“Can We Build the Wind Powered Car Again?” Students’ and Teachers’ Responses to a New Integrated STEM Curriculum

Abstract

Recently, STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education has become a focus in the Australian context, particularly since the release of government-initiated reports into Australia’s falling performance on international tests and fewer enrolments in senior school STEM subjects and university STEM degrees. Since student engagement in STEM subjects begins to decline in primary school (Kindergarten to grade 6 in Australia [5-12 years of age]), addressing engagement and achievement in the STEM subjects requires support for teachers to design curriculum that enthuses students and develops their understanding of the role of the STEM subjects in solving real-world problems. To that end, a year-long professional learning program was developed to assist small teams of teachers from each of 13 primary schools in designing integrated STEM curriculum approaches. To determine the impact of the program on teachers’ capacity to design integrated STEM curriculum and on students’ STEM attitudes and aspirations, data were collected using both qualitative and quantitative research methods. This paper presents a case study of one of the participating primary schools. From the 44 grade 3 students who completed both pre- and post-surveys, students’ attitudes and aspirations towards the STEM subjects showed significant positive shifts. Analyses of school documents and transcripts of interviews with four teachers and a group of four students from the school enabled.