Learning Together: A User-Friendly Tool to Support Research on STEM Education Interventions
Abstract
"Federally funded K-12 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education projects are generally expected not only to use what is already known in designing and implementing interventions but also to add to the knowledge base. STEM education projects supported by NSF, the Department of Education, and other funders, often involve a mix of people with quite different backgrounds and prior experiences: STEM faculty; STEM education faculty; district supervisors; and master teachers. Involving people with diverse backgrounds helps bring a great deal of expertise to the table, but at the same time it can create communication challenges, as the terminology that some people find extremely useful can seem like just a lot of jargon to others. This document provides a brief introduction to research on K-12 STEM education interventions; it is intended to help people who may be new to social science research understand some of the key issues. We include some terminology commonly used in social science, but the emphasis is on developing concepts that project teams can refer to as they design and implement research."
