Leveraging Undergraduate Expertise for Effective STEM Instruction: Insights from a Forensic Science Teaching Partnership

Although integrated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) instruction has been cited as a viable instructional approach to increasing the number of students interested and prepared to enter the STEM workforce, teacher content knowledge can be a limiting factor to effective implementation (Ejiwale, 2013). To address this limitation, college STEM majors can use their content expertise to support the development and implementation of integrated STEM experiences for K-12 students (Ferrara et al., 2018). This research brief reports on a university-high school partnership where undergraduate students in a university forensic science club created and implemented integrated STEM lessons in a local high school classroom. Results indicate undergraduate students gained greater awareness of the complexities of integrated STEM instruction, while also developing greater confidence in their ability to plan and implement effective STEM lessons.