Integrative Thinking and Knowledge Generation in Stea+m Education: Trans-Disciplinary Understandings of Inquiry-Based Practices

This book examines how integrative practices are conceived, described, and taught within the context of STEA+M education. STEA+M education is far more than a disciplinary expansion of STEM education; it is a paradigmatic shift in educational purpose and practice, offering a framework for rethinking how knowledge is produced, whose voices are legitimised, and what purposes education serves. The authors argue that teachers must not only understand the knowledge and skills of a specialist discipline but also understand how to integrate and synthesise knowledge in a cross-disciplinary fashion between several disciplines simultaneously. For teachers to effectively integrate multiple educational domains, they must engage students in integrative STEA+M thinking practices such as inquiry-based learning, student agency, and neo-twenty-first century skills. This must occur not only within, but also across, disciplines in an integrated manner, whether this involves multi-, inter-, or trans-disciplinary approaches. This skill is defined as integrative inquiry literacy.

Gillian Kidman is from Monash University, Australia. She specialises in science, mathematics, geography education, and integrative STEM/STEAM education.

Hazel Tan is from Monash University, Australia. She specialises in secondary mathematics and integrative STEM/STEAM education.

Roland Gesthuizen is a senior teacher with the Department of Education Victoria. He specialises in digital pedagogy and computational thinking.

Dominador Dizon Mangao is from the Philippine Normal University, Philippines. He is a specialist in Science Education.