Offshoring Engineering Workshop Committee. She is currently an elected member of the NAE Council, the governing board of the NAE. An author of more than 120 refereed publications, Dr. Abriola has been the recipient of a number of awards, including the Association for Women Geoscientist's Outstanding Educator Award (1996), the National Ground Water Association's Distinguished Darcy Lectureship (1996), and the SERDP Project of the Year Award in Environmental Restoration (2006). Dean Abriola received her Ph.D. and master's degrees in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Princeton University and a Bachelor's Degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Drexel University.

Sybilla Beckmann

Sybilla Beckmann is Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor of Mathematics at the University of Georgia. She has a PhD in mathematics from the University of Pennsylvania and taught at Yale University as a J. W. Gibbs Instructor of Mathematics. Beckmann has done research in Arithmetic Geometry, but her current main interests are the mathematical education of teachers and mathematics content for students at all levels, but especially for PreK through the middle grades. Beckmann developed mathematics content courses for prospective elementary school teachers at the University of Georgia and wrote a book for such courses, Mathematics for Elementary Teachers, now in a third edition. She is interested in helping college faculty learn to teach mathematics content courses for elementary and middle grades teachers and she works with graduate students and postdoctoral fellows toward that end. As part of this effort, Beckmann directs the Mathematicians Educating Future Teachers (MEFT) component of the University of Georgia Mathematics Department's VIGRE II grant. Beckmann was a member of the writing team of NCTM's Curriculum Focal Points for Prekindergarten through Grade 8 Mathematics, was a member of Committee on Early Childhood Mathematics of the National Research Council and co-author of its report, Mathematics Learning in Early Childhood: Paths Toward Excellence and Equity, has worked on the development of several state mathematics standards, and was a member of the mathematics writing team for the Common Core State Standards Initiative. Several years ago Beckmann taught an average 6th grade mathematics class every day at a local public school in order to better understand school mathematics teaching.

Susan Hackwood

Susan Hackwood is currently Executive Director of the California Council on Science and Technology (CCST), and Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of California, Riverside. Dr. Hackwood received a Ph.D. in Solid State Ionics in 1979 from DeMontfort University, UK. Before joining academia, she was Department Head of Device Robotics Technology Research at AT&T Bell Labs, where amongst other things, she invented and named the electrowetting effect, now used in many micro devices and continuing to be researched and utilized in an increasing number of applications. In 1984 she joined the University of California, Santa Barbara as Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and was founder and Director of the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center for Robotic Systems in Microelectronics (CRSM). In 1990, Dr. Hackwood became the founding Dean of the Bourns College of Engineering at the University of California, Riverside. Dr. Hackwood's current research interests include science and technology policy, innovation mechanisms, distributed asynchronous and cellular robotic systems. Dr. Hackwood has published over 150 technical publications and holds seven patents. She is a Fellow of the IEEE and the AAAS and holds honorary degrees from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (PhD) and DeMontfort University, UK (DSc). From 2003-5 she was a Visiting Scholar at the Anderson School of Management, University of California, Los Angeles. In 2005 she was a visiting scholar at the California Institute of Technology.Dr. Hackwood has worked extensively with industry, academia and government partnerships to identify policy issues of societal importance. She is also an active participant in regional and state economic development. With a strong interest in science and technology policy, Dr. Hackwood is involved with science and technology development in California, the U.S., Mexico, Taiwan, Vietnam and Costa Rica. She is the past Chair of the AAAS Committee on Science Engineering and Public Policy and was Chair of the Section on Societal Impacts of Science and Engineering. She has been the AAAS Engineering Delegate and is currently a Member of the AAAS Committee on Nominations. Since 2006 she has been a member of the IEEE Spectrum Editorial Board. She serves on the Board of Directors and consults on new product development for several technology companies. She co-founded and co-edited the Journal of Robotic Systems from 1984 to 2005.

