The Contribution of Mathematics to an Integrated STEM Curriculum in Schools

In most education jurisdictions, each school subject has a separate curriculum document presenting knowledge, skills and dispositions. Creating an integrated STEM curriculumIntegrated STEM curriculum requires the design of new, connected learning experiences for students. The challenge in creating a new integrated curriculumIntegrated curriculum is to ensure subject integritySubject integrity is maintained with students developing both depth and breadth of knowledge in each of the separate subject areas as well as understanding how knowledge and skills can be used across subject boundaries to solve real problems. To date, many efforts to design an integrated STEM curriculumIntegrated STEM curriculum have relegated mathematics to a subservient role in the service of the other STEM subjects. If we are to progress the field and ensure mathematics takes its rightful place as foundationalMathematics foundational in STEM educationSTEM education, we need to identify how mathematics could be better represented in integrated STEM educationIntegrated STEM education.