Adding communication to STEM education

Communicating scientific discoveries is not easy. These strategies may help.

This is the second of a two-part series. Read part 1 here.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that growth in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) occupations will outpace future growth in non-STEM occupations. Currently, the school offers STEM and STEAM (STEM + Arts) courses to prepare students for this STEM-inclined workforce. However, if students in the future make valuable STEM discoveries and are unable to share their discoveries, they (and society) will suffer for it.

This kind of communication is not easy. It involves understanding the facts, reasons, or reasons why people resist an action. For example, people often deny scientific evidence of climate change due to identity, confirmation bias, apathy, or other issues. Fortunately, sustainability communication instructional content can be integrated into existing K-12 instruction (Rankin, 2022).

• STEM communication can be covered as part of the research dissemination phase of STEM research. For example, practicing speaking and writing skills may include persuasion techniques and other strategies for communicating facts in the face of opposition.
• Lessons on critical thinking include confirmation bias (which leads us to overestimate evidence that supports what we already believe), logical fallacies that impede thinking, and motivated reasoning (which treats all evidence as equal). This may include education regarding (preventing the use of)
• Concepts from cognitive and behavioral sciences can be integrated into the social-emotional instruction already occurring in schools. For example, behavioral economics and cognitive dissonance can be incorporated into existing lessons on grit and growth mindset, as they involve developing a sense of comfort with being “wrong.”

Consider the last of these as an example. A growth mindset involves accepting our own tendency to “make mistakes” as a natural, non-judgmental component of the learning process (Dweck, 2008). The comfort of being “wrong” also helps us face and understand the cognitive dissonance we feel when we encounter evidence that we are wrong. Therefore, when we write stories in our minds in response to such dissonance, we can better align these stories with reality (Tavris & Aronson, 2020). Therefore, lessons that teach young learners about practicing a growth mindset can naturally also address cognitive dissonance. These lessons even allow us to talk about this phenomenon in terms of how we feel and think when we encounter evidence that we are wrong, without using jargon.

STEM communication instructional content can also be integrated into existing standards and other frameworks that schools are already following (Rankin, 2022).

• Collaboration for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning Self-management, a core competency of SEL, helps students manage their thinking when bias and cognitive dissonance promote denial of facts. Masu.
• The Common Core State Standards related to persuasive writing are well integrated with writing opinion pieces that support viewpoints that your audience may resist.
• A key competency of UNESCO's Education for Sustainable Development naturally includes understanding how norms and values ​​influence the acceptance of facts.

Sharing STEM findings is not as simple as simply sharing relevant facts. Psychological factors influence resistance to sustainability content and initiatives. Fortunately, teachers can include lessons on understanding the cognitive forces that shape such resistance and lessons on successful strategies for overcoming such resistance. In doing so, we will be able to communicate STEM evidence, goals, and procedures to students in ways that benefit both students and society.

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