Connecting it up: towards a Route Map for STEM education A project managed & researched by Dr Elsa Ekevall

STEM-ED Scotland A partnership to champion world class education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics Individual Partners at Forum events represent : universities, teacher groups, further education, industry, professional bodies, training agencies, science centres, government agencies Associated with and supported by: The Deans of Science & Engineering in Scotland website

Universities – academics across medicine, engineering, science, mathematics, computing – group discussions in all universities Industry – funded by Glaxo Smithkline, Lifescan UK, Rolls Royce, Sun Microsystems, Weir Group, the IET and the RSC – structured interviews at various levels School pupils – year-olds via international ROSE survey – smaller scale study of /11 year-olds Previous STEM-ED research studies Views of key stakeholders in school-level STEM education in Scotland Building a New Educational Framework to address the STEM skills gap a project focused on post-school education funded by the Scottish Funding Council

Project aim:to identify and promote coherent and progressive pathways to develop key concepts and skills across STEM in education up to age 15 funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation collaborative project with Association of Science Education Scottish Mathematical Council Scottish Technology Teachers Association supplementary funding support from the Scottish Government to develop two additional pathways key to science has involved over 100 education professionals participating directly or through consultation events

STEM Pathways The project has analysed five different Learning Pathways which have a range of different specific characteristics i.Models in STEM ii.Genetics & Inheritance iii.Measurement, Units and Scale iv.Mechanical Systems v.Energy

Development survey to investigate the areas in STEM and skills that should be at the core of every 5-15 year olds education research into learning progressions, concept development and interdisciplinary learning two-day development event (October 2010) with subject specialists collaborating to make links across subjects and with numeracy and literacy draft STEM Pathway published (March 2011) as part of the emerging Route Map on the STEM-ED Scotland website feedback from consultations, focus group meetings and second development event through spring/ early summer revised pathways developed for todays event

STEM Route Map The Pathways aim to address conceptual learning progressions through the CfE stages effective learning and teaching approaches links to high quality teaching materials / resources a glossary of STEM terms and identified ways of working towards standardisation of methods/processes CPD support for teachers to implement the pathways