- Wednesday 22 March 2023
- 0 Comments
University Engineering Lecturer, Dr Nicolo Malagutti, examines why learning STEM is important for children at primary age.
As an engineering educator and scientific researcher, I see STEM as a way of framing the physical world around us as an intricate combination of parts and systems. The fact that some of these parts are natural (e.g. rocks, plants, animals, etc.) while others are made by humans (e.g. cars, computers, bridges, satellites, etc.) may delineate ‘disciplines’ within STEM, but is ultimately of secondary importance. What unifies STEM, in my view, is a fundamental curiosity towards these entities and the ways in which they exist, operate, and interact with one another.
Some people tend to associate STEM with impervious, brainy work. I consider this to be an unhelpful misconception which risks intimidating students. It is entirely possible to engage in STEM at varying levels of skill and expertise. While in the media we often see specialists practising to a high degree of complexity, foundational STEM skills and knowledge can be very practical, and accessible, at primary school age.
In a similar way that we support other abilities in our children (e.g. motor, literacy and social skills), introducing STEM principles and frameworks from a young age aligns well with kids’ naturally inquisitive disposition, and empowers them to become independent learners later in life. Having a strong STEM foundation will enable them to engage with the many opportunities and challenges associated with today’s unprecedented rate of scientific, and technological, advancement, and act as agents for positive change in our complex world.
How can teachers foster a curiosity within their students?
Each year group has its pedagogical peculiarities, and it is important to keep in mind that within a class of students, there will always be a variety of learning styles and aptitudes—which means that a one-size-fits-all approach probably does not exist. My curiosity triggers for university students would probably fall rather flat in a primary school classroom! Taking a more abstract view of STEM program design, I can identify three principles, which I regularly draw upon as part of my own strategies for student engagement:
- Choice of contents and materials should be made as relevant as possible to the students’ own lived experience, e.g. using cohort-appropriate case studies and examples. Perceived familiarity with the subject matter can abate emotional barriers and foster student enthusiasm.
- Learning activities should include a substantial practical component. Research has shown that hands-on, experiential work reinforces conceptual learning, and delivers validation to students through the creation of tangible outputs.
- Knowledge progression within topic areas should be made gradual and be supported by a strong underlying narrative. This can support students with solid wayfinding and motivate them to pursue incremental, achievable objectives.
Within a class setting, team and peer-sharing activities are also fantastic tools, as they can trigger learning dialogues that are not reliant on teacher input. This independence can help develop learner confidence and self-guided inquiry skills.
How is STEM best taught in schools?
While any discussion of specific teaching methods is best directed at pedagogists with expertise in primary-age children, from my perspective, as a tertiary-level professional who happens to work in a field where all four letters of STEM come together, I can point to a couple of things that schools could perhaps do better.
STEM disciplines share many transversal features (e.g. use of mathematical language, algorithmic reasoning, systems thinking, etc.). However, for organisational reasons, teaching in schools can become siloed along subject lines, limiting students’ ability to unify knowledge until a much later stage in their educational journey. Improved integration of syllabuses across STEM subjects would likely enhance student outcomes and motivation. For example, why not use arithmetic (maths) to calculate the required feed for the class pets (science) and then build a LEGO® robot (engineering/computing) to dispense it? (Spoiler alert: I checked this one with my kids and they confirmed it would be an awesome activity.)
STEM teachers in schools are not required to hold university training in the STEM subjects they teach. Some may complete a double degree, or an additional diploma, but it is not a strict requirement. This can be a challenge from an educational perspective. While headline curriculum items for primary school are simple at face value, a non-expert may inadvertently teach in ways that are not scientifically rigorous and pave the way for dangerous student misconceptions further down the track. (I have observed this first-hand, multiple times, in perfectly reputable schools.) On the other hand, many STEM experts would probably make terrible school teachers—an argument in favour of pedagogy training over technical expertise. Schools would be well served by investing in expert-developed teaching materials and subject-area training, and by seeking out partnerships with industry and/or academia, to offer children the opportunity to interact with and learn from real-world STEM practitioners.
Fruitful futures
As a tertiary educator, I see the fruits—and sometimes the drawbacks—of students’ prior STEM education experiences through primary and secondary school. Notably, my best students have not necessarily been the ones who have covered the largest number of background topics in prior studies. Instead, I have found that those top students share a deep sense of persistent curiosity, and well-developed intuition when it comes to harnessing and applying STEM knowledge.
Having spoken to many of these high achievers over the years, they will often trace their talent back to the good work of an inspiring teacher or mentor, who successfully modelled STEM thinking through their own work and ‘made things click into place’. I take these conversations as a powerful reminder that teachers who want to drive deeper learning, must strive for deep teaching, i.e. reach beyond the oft-dry worksheets and fact lists, and truly engage with the students’ ability to reason in discipline-appropriate ways.
.png)
Dr Nicolo Malagutti is lecturer in Engineering at the Australian National University (Canberra, Australia) and Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. He holds a master’s degree in engineering from Politecnico di Milano (Italy) and a PhD from the ANU. His expertise is in biomedical engineering, a highly multidisciplinary field that concerns the use of engineering technology in health applications. Nicolo has over 10 years’ experience in tertiary teaching and developing curricula for engineering education. As technical lead of a medical technology start-up company in Canberra, he is also an employer and mentor to young STEM talent. He is passionate about unlocking young engineers’ potential to better our world.
Explore the wide world of STEM in your classroom, with our range of hands-on STEM resources, including our STEM projects box sets, equipment kits and Australian Curriculum Science-linked teacher resources.