Service-Learning as a Strategy to Improve STEM Education

A regular theme in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education is that students are not prepared to succeed in these fields. While children are naturally curious about the world and how things work, science education is often delivered with the intent that the student will arrive at the answer the teacher has in mind, without room for innovation or growth. This dilemma surfaced as a common theme at the 2012 Colloquium in STEM Education Research at the University of Minnesota earlier this month, including in the keynote address given by Dr. David Hammer of Tufts University.

Science and engineering education specifically are supposed to be focused on the process of inquiry, but instead often focus on the test. “A lot of good arguments are around the wrong answer,“ Dr. Hammer asserted in his address. But the question remains: how do you assess the quality of those ideas? Hammer argues that teachers should design situations that allow students to use inquiry, and therefore encourage their curiosity.

Some classrooms have adapted new methods.

Hammer gave an example of an elementary school classroom that was reading Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, a book about a young boy who hides a dog who has been mistreated by his owner. Students in this class were asked to design a physical structure to hide Shiloh from his owner. They began by designing it on paper, and then created a model to put their design to the test. This project allowed students to use the design process to analyze a dilemma in the book. It also introduced engineering concepts in a reading class, a teaching method that was address by Dr. Maura Borrego from the National Science Foundation in her keynote address at the Colloquium. She asserted that engineering should not stand alone and needs to be in integrated into other subjects, especially literacy.

Service-learning as a strategy for STEM education.

Recent findings from NYLC’s Generator Go Green Initiative surveys show that service-learning increases teacher’s feelings of competence using inquiry-oriented teaching methods in their science classrooms.  Inquiry-oriented learning is vital for teaching STEM subjects, and it allows students to use their natural curiosity to figure out how the world works and how to solve problems.

For students, the findings show that service-learning instills a stronger connection to their community and shows them that they have the power to make a difference. This is vital to get more students academically engaged and involved in STEM careers by proving that what they’re learning is applicable to their lives outside the classroom.

Learn more about NYLC’s work with service-learning and STEM education at www.nylc.org/stem