Introduction

Taking a future-oriented approach, this book addresses students’ ways of thinking in STEM-based problem solving. It provides a rich set of chapters that explore how we can advance important thinking skills in STEM education for K-12 students.

The Importance of STEM Education

STEM education is essential to understanding and solving many of the world’s major challenges. However, the kind of interdisciplinary modes of thinking required to tackle such unforeseen problems is lacking in most STEM education delivery. This book examines the various ways of thinking that can be applied to effective STEM-based problem solving across K-12 education. These include design and design-based thinking, systems thinking and modeling, critical thinking, innovative and adaptive thinking, intuition in problem solving, and computational and algorithmic thinking. Across the chapters, the authors’ interdisciplinary perspectives give further depth to understanding how students learn and apply their thinking to solve STEM-based problems. The book also provides guidance on how to assess ways of thinking in STEM education, to ensure educators can recognize students’ progress and development.

Target Audience

Bringing together a team of international experts, this book is essential reading for pre-service teachers, teacher educators, and researchers in STEM education.

Additional Resources

Chapter 2 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.