Alfred L. Hall, II

Alfred Hall is a visiting professor of instruction and curriculum leadership at the University of Memphis. Prior to thi sposition, Dr Hall was chief of staff for the Memphis City Schools system in Memphis, TN. He has also served as Chief Academic Officer and Associate Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction for the district of more than 106,000 students and 7,000 teachers. He received a Ph.D. in Education (Science Education) from George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. Hall began his educational career as a high school teacher of biology and physics, as well as an Instructor of Biology and Program Director for minority STEM majors at Delta State University in Cleveland, MS. He has also worked as program evaluator and science education specialist for the Eisenhower Mathematics and Science Consortium at AEL which supported state education agencies and school districts in Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. In 1999, Hall was selected to serve as Project Director of the Delta Rural Systemic Initiative, a systemic reform program funded by the National Science Foundation that supported poor, rural school districts in Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana. In 2001, he began directing the Memphis Urban Systemic Program and provided leadership for mathematics and science education, professional development, and student support programs for the Memphis City Schools. He has served as a member of the National Science Advisory Board for Macmillan/McGraw Hill Publishing Company and the National Taskforce for Recruiting, Retaining, and Supporting Teachers of Mathematics for the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

Jennifer Hicks

Jennifer Hicks is a K-12 science program manager, at the I-STEM Resource Network, Purdue University. Prior to this position, Dr. Hicks served as science curriculum specialist in the Office of Curriculum and Instruction for the Indiana Department of Education. Dr. Hicks is responsible for the managing the development of science standards, supporting curriculum resources for science, and promoting innovation in science teaching throughout Indiana. She is a lead team member for the Indiana Science Initiative, a K-8 systemic science initiative that has engaged 2,000 teachers and 125 schools in Indiana in research-developed science curriculum and professional development. Prior to joining the Department, Jenny was a high school teacher in California and received a Life Sciences Single Subject Credential from San Francisco State University. She also holds a Professional Educator’s License in the State of Indiana in Chemistry and Life Sciences. She has taught biology, chemistry, marine biology and earth sciences at the high school level. Prior to teaching high school, she was an NIH postdoctoral fellow in the Biology Department at Washington University in St. Louis, where she performed research on proteins in fruit flies. She has also taught science coursework at the college and graduate level at Webster University in St. Louis and at Indiana University in Bloomington. She received a B.S. in Biology and a Ph.D. in Visual Sciences from Indiana University.

Steve Krak

Mr. Stephen Krak is a Program Manager and twenty-year veteran of Battelle, an international science and technology enterprise that explores emerging areas of science, develops and commercializes technology, and manages laboratories for customers. Steve’s career at Battelle began with an internship while completing his Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering at The Ohio State University. His area of specialty is integrated optical circuits, including fiber optics, for sensing and communication applications. Throughout most of his career, Steve worked on and managed projects, Cleanroom laboratories, and the Optics and Microfabrication groups at Battelle. He served on the core business development team that opened Battelle offices in Japan and South Korea. Steve is a long-time volunteer in the classroom and for over three years has served as the Program Manager of the Ohio STEM Learning Network (OSLN), a public/private collaborate that endeavors to change the relationship between economic development, education and personal prosperity in Ohio. For more information, please visit www.olsn.org . In addition to Program Management for the OSLN, Steve managed the proposal process for Ohio’s winning Race to the Top submission, is Relationship Manager to New York in Battelle’s new Multi-state STEM Network program, and is assisting an Ohio team pursuing Community College Learn & Earn grant opportunities designed to prepare post-secondary students for STEM careers.

Bill Kurtz

Bill Kurtz is CEO of DSST Public Schools. DSST is a charter school management organization that is opening ten secondary schools on five campuses in Denver. Bill was the Founding Head of School of the Denver School of Science and Technology (DSST), the flagship school of DSST Public Schools. The school has become an exemplar for high school reform and a leader in STEM education nationwide. The combination of the school's highly significant year-to-year student learning growth, extraordinarily diverse student population, innovative school culture, and 100% college acceptance rate for its graduates has made DSST a change agent for local public schools and a destination for school reformers from all over the country. Bill was recognized as the 2010 Entrepreneur of the Year by the New Schools Venture Fund at their national summit in Washington D.C. Bill was named one of 25 champions of public education in Denver over the last 25 years in 2008 by the Public Education Business Coalition. He currently serves on the Advisory Council of the University of Southern California’s Rossier School of Education MAT program. Prior to joining DSST, Bill served as Principal of Link Community School, an independent middle school located in Newark, New Jersey. Before his career in education, he worked as an investment banker at JP Chase in New York City. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Princeton University with a B.A. and earned an M.A. from Columbia University’s Teachers College in educational administration and leadership.

