Krista Francis – författare

An accessible text that assumes no prior knowledge, this book is grounded in the realization that "STEM" and "STEM Education" have not yet evolved into fully coherent fields of study, and fills this gap by offering an original model and strategy for developing coherences in a way that both honors the integrity of each of STEM’s constituent disciplines and explores the ways they can amplify one another when used together to address complex contemporary issues. This book demonstrates how STEM can and should be understood as more than a collection of disciplines; it is a transdisciplinary, possibility-rich domain that is much more than the sum of its parts. Building on the actual work of scientists, engineers, and other professionals, the authors disrupt preconceptions about STEM domains, and provide the tools and evidence-based approaches to create new possibilities for all learners. Covering historical influences, theoretical frameworks, and current debates and challenges, this book positions teachers and students as agents of change. Each chapter features In Brief openers to introduce the topic; Opening Anecdotes to reflect the chapter’s key themes; Sidebars to put core principles in context; Consolidating Key Points activities to summarize and highlight important details; and Challenges to build upon and extend topics explored in the chapter from different angles.

An accessible text that assumes no prior knowledge, this book is grounded in the realization that "STEM" and "STEM Education" have not yet evolved into fully coherent fields of study, and fills this gap by offering an original model and strategy for developing coherences in a way that both honors the integrity of each of STEM’s constituent disciplines and explores the ways they can amplify one another when used together to address complex contemporary issues. This book demonstrates how STEM can and should be understood as more than a collection of disciplines; it is a transdisciplinary, possibility-rich domain that is much more than the sum of its parts. Building on the actual work of scientists, engineers, and other professionals, the authors disrupt preconceptions about STEM domains, and provide the tools and evidence-based approaches to create new possibilities for all learners. Covering historical influences, theoretical frameworks, and current debates and challenges, this book positions teachers and students as agents of change. Each chapter features In Brief openers to introduce the topic; Opening Anecdotes to reflect the chapter’s key themes; Sidebars to put core principles in context; Consolidating Key Points activities to summarize and highlight important details; and Challenges to build upon and extend topics explored in the chapter from different angles.

Engaging Minds: Evolving Learning and Teaching explores the diverse beliefs and practices that define the current landscape of formal education. The revised, updated, and expanded fourth edition of this groundbreaking introduction to current interdisciplinary studies of teaching and teacher education is structured around five prominent "frames" of formal education, together offering an overview of the historical and conceptual influences on educational practice: Early Formal Education – likely emerged alongside the creation of origin myths and the invention of symbol-based writing systems, presenting needs for individuals charged with communicating, interpreting, and maintaining such knowledge; Standardized Education – began to unfold in the 1600s, when public education was invented as a response to the cultural convulsions of industrialization, urbanization, and imperialism; Authentic Education – rose to prominence over the last century as researchers began to untangle the complexity of human cognition; Democratic Citizenship Education – fuelled by civil rights movements of the 1960s, with the realization that schools often contribute to (or at least help to perpetuate) inequities and injustices; Systemic Sustainability Education – an emerging trend, as schools and other cultural institutions find themselves out of step with the transition from a mechanization-focused industrialized society to an ecologically-minded and information-based society.These frames serve as the foci of the five chapters of the book, each with three sections that deal, respectively, with history, epistemology, and pedagogy within the frame. Richly illustrated and designed, additional pedagogical features include multiple strategies to highlight and distinguish important vocabulary in the text, as well as suggestions for delving deeper into a given topic. The fourth edition is also complemented by an online resource, learningdiscourses.com, that provides analyses of more than two thousand discourses on learning in education – including summaries and critiques, along with details on their authorship, their imagery, and their associated discourses.