EDITORIAL

published: 07 January 2022

doi: 10.3389/feduc.2021.826656

Editorial: The Impact of Place-Based

Contextualised Curriculum on Student
Engagement and Motivation in STEM
Education
Kathryn Holmes 1*, Nathan Berger 1, Erin Mackenzie 1, Catherine Attard 1, Patrick Johnson 2,
Olivia Fitzmaurice 2, Niamh O’Meara 2 and Veronica Ryan 2
1
Centre for Educational Research, School of Education, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW, Australia, 2School of
Education, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland

Keywords: stem education, place-based learning, contextualised curriculum, student engagement, student motivation

Editorial on the Research Topic

The Impact of Place-Based Contextualised Curriculum on Student Engagement and Motivation

in STEM Education

There is an imperative to educate our future citizens and STEM professionals, but at the same time in
many countries, there are declining rates of STEM participation and achievement amongst our
children in K-12 educational settings (Kennedy et al., 2014; Prendergast et al., 2014). How can we
improve student engagement and motivation in STEM subjects? How can place-based contextualised
approaches to teaching and learning improve teaching and learning in our schools?
Many students see STEM subjects as abstract and disconnected from their lives, leading to
Edited and reviewed by:
Lianghuo Fan, disengagement and reduced levels of participation in STEM subjects in the senior years of formal
East China Normal University, China schooling. Disengagement in STEM is related to factors such as self-efficacy, prior achievement, perceived
levels of difficulty, interest, gender stereotypes and career aspirations (Britner and Pajares, 2006; Watt
*Correspondence: et al., 2012; Wang and Degol, 2013). Females often perceive STEM disciplines to be “male-oriented” and
Kathryn Holmes
not focussed on societal benefits, leading them to disengage, particularly in subjects like engineering and
K.holmes@westernsydney.edu.au
computer science (Archer et al., 2013). Finding ways to challenge STEM stereotypes and to mediate the
perceived difficulty of STEM subjects may help to address some of these barriers. Also, developing ways to
Specialty section:
This article was submitted to
improve interest in STEM subjects, so that students see the relevance and value of STEM in their lives,
STEM Education, may improve STEM participation rates (Berger et al., 2020).
a section of the journal We launched this Research Topic to elicit new knowledge about teaching STEM subjects through
Frontiers in Education contextualised curricula approaches that engage students by making the learning relevant to them.
Received: 01 December 2021 The six articles in this Research Topic draw on studies examining teacher capacity to develop and
Accepted: 13 December 2021 deliver integrated STEM curricula, reasons for student disengagement with STEM and the benefits
Published: 07 January 2022 and limitations of authentic STEM learning programs.
Citation: Delahunty et al. examined Irish primary teachers’ perspectives on integrated STEM curriculum
Holmes K, Berger N, Mackenzie E, models, questioning the assumption that they can be readily implemented in primary school settings.
Attard C, Johnson P, Fitzmaurice O, They found that teachers were generally in favour of integrated approaches, noting benefits to students
O’Meara N and Ryan V (2022) Editorial: such as improved student learning in each of the STEM disciplines, alongside the development of
The Impact of Place-Based
collaborative skills and opportunities for authentic problem-solving. However, they also found that
Contextualised Curriculum on Student
Engagement and Motivation in
teachers were not always confident to integrate disciplines as they had little experience in teaching across
STEM Education. multiple disciplines and in some cases a perceived lack of discipline knowledge. The teachers also
Front. Educ. 6:826656. emphasised the overcrowded nature of the primary curriculum, perceiving integrated STEM as additional
doi: 10.3389/feduc.2021.826656 to the existing curriculum rather than a variation in the mode of delivery. Resourcing was also identified as

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Holmes et al. Editorial: Contextualised Curriculum STEM Education

