High Possibility STEM Classrooms: Integrated STEM Learning in Research and Practice

243 Pages·2020·11.885 MB·English

by  Jane Hunter

High Possibility STEM
Classrooms
This book offers a new, research-based approach to STEM education
in early, elementary, and middle years of schooling, concentrating on
building teacher agency and integrated approaches to teaching and
learning in High Possibility STEM Classrooms.
Author Jane Hunter presents a globally oriented, contemporary
framework for powerful Integrated STEM, based on mixed-methods
research data from three studies conducted in 14 schools in language-
diverse, disadvantaged, and urbanized communities in Australia.
Theory, creativity, life preparation, public learning, and contextual
accommodations are all utilized to help educators create hands-on,
inquiry-led, and project-based approaches to STEM education in the
classroom. A set of highly accessible case studies is offered that places
pedagogy at the center of practice – an approach valuable to researchers,
school leaders, and teachers alike.
Ultimately, this text responds to the call for examples of what successful
Integrated STEM teaching and learning looks like in schools. The book
concludes with an evidence-based blueprint for preparing for less siloed
and more transdisciplinary approaches to education in schools. Hunter
argues not only for High Possibility STEM Classrooms but for High
Possibility STEM Schools, enriching the dialogue around the future
directions of STEM, STEAM, middle leadership, technological literacies,
and assessment within contemporary classrooms.
Jane Hunter is a researcher and teacher in K–12 education, Faculty of
Arts & Social Sciences, University of Technology Sydney, Australia.

High Possibility STEM
Classrooms
Integrated STEM Learning
in Research and Practice
Jane Hunter
First published 2021
by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2021 Taylor & Francis
The right of Jane Hunter to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-0-367-89784-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-89786-4 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-02112-4 (ebk)
Typeset in Baskerville
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
For my loving parents, Patrice and Noel, and my
remarkable young people, Claire and Will.

Contents
About the Author viii
List of Figures ix
List of Tables x
Foreword xi
Acknowledgments xiv
Introduction: Why Integrated STEM? 1
1 Models and Approaches to STEM Education
in Schools 20
2 High Possibility STEM Classrooms 47
3 Teaching Integrated STEM to Students From Language
Backgrounds Other Than English 76
4 Disadvantage Is No Barrier to Integrated STEM 103
5 Urban Classrooms Leading From the Middle for
Integrated STEM 131
6 Turning High Possibility STEM Classrooms Into
High Possibility STEM Schools 164
7 What’s Next for Integrated STEM: A Blueprint
and Beyond 195
Index 219
About the Author
Jane Hunter is a researcher in teacher education at the University of
Technology Sydney (UTS), Australia. She is based in the Faculty of
Arts & Social Sciences, where she teaches postgraduate students who are
in the final stages of preparation for classrooms in schools. Prior to her
position at UTS, she taught in teacher education at Western Sydney Uni-
versity and Sydney University. In between these appointments, she had a
7-year stint as a senior policy officer in the NSW Department of Educa-
tion. Her theory-practice background and passionate advocacy for great
teaching and learning in classrooms stems from more than 10 years as
a head teacher and teacher in K–12 schools. Hunter is an international
and national award-winning teacher and a popular keynote speaker, and
in 2019, her research in Australian schools was awarded “high impact”
by the prestigious national body for research the Australian Research
Council. She tweets @janehunter01.
Figures
2.1 The High Possibility Classrooms framework, featuring
the five conceptions 53
2.2 The IO Professional Learning Model 61
2.3 Graphic of the Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM) 65
3.1 Word cloud of teachers’ responses to questions of
capability in the final High Possibility Classrooms workshop 76
3.2 Combined results for Stages of Concern 93
4.1 Creative memo from an 11-year-old student in a special
needs support unit 103
4.2 Combined results for Stages of Concern 125
5.1 Sample of themes and titles of Integrated STEM
programs, challenges, and units of work in early,
elementary, and middle years classrooms in highly
urban contexts 131
5.2 Sharing Day 2 Agenda 151
5.3 Combined results for Stages of Concern 153
7.1 Blueprint for High Possibility STEM Schools 198