Broadening Participation

There is a need to arm students with noncognitive, or 21^st Century, skills to prepare them for a more STEM-based job market. As STEM schools are created in a response to this call to action, research is needed to better understand how exemplary STEM schools successfully accomplish this goal. This conversion mixed method study analyzed student work samples and teacher lesson plans from seven exemplary inclusive STEM high schools to better understand at what level teachers at these schools are engaging and developing student 21^st Century skills.

Background: Research suggests that teachers’ views of their students’ capabilities matter when attempting to accomplish instructional reform, particularly in settings serving historically marginalized groups of students. However, to date, this issue has received minimal attention in the scholarship and practice of mathematics instructional reform.

This tool, Rhizome, contains three foundational pillars: complex socio-ecological systems, nature-culture relations, and field-based science learning, with student learning and sense making made central. The Seasonal Storyline engages learners and their families in field-based science that connects family knowledge and place-based, student-led investigations.