Richard Lehrer

Richard Lehrer is the Frank W. Mayborn Professor of Education at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College. Previously, he worked at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where he was associate director of the National Center for Improving Student Learning and Achievement in Mathematics and Science. He collaborates with teachers to craft, implement, and assess modeling approaches to mathematics and science education in the elementary and middle school grades. He has also formulated innovative geometry instruction for primary- and elementary-grade students that is guided by longitudinal study of student thinking about space. He is a former high school science teacher and has pioneered classroom research that investigates cognitive technologies as tools for thought in mathematics and science. He has served as a member of the National Research Council’s Committee on the Foundations of Assessment, the National Research Council Committee on Systems of Statewide Science Assessment and the NAE/NRC Committee on Engineering in K-12 Education. He has a Ph.D. in educational psychology and statistics from the University of New York, Albany.

Beth McGrath

Beth McGrath is Chief of Staff in the Office of the President at Stevens Institute of Technology. Previously she was Executive Director of the Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education (CIESE) and Senior Research Associate in the Schools of Engineering & Science and Systems & Enterprises at Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ. Since 2005, under McGrath’s leadership, CIESE was honored with the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics, Science, and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM) award and has garnered more than $26 million in STEM education and research projects sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the US Department of Defense, the NJ Department of Education, and the US Department of Education, mainly in the areas of K-12 engineering and science education, 21st century skills, and STEM scale-up and capacity building in K-12 and higher education. McGrath played a key role in several national Internet-in-K-12 science education curriculum development and teacher training initiatives that impacted more than 35,000 teachers in 23 states and 8 countries. Her research interests include: organizational development and capacity-building in K-12 education, diffusion of technology innovations in K-12, and engineering’s role in 21st century skill development. McGrath serves on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Technology and Engineering Literacy (TEL) Assessment Standing Committee, and several advisory boards of science and engineering education development projects. She holds a B.S. degree in Mass Communications from Virginia Commonwealth University and a M.Ed. from the University of Maryland.

Barbara M. Means

Barbara Means is Co-Director of the Center for Technology in Learning at SRI International. Her research focuses on ways in which technology can support students' learning of advanced skills and the revitalization of classrooms and schools. She is regarded as a leader in defining issues and approaches for evaluating the implementation and efficacy of technology-supported educational innovations. Currently, she is involved in research on STEM-focused secondary schools that target under-served populations and do not use selective admissions processes. In addition, she is directing SRI's evaluation of the first cohort of grants awarded under the Next Generation Learning Challenges initiative for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Her published works include the edited volumes Evaluating Educational Technology, Technology and Education Reform, and Teaching Advanced Skills to At-Risk Students as well as the jointly authored volumes Using Technology Evaluation to Advance Student Learning, The Connected School, and Comparative Studies of How People Think. A Fellow of the Arerican Educational Research Association, Dr. Means serves on the boards of the Oracle Education Foundation and CADRE, the Community for Advancing Discovery Research in Education (the resource network for the National Science Foundation’s DRK-12 program). Previously, she has served as a member of the NRC/BOSE Committee on Highly Successful Schools or Programs for K-12 STEM Education, the NRC Board on Testing and Assessment, and the NRC committee that produced the report, How People Learn. Dr. Means earned her bachelor's degree in psychology from Stanford University and her Ph.D. in educational psychology at the University of California, Berkeley.

Donna Migdol

Donna Migdol is a teacher in Oceanside Schools’ (New York) elementary gifted and talented program and is a former grades K-6 mathemtics lead teacher for Oceanside Schools. Ms. Migdol has presented her classroom engineering design work and math lessons to the Peer Review Panel in Albany, as well as to the National Science Foundation in Washington D.C. As a third grade teacher, Donna’s classroom was filmed by WNET Teacher Net, where engineering design coupled with inquiry based mathematics and science instruction was highlighted. Donna co-developed and facilitated the Math, Science, and Technology Summer Institute at Hofstra University. She has served as an adjunct professor at Hofstra University, teaching graduate elementary mathematics, science and technology courses. She has professionally developed teachers at the SUNY OLD Westbury Mathematics Problem Solving Institute as well as served as an elementary math consultant for many school districts on Long Island. Donna has published several articles and her work as a teacher has been cited in Alfie Kohn’s book, The Schools Our Children Deserve. Donna’s work with students was also cited in chapter one of “Exemplary Science in Grades 5-8: Standards-Based Success Stories, edited by Robet E. Yager. Her students are passionately engaged in STEM learning. She is also presently partnered with Hofstra University’s Center for Technological Literacy as a curriculum writer for two grant-funded projects geared to grades 6-8.

