Mathematics traditionally has been taught in a way that reifies the cultural belief that it is discrete in nature and, therefore, irrelevant to other content areas and the real world. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, inclusive of mathematics teacher educators, views this belief as unproductive to learning and has stressed the need for…

STEM education should be grounded in our knowledge of how students think in STEM-focused learning environments. However, little is currently known regarding specific types of thinking in these contexts. We explore the theoretical notion of STEM Ways of Thinking (SWoT) in interdisciplinary learning situations. Our primary focus is not on the…

Research has revealed that a small percentage of weekly instructional time in the elementary grades is dedicated to teaching science. Additionally, elementary educators receive limited preparation to teach science concepts compared to math or literacy skills. Therefore, this study examined if utilizing poetry to teach science concepts had a…

Integrated STEM education within North America has become a popular pedagogy; however, teachers identify challenges that arise when planning for and implementing integrated STEM education. These challenges may threaten STEM teachers' capacity to balance disciplinary and integrated learning, a core feature of effective STEM education. The purpose…

Problem-based learning (PBL) and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) are two acronyms widely visible in education literature today. However, few studies have explored these in connection with one another, specifically with regard to teacher preparation. This study investigated how 47 prospective elementary teachers developed…

Complementing the aims of problem-based inquiry, a pedagogical approach called design thinking (DT) has students grapple with issues that require a creative redefinition and reimagining of solutions akin to professional skills of designers, who consider conflicting priorities and complex negotiations to arrive at a solution to an ill-defined…

Nationally, there is a steadily increasing emphasis on the improvement of STEM education. This includes the integration of STEM subjects that have been traditionally taught separately, making it critical that prospective STEM educators are equipped to teach using integrated STEM approaches. Connected, an important challenge is providing preservice…

In this paper, we examined students' engagement in an implementation of a Workplace Simulation Project (WSP). The WSP was designed to actively engage students in learning disciplinary content by inviting engineers from industry to have a physical presence within the school building to collaborate with teachers and students to complete projects…

Numerous national initiatives call for interdisciplinary mathematics and science education, but few empirical studies have examined practical considerations for integrated instruction in high school settings. The purpose of this qualitative study was twofold. First, the study sought to describe how and to what extent teachers integrate mathematics…

Current reform efforts in science education around the world call on teachers to use integrated approaches to teach science. As a part of such reform efforts in the United States, engineering practices and engineering design have been identified in K-12 science education standards. However, there is relatively little is known about effective ways…

Use of mathematics-related literature can engage students' interest and increase their understanding of mathematical concepts. A quasi-experimental study of two second-grade classrooms assessed whether daily inclusion of geometry-related literature in the classroom improved attitudes toward geometry and achievement in geometry. Consistent with the…

The recent trend to unite mathematically related disciplines (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) under the broader umbrella of STEM education has advantages. In this new educational context of integration, however, STEM teachers need to be able to distinguish between sufficient proof and reasoning across different disciplines,…

Increasing mathematical competencies of American students has been a focus for educators, researchers, and policy makers alike. One purported approach to increase student learning is through connecting mathematics and science curricula. Yet there is a lack of research examining the impact of making these connections. The Mathematics Infusion into…

We describe and analyze a professional development (PD) model that involved a partnership among science, mathematics and education university faculty, science and mathematics coordinators, and middle school administrators, teachers, and students. The overarching project goal involved the implementation of interdisciplinary STEM Design Challenges…

In this qualitative research study, we sought to understand teachers' conceptions of integrated mathematics. The participants were teachers in the first year of implementation of a state-mandated, high school integrated mathematics curriculum. The primary data sources for this study included focus group and individual interviews. Through our…