STEM

From Theoretical
Backgrounds to Applications
By Lamis Adada
Share Knowledge
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What is STEM?
 It is not just a grouping of subjects in a
catchy acronym.

 It is a new way of learning

 Boundaries between the four
disciplines are lifted making
learning more meaningful.
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Why it Matters?

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There is a current
high demand for workforce in STEM
related careers in both industry and
academia.
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Theoretical
Background of
STEM
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⦁ STEM has been influenced by several cognitive and
developmental learning theories.

⦁ Why learning theories are important?

Learning theories enrich our understanding of
how people learn and grow.
The most important ones
are:

Piaget’s Constructivism

Papert’s Constructionism
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Both Jean Piaget and Seymour Papert were
pshchologists and pedagogues.

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 Constructivism
⦁ Piaget described how children’s ways of doing and thinking evolve over time at
different stages of their development.
⦁ Piaget’s theory:
- Children have a rigid stubborn views of the world.
- Conceptual change is not easily done. There is a resistance to
learning.
- Conceptual change emerges as a result of people’s action in the
world or experiences.

- Children construct their own knowledge by

“discovering” and “experiencing”. 17
Implications for Education
⦁ Teaching should be always indirect. Children don’t just take what is
being said. They process information in the light of their previous
knowledge and experience.

⦁ Didactic lecturing of concepts is ineffective.

⦁ Learning does not result from transmission of facts and theories.

Knowledge is constructed by experiential interactions with the world,
people and things.

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Constructionism
⦁ Papert believed as Piaget that knowledge is actively constructed by the
child but he focusses more on the art of learning by making things or
artifacts that are tangible and sharable.
⦁ “Learn by doing.” or “ Tinkering”.
⦁ He stresses the importance of tools, media, and context to build knowledge.
Digital fluency empowers concepts and ideas.
⦁ According to Papert, kids must be given opportunities and time to invent
and construct technological, mechanical and highly sophisticated devices

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⦁ 8 Big Ideas of
Papert
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Ideas are powerful if:
⦁ There are useful.

⦁ They can be connected to other situations.

⦁ Fits personal identity and need

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Papert’s Big Ideas
⦁ Papert (2000) rationalizes  the failure of school
reforms due to rigid curricula that focus on
attainment of skills and concepts on the expense
of giving opportunities for “big ideas.” These
ideas are averted in schools’ environment.  

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A constructionist lab
that allows for
tinkering is called a
makerspace.

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⦁ Both theories acknowledge the need of students to unfold
their natural gifts.

⦁ Student-centered teaching and learning approaches must

be adopted.

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Teaching Methods

Should Foster 21 century

st

skills

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- Inquiry (curiosity)
- Problem-solving + Critical thinking
- Collaboration + communication
- Creativity
- Resilience
- Resourcefulness

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Teacher’ s Role:
⦁ A teacher is more than a facilitator of
knowledge.
⦁ A teacher is a designer: designing situations
that create real-life challenges.
⦁ A teacher “ scaffolds” learning.

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How STEM Promotes Learning?
⦁ It is an intersection between theory and practice.

⦁ Simulates life: students come up with a creative and innovative design

for a product that can help in solving a problem or a challenge making a
task easier.

⦁ Empowers citizens to think of local and global problems.

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STEM increases:
1- students’ understanding
2- engagement
3- motivation to learn

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4
Pedagogical
Approaches of
STEM

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⦁ STEM lessons focus on real-world issues and problems,
and are led by the Engineering design process.
They are meant to engage students in inquiry, to allow a
diversity of solutions, and to reframe failure as an
essential part of cognitive growth
Engineering Process (not the discipline)
⦁ Process where students are putting things together that
might work and understand the mechanism that lies
behind it.

⦁ It is a seven step cycle.

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In a STEM Project
There is a degree of optimization

Conditions or factors that make the design better.

STEM projects are competitive in nature. Which design is

“better”?

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Activity:

1. Both involve science and

math.
2. Both involve teamwork.
3. Both are students-centered.
4. Both Involve hands-on
approach
5. Both focus on real-life
problems.
6. Both involve collecting and
analyzing data

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Design Aspect
lesson #1 offe3rs students no choice in dsigning solution

Process of designing and creating prototypes:

It was absent in lesson #1

Testing process:
lesson # 2 involved teams in conducting
actual tests of the air cushions.

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PBL Project-based Learning
⦁ STEM supports the teaching strategy of Project-
based Learning.
⦁ PBL is a kind of open inquiry and the simplest
definition of PBL is a “well-defined outcome with
an ill-defined task”

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⦁ In PBL, students are engaged in challenging real-life
problems in contexts that connect new ideas to their
prior knowledge. Expertise of students is built through
the teacher’s scaffolding and occasional feedback.
Moreover, PBL offers opportunities for students to work
collaboratively and autonomously over a period of time

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5 –step Teaching
Paradigm of
STEM
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STEAM
⦁ STEAM is a way to take the benefits of STEM and complete the package by
integrating these principles in and through the arts.  STEAM takes STEM to the
next level: it allows students to connect their learning in these critical areas
together with arts practices, elements, design principles, and standards to provide
the whole pallet of learning at their disposal.  STEAM removes limitations and
replaces them with wonder, critique, inquiry, and innovation.

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⦁ STEM promotes “Tinkering”

⦁ In a “Makerspace”

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⦁ Focus
In this step, we’re selecting an essential question to answer or problem to solve. 
⦁ Detail
During the detail phase, you’re looking for the elements that are contributing to the problem or
question.
⦁ Discovery
Discovery is all about active research and intentional teaching. 
⦁ Application: They can begin to create their own solution or composition to the problem.  This
is where they use the skills, processes and knowledge that were taught in the discovery stage
and put them to work.
⦁ Presentation
Once students have created their solution or composition, it’s time to share it.  
⦁ Link
Based on that reflection, students are able to revise their work as needed and to produce an even 51
Hope Yu
enjoyed.

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