Mitchell Nathan

Mitchell J. Nathan is a professor of learning sciences in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Prof. Nathan received his Ph.D. in experimental (cognitive) psychology. He also holds a B.S. in electrical and computer engineering, mathematics and history. He has worked in research and development in artificial intelligence, computer vision and robotic mobility, including: design and development of autonomous robotic arms and vehicles; the development of expert systems and knowledge engineering interview techniques; and the representation of perceptual and real-world knowledge to support inference-making in dynamic environments. Nathan also has worked on computer-based tutoring environments for mathematics education that rely heavily on students' own comprehension processes for self-evaluation and self-directed learning (so-called unintelligent tutoring systems). Prof. Nathan directed the IERI-funded STAAR Project, which studied the transition from arithmetic to algebraic reasoning. He is currently Co-PI for the AWAKEN Project, which documents how people learn and use engineering, and Co-PI for the National Center for Cognition and Mathematics Instruction. He has affiliate appointments in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction, the Department of Psychology, the Wisconsin Center for Education Research, and the Center on Education and Work.

Mark Sanders

Mark Sanders, Virginia Tech Professor Emeritus of Integrative STEM Education / Technology Teacher Education is most recently known for his two decades of work in Integrative STEM Education. As PI and co-Director of the Technology, Science Mathematics Integration Project (NSF, 1991-1996) he co-authored the TSM Connection Activities (1996, McGraw-Hill) and Engineering & Design Applications (2008, McGraw-Hill). In 2003, he conceptualized Virginia Tech’s Integrative STEM Education graduate program, which he co-founded in 2005. By 2010, this unique graduate program enrolled more than 50 S, T, E, & M teachers / administrators from 10 states, including two dozen PhD candidates and a comparable number of EdS & master’s students. From 1980-2005, he pioneered / disseminated new graphic communication instruction, including electronic publishing (1981), digital multimedia (1983); interactive video (1984); digital video / holography (1992); and Web-based portfolios (1995). His Communication Technology text, the first to address “cross-media publishing” technologies (McGraw-Hill, 1991, 1996) quickly became the most-used text in the field. He was Founding Editor of the internationally recognized Journal of Technology Education (1989-1997) and pioneered free global access to the JTE (1992-present) before the Web was launched. He envisioned, established, and directed Graphic Comm Central (1997-2009), the Web portal and professional network for graphic communication educators. He earned a PhD in Education (U of Maryland, 1980) and began his career as a high school Technology teacher in upstate NY.

Michael Town

Mike Town is a 2010-2011 Einstein Fellow working on STEM education policy issues for the National Science Board Office. For the past 25 years, Michael has taught numerous integrated high school STEM courses in Redmond, Washington including Advanced Placement Environmental Science and Environmental Engineering and Sustainability Design. Both courses are dual credited and Career and Technical Education (CTE) certified. Mike has work on committees in Washington State to design standards for a state certified CTE course in Environmental Science and Sustainability and an endorsement certification in Environmental and Sustainability Education for pre-service teachers. Mike has written significant environmental curriculum. The most notable is the Cool School Challenge (CSC) which enables students to conduct energy audits and develop action plans to measure and reduce the carbon footprint in schools across the United States. The CSC has won the EPA Clean Air Award, and Mike’s CSC students received the Presidents Environmental Youth Award from President Bush. He also helped develop and design an environmental education center and serves as a board member for the Environmental Education Association of Washington. Mike had won numerous awards including the National Education Association Foundation Green Prize for the United States, Environmental Educator of the Year from the North American Association of Environmental Educators and the Conservation Fund Environmental Educator Award for the United States. Mike earned degrees in Environmental Science and/or Science Education from Huxley College of The Environment, Western Washington University and the University of Washington. Mike will be returning to teaching at Redmond High School in Redmond, Washington in September 2011.

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Toward Integrated STEM Education: Developing A Research Agenda

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Toward Integrated STEM Education: Developing A Research Agenda

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Featured publication

STEM Integration in K-12 Education: Status, Prospects, and an Agenda for Research

Description

Collaborators

Committee

Sponsors

Staff

Major units and sub-units

Contact

Contact us

Provide feedback

Request materials

More like this

Review of the draft United by Nature assessment

Modernizing Mathematics Education for Grades 9-14

Health Care Financing to Improve Availability of Affordable Contraception: Identifying Promising Practices

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National Academies Eric and Wendy Schmidt Awards for Excellence in Science Communications

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