Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics are subject areas that are being integrated in classrooms throughout the United States. The integration of these four disciplines is known as STEM education. This type of education seeks to ignite passion and curiosity in students through experiments and activities such as those performed by scientists and engineers in the real-world [1–2]. STEM education supports the use of hands-on activities in the classroom, encourages active student participation, and provides students with the opportunity to collaborate. STEM is important to student motivation and collaboration in the classroom, but it is also essential to our global economy.
This study explored the characteristics of a school that practices the teaching and learning of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and its impact on school culture. The purpose of this single case study was to explore, discover, and describe through interviews, observations, and artifacts, the characteristics present within this STEM school, which has shown an increase in its school climate rating throughout the STEM certification process. Participants of this study included custodians, lunchroom staff, office staff, paraprofessionals, teachers, and administrators. A qualitative approach was chosen for this study to gain a rich description of the participants’ views of STEM education and the impact it has had on the culture of the school. It is anticipated that by discovering how STEM education impacts school culture, decisions may be made to implement this type of integrated curriculum in elementary schools across the United States to benefit students academically and emotionally.
School culture. Paying attention to school culture is one of the most important actions that a leader can perform; successful principals understand the vital role that culture plays in developing a successful school. School culture has an influence on teachers, school administrators, students, and other stakeholders as to how they participate in meaningful practices. It is important for schools to have practices in place that create and sustain a positive school culture consisting of professional development, team building, co-production of curriculum and instruction, collaboration on innovative pedagogies, supportive relationships with students, and most importantly a shared educational vision driven by a sense of purpose. As the world has evolved in the 21st century, there are many challenges to sustaining a positive school culture that supports student achievement, with one challenge being the era of accountability. The era of accountability and concern over student test scores has led schools to focus on effort, process, compliance, and intentions of teachers rather than evidence of student learning. Our current education system has put expectations on teachers to cover, assess, and document achievement based on standards and the accountability systems with little regard for authentic learning. Students have learned to manipulate the system because the education system is built for points, grades, and rankings (Martin, 2018). It is imperative for schools to develop relevant, future-aligned outcomes for students because relevance leads to excellence, and excellence leads to sustainability.
Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) initiatives have been explored in many schools across the United States. This type of education ignites curiosity and passion in our students rather than extinguishing them. STEM encourages instruction that emphasizes a learning-by-doing approach, creating rather than receiving transmitted knowledge, and integration of not only the four domains of STEM but all curriculum. Within STEM education, students participate in problem-based learning that requires several complex problems to be solved; this provides authentic experiences necessary for students to build meaningfully robust science, technology, engineering, and mathematics concepts supported by language arts and social studies.
Scholarly literature was collected from various sources including dissertations, peer-reviewed journals and articles, textbooks, and internet sources. These sources were accessed through databases of Google, Google Scholar, ProQuest, Research Gate, and ERIC. The researcher used the following terms to guide the research: STEM, science, technology, engineering, mathematics, integration, schoolculture, STEM and school culture, inquiry-based learning, student motivation, teachercollaboration, student collaboration, problem-based learning, multidisciplinary, cross-disciplinary, cross-curricular, and administrative practices . The researcher found a plethora of literature highlighting the benefits of STEM education on student achievement, especially in the middle and high school settings. She also found literature explaining the characteristics and benefits of a positive school culture. However, literature was lacking involving STEM education and the impact it may have on school culture. The researcher did not find research studies involving STEM education and school culture. By conducting this study, the researcher gained insight into norms, goals, values, and instructional practices that impact relationships, and organizational structures that are present within an active STEM school. This study’s results provide districts, administrators, teachers, and stakeholders information regarding the impact STEM education can have on students and on the school as a whole.
Research indicates that our world has changed regarding what is needed in the 21st Century workforce. Improving STEM education is a strategy to meet the economic challenges that Americans face as they continue to fall behind in the global economy. Research shows that by using an integrated approach to teaching and learning, students can receive a more relevant and stimulating experience through a student-centered, higher-level thinking, and problem-solving approach. Schools that promote STEM education focus on an inquiry-based approach while integrating the four disciplines; these schools encourage an environment where students conduct experiments as a scientist or engineer in the real-world.
School culture influences everything that happens within a school. The characteristics of a positive school culture are described throughout the literature; many studies indicate that a positive school culture is built on the belief that all students are capable of achievement. Students develop a positive attitude towards schools when they feel supported and cared for; this leads to an increase in engagement in the classroom. Schools that want to achieve a positive culture promote innovation, relationships, collaboration, high expectations, motivation, and community involvement, and share a common goal of personalized and collective learning.
References:
- Abbas Using STEM approach to develop visual reasoning and learning independence for preparatory stage students. / Abbas, S. R. — Education-Project Innovation. — 2017. — № 137. — С. 320–330.
- Handbook on research in science education / Abell, S., &. Lederman, N. — California: Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage., 2007. — 180 c.
