Society, reality and STEM-education : challenging contributions to ‘science as practice’

Connecting school science and mathematics to real-life is a key issue in STEM education. This symposium presents four studies on ‘realistic’ STEM-education from various STEM-domains that all involve ‘science as practice’. Key issues addressed are: How can students’ understanding and appreciation of STEM subject-matter knowledge/skills be improved? What does the worldwide need for sustainable development imply for STEM-education? What could/should be the role of teachers in designing and realizing such ‘realistic’ STEM-education, and what professional development is needed. The contributions presented employ supplementary theoretical perspectives, and the merits and flaws of the underpinning educational paradigms will be addressed