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Cultural Studies of Science Education

, Volume 11, Issue 1, pp 11–26 | Cite as

STEM education: A deficit framework for the twenty first century? A sociocultural socioscientific response

  • Dana L. Zeidler
Article
First Online:

Abstract

The ubiquitous of STEM education initiatives in recent years has created a bandwagon that has moved at nearly light speed. The impulse of the science education community and policy-makers is to grab hold for dear life or be marginalized from subsequent discussions about the necessity and consequences of using STEM initiatives to prepare and inform our next generation of citizens. This commentary questions the prudence of STEM-related science education goals, as typically represented and discussed in the literature, and likens the current practice to a deficit framework. A sociocultural perspective framed through socioscientific considerations is offered as an alternative conceptualization as well as surplus model to hegemonic STEM practices.

Keywords

STEM Socioscientific issues Sociocultural issues Scientific literacy 
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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Department of Teaching and Learning, College of EducationUniversity of South Florida – Tampa BayTampaUSA

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