a significant barrier, due to the hands-on nature of this type of review also identified increases in transferable skills amongst
learning in the primary school setting. To address these issues the students, such as teamwork, communication skills, increased
primary teachers in this study called for a nationally developed pride in local communities and opportunities for empowerment
integrated STEM curriculum and a need for effective and available and community advocacy. The review also revealed limitations of
professional development in integrated STEM was also identified if localised and contextualised STEM learning. These included the
integrated STEM was to become mainstream. restriction of time as a barrier for teachers to overcome in planning
Fraser et al. addressed the issue of lower STEM participation and delivering these types of learning opportunities. Also, there was
levels amongst rural, regional and remote (RRR) communities. They evidence that community engagement in localised learning was often
made the case for improving student engagement via greater difficult to secure, stymying the development of authentic, connected
visibility of “place-based” knowledges, including Aboriginal STEM learning possibilities.
STEM knowledges. They drew on the theoretical perspectives of Videla et al. proposed an enactive and ecological approach to
Foucault and Bourdieu to propose a new analytical tool: the Place- STEM and STEAM learning, promoting interactions between
based STEM-alignment framework. This tool provides a framework learners and digital and/or analogue learning affordances within a
to observe, map and document place-based STEM discourses across systems theory perspective. This approach was then exemplified
both academic and community stakeholders. By doing so it is through two empirical studies conducted in New Zealand and
envisaged that RRR students can engage with and learn STEM Chile. The authors report on the benefits of the dynamics of the
with a better-aligned sense of identity, creating stronger pathways interplay between sensorimotor contingencies and attentional
towards further STEM education, training and careers. anchors. Basing learning on authentic STEM problems can
Attard et al. reported on a teacher professional learning assist learners to develop naive motor skills into scientific
program designed to support teachers to teach STEM through skills with contextual utility. This holistic approach is designed
inquiry-based approaches drawing on expertise and knowledge to have practical and empirical implications for STEM pedagogies
from industry partners. By involving experts from two large and curriculum design.
infrastructure projects, student engagement was enhanced Collectively these articles identify the value of contextualised
across operative, cognitive and affective domains. Both approaches to STEM teaching and learning for both students and
students and teachers appreciated the contextualisation of teachers. STEM fields are evolving rapidly and schools need to have
learning within the infrastructure projects that were impacting ongoing and secure connections with STEM industries and
on their local environments. Also, the opportunity for students to community partners in order to keep up to date with new
apply knowledge to authentic place-based contexts was beneficial developments so that learning remains relevant and authentic.
along with the community connections made throughout the This type of learning creates new demands on teachers in terms
inquiry based learning approaches. of maintaining relationships with STEM stakeholders outside of the
Similarly, Gallay et al. reported on a program allowing school community and in relation to the time required to plan
students to engage with local environmental issues as a vehicle integrated curriculum programs (Margot and Kettler, 2019).
for a contextualised curriculum in mathematics and science. The However, the benefits are clear. There is great potential for
study was conducted in ethnically and socioeconomically non- improved student engagement and interest in STEM and longer-
dominant urban communities and found that the students did term benefits such as increased STEM career aspirations (Shahali
engage with STEM when opportunities were provided for et al., 2017; Martín-Páez et al., 2019). These benefits are particularly
students to solve local problems. The projects were linked with salient for RRR students and those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
the promotion of civic action, leading youth to feel connected and The solutions reported in these papers provide some direction for
empowered to have a positive impact on their communities in those interested in improving STEM education and for researchers
addition to gaining valuable and authentic STEM knowledge. interested in progressing STEM education research.
Holmes et al. examined the research literature from 2016–2021 to
determine the benefits and limitations of localised STEM curriculum
including studies based in kindergartens through to Year 12. AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
Twenty-five studies were identified and synthesised identifying a
range of benefits for students, including increased student KH led the writing of the editorial with all authors contributing to
aspirations, enjoyment, interest and engagement in STEM. The the final paper.

Britner, S. L., and Pajares, F. (2006). Sources of Science Self-Efficacy Beliefs of Middle
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Holmes et al. Editorial: Contextualised Curriculum STEM Education

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STEM Learning through Engineering Design: Impact on Middle Secondary absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a
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O’Meara, N. (2014). Mathematical Thinking: Challenging Prospective and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of
Teachers to Do More Than ’talk the Talk’. Int. J. Math. Education Sci. the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in
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Wang, M. T., and Degol, J. (2013). Motivational Pathways to STEM Career endorsed by the publisher.
Choices: Using Expectancy-Value Perspective to Understand Individual and
Gender Differences in STEM Fields. Dev. Rev. 33 (4), 304–340. doi:10.1016/ Copyright © 2022 Holmes, Berger, Mackenzie, Attard, Johnson, Fitzmaurice,
j.dr.2013.08.001 O’Meara and Ryan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of
Watt, H. M., Shapka, J. D., Morris, Z. A., Durik, A. M., Keating, D. P., and Eccles, the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or
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Mathematics Participation, Educational Aspirations, and Career Plans: A the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is
Comparison of Samples From Australia, Canada, and the United States. cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or
Dev. Psychol. 48 (6), 1594–1611. doi:10.1037/a0027838 reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

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