Narratives in STEM Education
Abstract
Looking from the perspective of the requirements of the modern world, STEM education is a significant challenge related to teaching both people whose professional paths will be associated with STEM and those who will use knowledge in this area “unprofessionally” – only to solve everyday problems. Teachers and educators face a difficult challenge related to arousing the interest of learners in the subject of STEM, developing understanding of scientific concepts and processes, and strengthening the involvement in scientific activity. Narratives are becoming an important tool available to educators in the implementation of this task. They can arouse the students’ interest through an attractive form of presentation of, e.g. the figures of outstanding scientists or brilliant discoveries. Such forms of presentation can introduce both basic and advanced scientific knowledge, and, at the same time, save cognitive resources, strengthening the children’s involvement by making them actively participate in discovering not only the scientific laws, but also the meaning (including the personal one) of science. It is also important that narratives can become a useful tool for building the positive image of science as a world accessible to everyone, regardless of gender, age or origins. The purpose of this article is to indicate only a few areas of possible applications of narratives in STEM education, and to encourage the use of various narrative materials in education in this area at various stages of education.
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