Design Principles for Considering the Participatory Relationship of Students, Teachers, Curriculum, and Place in Project-Based STEM Units

Bibliographic Data

ID22041880
AuthorsJessica R Stephenson Reaves (Kennesaw State University), Jessica Stephenson Reaves (0009-0001-8517-6616, Kennesaw State University, corresponding author), Rasheda Likely (Kennesaw State University, corresponding author), Anna Maria Arias (0000-0003-0135-5519, Kennesaw State University, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume12
Issue11
Pages760
Publication date2022-10-28
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEducation Sciences (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2227-7102 • E-ISSN: 2227-7102
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/educsci12110760
OpenAlexW4307946547
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited86

Historically, STEM learning spaces and curriculum have overlooked the strengths and agency of students, teachers, and their communities. Project-based STEM units about environmental issues like water quality offer the possibility to create more expansive, equitable learning experiences. These units can leverage local problems and resources while also including the global dimensions of the issue to provide meaningful opportunities for diverse student sensemaking. However, even project-based STEM learning requires explicit attention to the agency of teachers, students, and place. In order to identify a set of design principles for supporting equitable learning in a project-based STEM curriculum, this manuscript brings together a set of empirical and theoretical frameworks including teacher participatory relationship with the curriculum, culturally sustaining pedagogy, critical pedagogy of place, and equitable sensemaking. The authors use these frameworks to describe a conceptual model of Participatory Relationship of Students, Communities, Teachers, Curriculum and Place. Then, the manuscript outlines a set of seven design principles that connect to the theoretical frameworks to the conceptual model and provide implementation strategies with examples of how we apply these design principles to a project-based STEM unit for 4–8 grade students. The design principles have implications for design of future project-based units and learning opportunities for teachers and students

Conceptual framework · Curriculum · Engineering ethics · Knowledge management · Mathematics education · Pedagogy · Sociology · Computer Science · Diverse Educational Innovations Studies · Educational Environments and Student Outcomes · Engineering · Indigenous and Place-Based Education · Psychology

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access