The interaction of history and STEM learning goals in teacher-developed curriculum materials

Opportunities and challenges for STEAM education

Bibliographic Data

ID5848869
AuthorsWonyong Park (0000-0002-8911-5968, University of Southampton), Hohee Cho (0000-0001-9030-2667, University of Oxford, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume23
Issue3
Pages457-474
Publication date2022-01-29
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAsia Pacific Education Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1598-1037 • E-ISSN: 1876-407X
PublisherSpringer Science+Business Media (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1007/s12564-022-09741-0
OpenAlexW4221021009
LanguageEN
Citations received15
References cited66

Although the integration of subjects in the curriculum has been advocated in recent years, there exist limited opportunities for teachers of different subjects to implement integrated curricula in schools collaboratively. In this paper, we consider history as a humanities subject that could be integrated with STEM and explore the diverse history-related learning goals found in teacher-developed STEAM curriculum materials. Using integrated STEAM curricula developed by 13 cross-subject teacher teams in Korea, we analyze the presentation of history-related learning goals in the curricula and report several patterns identified across the curricula. First, the majority of the curricula aimed for the learners to identify themselves in their regional and national histories, but other levels of identification were also aimed for. Second, all the curricula included goals related to historical analysis skills, which were sometimes integrated with scientific inquiry skills. Third, we found several goals related to eliciting students' moral response to history, particularly when the curriculum topic concerned issues at the national level. Fourth, the integration of subjects allowed for exhibiting learners' historical understanding through various activities and in explanatory, persuasive, and imaginative manners. Overall, the analysis pointed to several ways in which the goals of history learning can interact with those of STEM learning, which can be useful for future research and practice in integrated curriculum. We discuss some potential challenges of integrating history with STEM, such as issues that can arise from the use of the "nation" as a context for STEAM learning

Emergent curriculum · Identification · Digital Storytelling and Education · Educational Research and Pedagogy · Educator Training and Historical Pedagogy

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Open DOIOpen Access