Mapping High School Science Teachers’ Approaches to STEMification

STEM teaching is a promising approach to increase student interest in science across educational levels as it integrates disciplines in engaging ways mirroring real-world applications, emphasizing practices such as problem-solving, critical thinking, and hands-on engineering design. However, teachers’ approaches to implementing STEM teaching can vary significantly, depending on available resources, experience, subject, and contextual factors. The STEMification model is a design and planning tool developed in the LabSTEM North project to support teachers´ professional development in STEM teaching. STEMification describes a teaching approach where students engage in science subjects and/or mathematics through inquiry-based learning (IBL) and/or problem-based learning (PBL) processes, involving experiential and collaborative STEM practices necessary to answer the students’ own questions related to the topic. In this paper, we use the model as a mapping tool to explore ways in which high school science teachers apply PBL and IBL principles in their STEM teaching. Applying the model as a mapping tool during interviews helped teachers visualize and compare different IBL/PBL principles combined with diverse approaches to develop STEM teaching. The mapping also helped in redesigning the STEMification model, aiming to make it more applicable as a STEM teaching design and planning tool.