STEMification - towards a framework for supporting teachers’ professional development in PBL with a focus on engineering education transitions

To ensure a more diverse group of engineering candidates in the future, increased attention to transitions is needed in STEM education, e.g. by implementing more student-centred and inclusive STEM teaching approaches and practices across all levels of education through professional development. In this abstract, we argue for a holistic understanding of transitions in engineering education both concerning content (transitions related to curriculum development and a shift in focus from scientific knowledge to STEM competencies); cohesion (transitions between subjects and transformation of disciplines toward integrated and interdisciplinary engineering education for sustainable development); and continuity (transitions in the education system through cross-institutional collaboration and coordinated pedagogical approaches). We introduce STEMification as a conceptual framework for facilitating engineering education transitions and trajectories, and as an approach to support teachers’ professional development towards integrated and inclusive STEM teaching across all educational levels. The framework is developed within the Danish research project, LabSTEM North, and builds upon principles from problem-based learning, inquiry-based learning and creative platform learning to offer multiple pathways for supporting student motivation and the development of STEM competencies, applicable to all STEM disciplines at all levels of education.