STEM Literacy: How does the incorporation of engineering concepts into science classrooms affect students' achievement?
"Most real-world problems are ill-defined, lacking required information, and not having a
known correct nor best solution. School science has traditionally been built around well-
defined problems, such as predicting an ideal projectile’s trajectory" (Fortus, Dershimer, & Krajcik, 2004). The results of such "science" are students who do not truly understand what it is to practice science. Students become incapable of asking the deeper, more important "how" and "why" questions. They only want to know facts to pass a test. Students become incapable of understanding the reasoning for carrying out a procedure. They just do it because the teacher told them to (which means they could not come up with their own procedure if needed). Students cannot view and organize data in a systematic manner. They just find bits and pieces of evidence that fit whatever argument they would like to make, ignore the rest, and make poor arguments about why something happens the way it does. None of this is good science.
I can recall, personally, moments while sitting in science classes thinking, "This can't be the right way to learn this stuff." For example, while talking about the motion of an object, the teacher or professor would say, "We will just treat it as though it's on a frictionless surface...". But, when is the last time we have encountered a frictionless surface?! Never! Situations like that never made sense to me. By using a design-based approach, students must wrestle with such variables, rather than ignore them.
Students will learn to "own" their learning in a design-based classroom, because the projects are created by the students. They will have a greater desire to know and understand the important information, since it allows them to make better judgements and learn the material in a manner that improves their designs. Students will also have a sense of accomplishment. However, it is noted that such curricula is difficult to create and manage. Careful planning must be done so that students are merely "playing with stuff" in the classroom, and never learning the necessary material. Students need to know how they will be assessed, and be focused in on the key components of the projects. Teachers must be willing to be more flexible, because no two designs or projects will look alike. Students can come up with multiple solutions for one problem, yet they can all be good, valid solutions that the teacher must recognize. Time also becomes a factor.
The benefits, though, are great. We know that life's problems are "ill-defined", and require much thought in order to solve them. If students are not prepared to solve these problems, then we as educators are doing them a disservice.
Fortus, D., Dershimer, R. C., Krajcik, J. S., Marx, R. W., & Mamlok-Naaman, R. (2004). Design-based science
and student learning. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 41(10), 1081-1110.
Great points! Students "owning" their education is important, not only because they can take control of their learning, but also because it can teach them an invaluable life lesson of responsibility. In order for our students to succeed past our classrooms, we have got to teach them to go beyond the "normal" thinking and learning skills. We need to teach higher level thinking and really get their brains working!
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