Making Knowledge Accessible

Teo, T. W. (2019, May). STEM Education Frameworks for 21st Century Learning. Paper presented at Regional STEM Symposium 2019, Bangkok, Thailand.

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Tan, A. L. (2019, May). Integrated STEM Instructional Framework. Paper presented at Regional STEM Symposium 2019, Bangkok, Thailand.

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Teo, T. W. (2019, April). Xilong-SNIC Award Lecture. Riding on or against the global STEM education: The way forward for chemistry education research. Paper presented at Chemistry National Meeting Singapore, Singapore.

Tan, M. (2019). Distancing education from the economy: STEM Education for humanistic goals. THF Workshop Reports No. 7: STEM Education, 7, 15–20.

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If we consider constructionism as a pedagogical theory, it can be easy to neglect curriculum considerations—what is it we ought to communicate, and why. One approach to this problem is to be deliberate about the nature of knowledge, and the sociological implications of its differential distribution. The epistemologies of the knowledges of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) may be distinguished by its tendencies towards generalisation (S/M), or its contextual application (T/E). Understanding this distinction may be a key to being clear what is being constructed, and how constructionism may be deployed for particular goals. In this theoretical paper, I describe the foundations for such a project.

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Tan, M. (2018). Constructing what? Knowledges of the powerful, and powerful knowledges. In V. Dagiene & E. Jasute (Eds.), Constructionism 2018 (pp. 721–724). Vilnius University.

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Tan, M. (2018). Constructionism in Singapore: Widening the goals of education. In V. Dagiene & E. Jasute (Eds.), Constructionism 2018.

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Tan, M., Lim, K., Chong, S. K., Koh, H. J., Teo, B. C. (2018, January). Changing learning cultures by reevaluating existing resources: informal learning within the school context. Paper presented at International Congress on School Effectiveness and Improvement, Singapore.

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Tan, M. (2018, April). When makerspaces meet school: Considering cultural designs for learning in makerspaces. Paper presented at Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New York, NY, United States.

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Koh, J.Q.D., & Tan, A.-L. (2018, June). STEM tasks related to biology. Paper presented at International Science Education Conference 2018, Singapore.

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Koh, J. Q. D.,& Tan, A.-L. (2018, June). STEM tasks related to biology (Diabetes and oral medication). Paper presented at Australasian Science Education Conference 2018, Gold Coast, Australia.

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Tan, T.T.M.*, Toh, L., Teo, R.S.L., & Lee, Y.J. (2017, February). Building bug batteries: An integrated STEM curriculum package using a design-based inquiry approach. Paper presented at 2017 Korean Association for Science Education (KASE) International Conference, Seoul, Korea.

Loh, C. E., Tan., M., Ellis, M., Wilkinson, M. (2017, May). Rethinking Learning Spaces: Teaching and Learning for the 21st Century. Paper presented at Redesigning Pedagogies International Conference, Singapore.

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Tan, M. (2017, May). Making for science education: reconsidering the nature of science in science instruction. Paper presented at Redesigning Pedagogies International Conference, Singapore.

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Teo, T. W. (2017, September). Understanding the experiences of specialised STEM school students. Paper presented at British Education Research Association, Brighton, United Kingdom.

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While STEM is gaining steam in many countries, there are relatively few evaluation studies that yield deep and comprehensive insights into the impact of STEM programmes on participants. As such, this paper reports an evaluation study of a STEM programme to find out which aspects of the participants’ views were impacted. Using a single group pre- and post-programme survey design, we examined the impact of the STEM programme on students’: (1) interest to participate in STEM, (2) attitudes towards STEM, (3) self-concept about STEM learning, (4) STEM-related identities, and (5) STEM career decisions. The participants were female students Grades 7, 9 and 10 (aged 13-16) from an all-girls secondary school in Singapore. All measures were validated and calibrated using Rasch analysis. The dependent T-tests results on the measures showed significant increase in Grade 7 students’ attitudes, self-concept, STEM-identities, and career decisions. Grade 9 students’ showed significant increase in self-concept; while Grade 10 students showed significant increase in all the five constructs. Interestingly, the result show a significant decrease in Grade 9 students’ interest to participate in STEM. The Wright distribution maps from the Rasch analyses were used to further explicate the perceptions of the students. These insights provide useful information for teachers and researchers in evaluating the outcomes of the STEM program.

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Teo, T. W., Goh, W. P. J., & Yeo, L. W. (2017, November). An evaluation study of the impact of a STEM programme for girls. Paper presented at Hong Kong Educational Research Association International Conference, Hong Kong, Hong Kong (China).

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Teo, T. W. (2017, June). Feminist Science Inquiry in the STEM Education of Girls. Paper presented at Redesigning Pedagogy International Conference, Singapore.

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Wee, H. S., Tan, M. (2015, September). MAKING MAKERS: DEVELOPING A CULTURE OF INNOVATION & EXPLORATION IN A SINGAPOREAN SCHOOL. Paper presented at Fablearn 2015, Palo Alto, CA, United States.

Tan, M. (2015, January). It looks like fun, but what are they learning: Generating curriculum principles for makerspaces in school contexts. Paper presented at Redesigning Pedagogies: Leaders, Values, and Citizenship in the 21st Century, Singapore.

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Tan, M., Lee, S. S., Lai, C., & Yeo, R. (2015, June). Makerspaces without space: Rethinking makerspaces in Singapore. Paper presented at Redesigning Pedagogies: Leaders, Values, and Citizenship in the 21st Century, Singapore.

