STEM Education Research

Our work is informed by current research and by the lived experiences of educators, learners, and community members. We contribute to the advancement of STEM education as researchers and practitioners in order to continuously improve.

True to WPI’s philosophy, the STEM Education Center pairs education research to the practice of STEM teaching and learning in a reinforcing cycle. In our efforts to transform STEM education to be integrated, relevant, and inclusive, we amplify the leadership of WPI in project-based learning and STEM education to the PreK-12 levels.

Research Highlight: Seeds of STEM Curriculum for PK-K

Seeds of STEM is a research-based integrated science & engineering curriculum for grades PK-K. It was developed by teachers and researchers from WPI, Holy Cross, and Worcester Head Start, through funding from the US Department of Education (IES grant # 305A150571). The research followed a rigorous iterative development process and pilot study during 2015-2020, and since implemented in dozens of schools and classrooms. Review project publications below, and see training opportunities on our professional development page.

Questions should be directed to Mia at mdubosarsky@wpi.edu.

The work of the STEM Education Center has been recognized on state and national levels through research grants. We also contribute to the existing body of knowledge about STEM education through scholarly presentations and publications of our work.

RESEARCH PROJECTS & GRANTS

In 2022, the STEM Education Center staff (bolded below) was part of 11 grants, $5.5 million in total.

NSF RET Site: Engineering for People and the Planet: Research Experiences for Teaching Integrated STEM, E. Solovey and K. Chen (with D. Taylor)
Massachusetts DESE Innovative Assessment Project: Promoting Equitable Experiential Practices in Science & Engineering (PEEPS), M. Dubosarsky & D. Taylor
NSF Noyce Track 1: Cultivating University-School-Community Partnerships to Prepare STEM Undergraduates to Teach in Urban Environments, S. Weaver, D. Petkie, K. Chen, and A. Gericke
PhysTEC Site: PhysTEC Comprehensive Site, D. Petkie, R. Kafle, I. Stroe, and S. Weaver
NSF CSforAll: Increasing Massachusetts Partnerships for Advancing Computational Thinking in Pre-K-5 Classrooms, M. Dubosarsky, G. Smith, and S. Kayumova
NSF S-STEM: Connecting Mentor Partners for Academic Success of Undergraduates in Science, Engineering, and Mathematics, T. Butler, K. Chen, and A. Heinricher
NSF subaward: INCLUDES ASPIRE Alliance: Central Massachusetts Regional Collaborative for inclusive and diverse STEM faculty, R. Flinn, K. Chen, A. Linnell, D. Petkie, and D. Banard
MA STEM Pipeline Fund: Central MA Regional STEM Network, K. Chen, T. Adams, and N. Anterni

SCHOLARLY WORK

In the past four years, we have had 9 publications and 30 conference presentations with 17 collaborators.

Anggoro, F. K., Dubosarsky, M., & Kabourek, S. (2021). Developing an Observation Tool to Measure Preschool Children’s Problem-Solving Skills. Education Sciences, 11(12), 779.
M. Dubosarsky, and D. Taylor, "I Am STEM, an Engineering Lesson Library for PK-5 Educators," ASEE 2021.
K.C. Chen, S. Weaver, and G. Fougere, “Utilizing an Engineering Design-Based Research Approach to Study and Strengthen a Teacher Preparation Program in STEM at the Secondary Level (Work in Progress),” ASEE 2021.
T. Butler, K.C. Chen, and K. LeChasseur, "Building Social Capital for First Generation Students through Intentional Multilayered Mentoring," ASEE 2021.
K.C. Chen, S. Sontgerath, T. Butler, and R. Meadows, "Building and Evaluating a Multi-tiered Mentor Program to Introduce Research to High School Women (Evaluation)," ASEE 2020 (*Awarded Best Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Paper in Pre-College Division).
J. Rosewitz and K.C. Chen, “Work-in-Progress: Investigating student growth through a multidisciplinary qualifying project of an interactive ball wall display to support Pre-K STEAM learning at a community early education and care center," ASEE 2020.
S. Weaver and O. Pavlov, “Using the Service Science Canvas to Understand Institutional Change in a Public School System,” Advances in Service Science Proceedings (2019).
M.S. John, B. Sibuma, S. Wunnava, F. Anggoro, and M. Dubosarsky, “An Iterative Participatory Approach to Developing an Early Childhood Problem-based STEM Curriculum,” European Journal of STEM Education, 3(3), 07, 2018.
B. Choate, M. Dubosarsky, and K.C. Chen, "An Innovative Professional Development Model for Teaching Robotics to Novice Educators," Frontiers in Education, October 2018.
Dubosarsky, M., John, M. S., Anggoro, F., Wunnava, S., & Celik, U. (2018). Seeds of STEM: The development of a problem-based STEM curriculum for early childhood classrooms. In Early Engineering Learning (pp. 249-269). Springer, Singapore.
Dubosarsky, M., & Hubelbank, J. H. (2018, June). Elements that Support and Hinder the Development and Implementation of a School-wide/District-wide STEM Integration Program (Evaluation). In 2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition.

Additional PK-12 STEM Education Research at WPI