Open AccessCareer-Based Scenarios as a Mechanism for Fostering Students’ Interest in Science and Understandings of STEM Careers
Author(s) -
Irene Drymiotou,
Costas Constantinou,
Lucy Avraamidou
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
international journal of designs for learning
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2159-449X
DOI - 10.14434/ijdl.v12i3.31656
Subject(s) - curriculum , set (abstract data type) , process (computing) , mechanism (biology) , career pathways , engineering ethics , pedagogy , mathematics education , psychology , computer science , medical education , engineering , medicine , philosophy , epistemology , programming language , operating system
Our purpose in this paper is to shed light on the intricacies of designing and enacting curricular innovations aiming to enhance students’ interest in science and their understandings of STEM careers. We present the design and describe the implementation of a set of STEM career-oriented curriculum materials referred to as career-based scenarios. A review of the literature demonstrates that such curricular innovations create potentially useful mechanisms for broadening students’ awareness of STEM careers and facilitating more informed decisions. We present the design process we followed to create career-based scenarios and we provide a rationale for each design decision. We also provide a description of the implementation of one representative scenario in three school classrooms. We conclude with a reflective section in which we identify lessons learned from our experiences and broader implications for curricular innovations targeting students’ interests.