The role of new technologies in STEM education

Abstract

INTRODUCTION. The growing interest around STEM teachings is the result of the urgent need for professionals in the scientific-technological added to the need to promote scientific literacy among citizens. This way, the society will be able to face the great current socio-scientific problems. The active contribution of emerging technologies as facilitators of the teaching-learning process are pre-sented as a key tool to promote STEM vocations, develop scientific work skills and improve the in-terpretation of processes and concepts. METHOD. This paper introduces a compilation of theoretical and applied research to the scientific community, that sheds light to the important role of new technologies in STEM Education, and also the needs of future research. RESULTS. The included research papers show that scientific production in this field has experienced an exponential growth in recent years, with an exponential growth in the application of virtual reality in STEM areas. Virtual simulations pose different challenges for their effective implementation, either if they are developed through virtual reality or as an interactive virtual environment. On the one hand, it is crucial to determine the validity of applets as facilitators of scientific learning; on the other hand, it is also important to know the teacher’s competences in the use of these technologies for STEM education. Finally, clear evidence is shown about how simulations and virtual laboratories improve scientific-technological teaching as well as the construction of mental models. DISCUSSION. These results allow us to focus on deepening in the development of new technologies, as well as in the complex task of selecting the most suitable simulators, and in the training needs for teachers.