STEM Education in the 21st Century

The STEM Education Framework is a set of research-based practices that foster STEM learning, as well as the development of higher-order 21st-century skills (e.g., communication, collaboration, critical thinking). Developed in partnership with leading researchers at SRI Education and an international advisory board of experts, the Framework reflects the latest education research and draws upon innovative and effective practices employed around the world. The Framework details 26 features of quality STEM education in three essential areas:

• Core Competencies: To what extent are students provided with opportunities to develop essential 21st-century skills?
• Instructional Design: To what extent do the materials and/or program design reflect research-based pedagogy and a cohesive system of learning objectives, supports, and assessment resources?
• Implementation: To what extent are necessary supports or services available to facilitate distribution and ensure effective implementation?

The Academy’s Framework is unique in that it not only identifies the competencies students need to be successful in today’s workplace—such as creativity, problem solving, and social and cultural awareness—but also provides guidance on how to incorporate these competencies into instructional design.

This course is intended for K–12 STEM educators around the world looking to enhance their instruction to provide meaningful opportunities for their students to develop critical 21st-century skills.

Note that participants must be able to communicate effectively in English and have access to the Internet.

In today's global information- and technology-driven economy, successful individuals must be both STEM literate and equipped with 21st-century skills such as creativity, communication, collaboration, and persistence.

If you are an educator who understands the changing landscape of today’s workplace and are looking to adapt your classroom instruction to incorporate 21st-century skills, then this course is for you. Not only will you learn about the research behind how students develop these skills, but you will apply that knowledge to enhance your instructional practice.

Through this 10-week course participants will be required to:

• Watch roughly 1 hour worth of video content 10 times throughout the 10 weeks (roughly 10 hours of video content is estimated)
• Complete homework assignments. Each assignment will require roughly 1-2 hours of work (20 hours of homework time is estimated)
• Provide feedback and suggestions to peers and communicate with the course instructor through the online forum (10 hours of peer-peer feedback is estimated)
• Assemble a final project. Since most of the final project will be completed throughout the course, participants will likely only need to piece it together. It is estimated that 5 hours may be required for this.

It is estimated that participants will spend 45 hours studying, developing, and collaborating over course materials.

This course will be facilitated by staff or designees of the New York Academy of Sciences. Course facilitators will have regular contact with and oversight from the developers of the course.

Participants of the course will be grouped into sections of 25-30 people. Each section will have a dedicated course facilitator.