Designing Meaningful STEM Lessons
Author Dr. Maeve Liston
Director of Enterprise & Community Engagement
Senior Lecturer in Science Education
Mary Immaculate College
Maeve.liston@mic.ul.ie
In a previous article of Science ( Volume 53, No. 3) entitled Unravelling STEM: Beyond theacronym of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, I discussed that there is quitea lot of uncertainty around the design and understanding of STEM (Science, Technology,Engineering and Mathematics) activities.
The article questioned what is STEM education? andexplored the emergence of STEM, and the characteristics of true authentic STEM activitiesand lessons. This article will explore the concept of STEM education in further detail i.e.characteristics of STEM literacy, what do STEM lessons look like? attributes of a STEMclassroom and the Engineering Design Process (EDP). The article will finish with examples ofhow you could introduce EDP to your students through a variety of STEM challenges.