- Year 2024
- NSF Noyce Award # 2042641
- First Name Mark
- Last Name Marnich
- Registration Faculty/Administrator/Other
- Discipline STEM Education (general)
- Role Co-PI
- Presenters
Mark Marnich, Point Park University
Need
This project aims to serve the national interest by improving the quality and effectiveness of STEM education for pre-service teachers through a focus on integration of makerspace pedagogy. Makerspace education involves students working with their hands collaboratively to make, learn, explore, and share to advance their learning and success in STEM areas. The study primarily focuses on undergraduate pre-service teaching students majoring in elementary education. The project builds knowledge about teaching and learning by developing, implementing, and assessing faculty development, interactive instruction, and STEM lesson plan development. The project utilizes a makerspace laboratory at Point Park University.
Research Questions
Community partners, the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, the Matt’s Makerspace Organization, and the Allegheny Intermediate Unit, partnered with Point Park University faculty in the School of Education and the Department of Natural Science, Engineering and Technology. Utilizing qualitative research methodology, the project investigates the following research question: What do pre-service teachers (education students) and faculty members identify as areas of pedagogical growth in STEM learning and teaching in a makerspace environment?
Approach
As institutions of higher education focus on high-impact practices for undergraduate students, interdisciplinary STEM learning and teaching in a makerspace environment is an innovative approach to STEM education preparation for pre-service teachers. The proposed project will leverage community partners and makerspace activities that are flexible enough to be replicated at institutions with or without their own makerspace labs. The theoretical framework for effective STEM education can be traced back to Piaget and Vygotsky’s theories on constructivist and social constructivist teaching and learning, whereby learning is an active process (Piaget, 1969; Vygotsky, 1978). Experiential learning builds upon Piaget and Vygotsky’s theories by engaging students in an activity or experience and then guiding them to reflect upon the respective activity or experience. The positive benefits of experiential learning are well documented (Kuk, 2018; Kolb, 2017; Coker, 2015; Eyler, 2009; Kolb, 1984). Authentic learning experiences have been shown to improve students’ academic performance in STEM education (Blue, 2014). They differ from traditional teacher-led and content-focused methods, transforming instruction to engage students in learning new concepts and processes of STEM education. Authentic instruction includes five components: (1) higher-order thinking, (2) depth of knowledge, (3) connectedness, (4) substantive conversation, and (5) social support for student achievement (Blue, 2014). To support student acquisition of STEM skills and literacy, teachers must provide opportunities for students to learn, reflect upon, and develop the skills for scientific thinking. Classroom teachers can develop STEM thinking by gaining content knowledge in STEM disciplines, participating in authentic learning experiences through an interdisciplinary approach, and experimenting with STEM activities (Blue, 2014). In 2015, NASA’s Minority University Research Enhancement Project (MUREP) launched a partnership with universities targeted at promoting equity in STEM education by focusing on high-quality professional development to prepare faculty to upgrade and enhance their STEM teaching methodologies (Huling & Resta, 2020). Huling and Resta’s study analyzed the impacts of the NASA partnership and professional development on the instructional practices of university faculty and found strong indication that their investment resulted in a “multipier effect” beyond the direct impacts on faculty participants. The TIME for STEM project builds on this model of improving STEM education through community partnerships and faculty development, but also combines institutional partnership for faculty development and student growth integrating STEM teaching and learning across the curriculum for preK-4 certification students.
Outcomes
The overarching goal of TIME for STEM is to improve the quality and effectiveness of STEM education for faculty and pre-service teachers. A critical outcome of the study includes the revision of ten interdisciplinary education methods courses to emphasize STEM experiential learning through makerspace pedagogy. The evaluation plan includes extensive formative and summative assessment over three years that focuses on pre-service teachers and education faculty. At this point in the study, findings that compare pre/post surveys indicate an increased understanding of makerspace education and its integration to STEM for pre-service teachers.
Broader Impacts
TIME for STEM will have a multiplier effect beyond the project’s direct participants. Education students at PPU will improve their own STEM teaching and learning skills, which will benefit their future classrooms. By preparing pre-service teachers in quality and effective STEM teaching and learning, PPU will ensure students demonstrate higher levels of thinking, a growth mindset, and the skills to design, create, reflect, redesign, collaborate, communicate, problem-solve, and think critically. When students develop higher level thinking skills, they improve their mathematics and scientific acheivements, which are essential for the 21st century STEM workforce. Lastly, teacher preparation programs at other universities will benefit from learning which methodologies better prepare teaching students with the theory, knowledge, and skills to facilitate makerspace education for STEM teaching and learning.
