The interaction of history and STEM learning goals in teacher-developed curriculum materials: opportunities and challenges for STEAM education

Abstract

AbstractAlthough the integration of subjects in the curriculum has been advocated in recent years, there exist limited opportunities for teachers of different subjects to implement integrated curricula in schools collaboratively. In this paper, we consider history as a humanities subject that could be integrated with STEM and explore the diverse history-related learning goals found in teacher-developed STEAM curriculum materials. Using integrated STEAM curricula developed by 13 cross-subject teacher teams in Korea, we analyze the presentation of history-related learning goals in the curricula and report several patterns identified across the curricula. First, the majority of the curricula aimed for the learners to identify themselves in their regional and national histories, but other levels of identification were also aimed for. Second, all the curricula included goals related to historical analysis skills, which were sometimes integrated with scientific inquiry skills. Third, we found several goals related to eliciting students’ moral response to history, particularly when the curriculum topic concerned issues at the national level. Fourth, the integration of subjects allowed for exhibiting learners’ historical understanding through various activities and in explanatory, persuasive, and imaginative manners. Overall, the analysis pointed to several ways in which the goals of history learning can interact with those of STEM learning, which can be useful for future research and practice in integrated curriculum. We discuss some potential challenges of integrating history with STEM, such as issues that can arise from the use of the “nation” as a context for STEAM learning.