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Towards the ATS STEM
Conceptual Framework
Report #5 of
ATS STEM Report Series
Deirdre Butler
Eilish McLoughlin
Michael O’Leary
Sila Kaya
Mark Brown
Eamon Costello
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Please cite as: Butler., D., McLoughlin E., O’Leary, M., Kaya, S., Brown, M. & Costello, E. (2020).
Towards the ATS STEM Conceptual Framework. ATS STEM Report #5.Dublin: Dublin City University.
http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3673559
This is Report #5 of #5 in the ATS STEM Report Series. The other reports in the series are as follows
and are available from the project website: http://www.atsstem.eu/ireland/reports/
• Report #1: STEM Education in Schools: What Can We Learn from the Research?
• Report #2: Government Responses to the Challenge of STEM Education: Case Studies from
Europe
• Report #3: Digital Formative Assessment of Transversal Skills in STEM: A Review of
Underlying Principles and Best Practice
• Report #4: Virtual Learning Environments and Digital Tools for Implementing Formative
Assessment of Transversal Skills in STEM
• Report #5: Towards the ATS STEM Conceptual Framework
ISBN: 978-1-911669-06-7
This work is licensed under aCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
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ATS STEM Report Series: Report #5
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword ................................................................................................................................................. 3
Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................ 5
Executive Summary ............................................................................................................................ 6
Introduction............................................................................................................................................ 8
Existing STEM Education Frameworks ........................................................................................ 9
ATS STEM Conceptual Framework ..............................................................................................11
Core STEM Competences ................................................................................................................13
Problem-solving ...................................................................................................................15
Innovation and Creativity .................................................................................................15
Communication .....................................................................................................................15
Critical-thinking ....................................................................................................................16
Meta-cognitive Skills ..........................................................................................................16
Collaboration .........................................................................................................................16
Self-regulation ......................................................................................................................16
Disciplinary Competences ................................................................................................16
STEM Learning Design Principles ................................................................................................17
Problem Solving Design and Approaches ..................................................................17
Disciplinary and Interdisciplinary Knowledge ..........................................................18
Engineering Design and Practices ................................................................................19
Appropriate Use and Application of Technology ....................................................19
Real-world Contexts ........................................................................................................... 19
Appropriate Pedagogical Practices ..............................................................................20
Key Features of Formative Assessment Tasks ......................................................................21
Underlying Principles .........................................................................................................22
Key Strategies ......................................................................................................................22
The Need for Validity Evidence .....................................................................................22
EectiveFeedback .............................................................................................................23
Key Features of Digital Assessment Tools ..............................................................................24
Functional ..............................................................................................................................25
Flexible ....................................................................................................................................25
Practical and Useful ...........................................................................................................26
Expanded ATS STEM Conceptual Framework .........................................................................27
References............................................................................................................................................29
Appendix A ...........................................................................................................................................35
Appendix B ...........................................................................................................................................37
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The ATS STEM Conceptual Framework
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Overview of frameworks in STEM Education ........................................................10
Table2:DenitionofCompetenceproposedforaEuropean
QualicationsFramework(ENCoRE,2005,p.11)...................................................................14
Table 3: Key features of formative assessment tasks ........................................................21
Table 4: Key features of digital assessment tools ...............................................................24
Table5:CERframeworkforscienceexplanations(McNeill&Krajick,2012)
and parallel mathematics argumentation structure
(Lesseig,K.,Slavit,D.&HolmlundNelson,T.,2017,p.19) ............................................. 39
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1. ATS STEM Conceptual Framework for integrated STEM Education .............. 7
Figure 2. Towards the ATS STEM Conceptual Framework .................................................12
Figure 3. Core STEM Competences for Integrated STEM Education ..............................15
Figure 4. STEM Learning Design Principles for Integrated STEM Education .............17
Figure 5. Key Features of Formative Assessment Tasks for Integrated
STEM Education ..................................................................................................................................21
Figure 6. Key Features of Digital Assessment Tools for Integrated
STEM Education ..................................................................................................................................24
Figure 7. Expanded ATS STEM Conceptual Framework for Integrated
STEM Education ..................................................................................................................................28
Figure 8: Conceptual framework of future primary teachers’ platform
ofcapacitytodealwithSTEMintheirfutureteaching(Kurupetal.,2019,p.5) ....38
Figure 9: Pedagogical knowledge practice framework
(Hudsonetal.2015,p.136) ..........................................................................................................38
Figure 10: Graphic of conceptual framework for STEM learning
(Kelley&Knowles2016,p.4) .......................................................................................................40
Figure 11: Engineering design process used in Teachers Exploring
STEMIntegration(TESI)Project(Lesseig,K.,Slavit,D.&Holmlund
Nelson,T.,2017,p.18) ....................................................................................................................41
Figure 12: Framework for integrated STEM development
(Blackley&Howell,2019,p.59) ..................................................................................................42
Figure 13: Conceptual framework of Bitara-STEM: Science of Smart
Communities(MohdShahalietal.2017,p.1195) ................................................................43
Figure 14: Theoretical framework for instructional practices in integrated
STEM(Thibautetal.2018,p.8) ...................................................................................................43
Figure 15: Conceptual model for lesson plan and development
(Wong&Huen2017,p.298) .........................................................................................................44
Figure 16: Descriptive framework showing general features and
subcomponentsofintegratedSTEMEducation(Honeyetal.2014,p.32) ................45
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ATS STEM Report Series: Report #5
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FOREWORD
AssessmentofTransversalSkillsinSTEM(ATSSTEM)isaninnovativepolicyexperimentationprojectbeing
conducted across eight European Union countries through a partnership of 12 educational institutions
(www.atsstem.eu). The project is funded by Erasmus+ (Call reference: EACEA/28/2017 - Europeanpolicy
experimentationsintheeldsofEducationandTraining,andYouthledbyhigh-levelpublicauthorities).The
project aims to enhance formative digital assessment of students’ transversal skills in STEM (Science,
Technology,EngineeringandMathematics).ATSSTEMisco-nancedbytheERASMUS+Programme(KeyAction
3–PolicyExperimentation).Theprojectpartnershipcomprisesministriesofeducation,nationalandregional
education agencies; researchers and pilot schools.
The countries and regions in which the digital assessment for STEM skill are being piloted are Austria, Belgium/
Flanders, Cyprus, Finland, Ireland, Slovenia, Spain/Galicia and Sweden as per below:
• DublinCityUniversity,Ireland
• H2Learning,Ireland
• KildareEducationCentre,Ireland
• DanubeUniversityKrems,Austria
• Go!HetGemeenschapsonderwijs,Belgium
• CyprusPedagogicalInstitute,Cyprus
• UniversityofTampere,Finland
• MinistryofEducation,ScienceandSport,Slovenia
• National Education Institute Slovenia
• UniversityofSantiagoDeCompostela,Spain
• ConsejeríaDeEducación,UniversidadYFp(XuntaDeGalicia),Spain
• HaningeKommun,Sweden