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Teo, T. W. (2012, March). Examining power and accountability issues in a U.S. STEM school. Paper presented at National Association of Research in Science Teaching, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States.

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Teo, T. W. (2011, October). Accountability and power in a U.S. specialized high school. Paper presented at Bergamo Conference on Curriculum Theory and Classroom Practice, Dayton, Ohio, United States.

Teo, T. W. (2011, April). “Chemistry is chemistry!” Women’s differing standpoints at a specialized STEM school. Paper presented at American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, Louisiana, United States.

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This paper examines professional growth of a STEM teacher from the entrepreneurial frame. Using a personal narrative together with a STEM/science lesson package developed by the participant teacher, we unpack a teacher’s professional growth by interpreting her beliefs and actions using characteristics of entrepreneurial thinking. Our analysis and interpretations revealed that risk-taking forms of behaviour manifest as willingness to take calculated risks to make ‘cold’ calls to different organisations to request sharing or learning opportunities. The motivation to succeed stems from a belief that STEM education can improve the lives of students and that all students can learn. Passion for the discipline of STEM and personal beliefs to uplift students propel the teacher to persevere in her professional development despite busy schedules and conflicting demands of school and home. This study and its findings bring a fresh perspective to the idea of teacher agency from an entrepreneurial lens positioning teachers as self-empowered as compared to individuals who depended on the system to provide enablers for professional growth in the teaching profession. While self-empowerment to enact a curriculum is catalytic, teachers’ capacity for change is circumscribed by teachers’ capacity to act and accumulate practical knowledge. These entrepreneurial actions of successful STEM teachers could be used to facilitate teacher reflection on their professional journey. As the narrative approach sought to present an in-depth examination of the relationship between entrepreneurial thinking and teacher professional growth, the generalisability power of the assertions made is limited. The entrepreneurial thinking framework together with narratives from successful teachers enable teachers to locate where they are in their personal professional development and where they can aspire to move towards in their personal goal settings. Future research can examine teachers’ levels of entrepreneurial thinking and compare them against narratives of their professional growth to distil the behaviours that could lead to growth of entrepreneurial thinking. Curriculum leaders can also use the ideas of entrepreneurial thinking for professional growth to counsel and coach their team.

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Tan, AL., Teo, T.W. (2024) Professional growth of STEM teachers: Viewing from entrepreneurial frame. Research in Science Education. DOI: 10.1007/s11165-024-10179-0

Many empirical studies about STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) curriculum present problems for students to solve. This paper draws upon the data collected from the enactment of an integrated STEM curriculum to discuss problems as constitutive of problem spaces where four Grade 5 Singapore students engage with the materialities and relationships to generate solutions from these spaces. The study seeks to address the nature of the problem spaces in STEM inquiry. Derived from the emergent coding of 12 hours of lesson videos, the findings illuminated that problem spaces emerged from familiar and dissimilar contexts in the curriculum. These problem spaces embodied epistemic infrastructures and epistemic emotions within which students exercised agency to collaborate productively and learn. Implications for STEM curriculum making that foregrounded epistemic considerations, rather than outcome-based learning, were discussed. This paper helps to further the field of curriculum studies in STEM education by contributing to the theorization of STEM curriculum by applying a process lens to deepen understanding of problems as problem spaces.

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Teo, T. W. (2024) Problem spaces in STEM inquiry: a case analysis of an integrated curriculum, Journal of Curriculum Studies, DOI: 10.1080/00220272.2023.2297226

In the midst of digital transformation, schools are transforming their classrooms as they prepare students for a world increasingly automated by new technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI). This paper reports on a study that piloted a new lesson package in science classrooms to introduce students to the idea of AI. Specifically, the AI-integrated science lesson package, designed by the research team, provided an extended activity that used the same context as an existing lesson activity. Three science teachers from different schools piloted the lesson package with small groups of students and provided feedback on the materials and implementation. The study has implications for curriculum writers who design lesson packages that introduce AI in science classrooms and for science teachers who wish to contribute to the development of AI literacy for teachers and the extension of the range of school science and STEM to students.

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Park, J., Teo, T.W., Teo, A., Chang, J., Huang, J.S., & Koo, S. (2023). Integrating artificial intelligence into science lessons: Teachers’ experiences and views. International Journal of STEM Education, 10. DOI: 10.1186/s40594-023-00454-3

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Graphs are highly prevalent as a form of quantitative data in various science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields. Thus, graphical literacy is especially important in understanding today's world and being scientifically literate. However, students often face difficulties in graph interpretation and differ substantially in their graphical literacy. While many teachers are aware of students' difficulties in answering graph items, there is limited knowledge about how students go about attempting graph items. In this exploratory study, we investigated the eye-gaze patterns of experts and novices in graph interpretation of five science inference-based multiple-choice items requiring no prior content knowledge to problem-solve. Experts refer to science university faculty members who are currently teaching science content courses to undergraduate students. Novices refer to university undergraduates majoring in one of the science subjects. Participants' eye-gaze movements were recorded using the Dikablis eye-tracker, and their eye-gaze patterns and total glance time (s) were subsequently analyzed using the software D-Lab 3.0. Experts focused more on the question stem, whereas novices focused more on the graph. Additionally, experts tend to focus on contextual and graph data features initially, before moving to cues such as options. Conversely, novices demonstrated more sporadic search patterns. The findings contribute to the literature that compares how experts and novices' problem-solve graph items that are inference-based. An interesting future study on the eye gaze patterns and accuracy of answers is suggested from a finding. This study also provides a set of heuristics to be adopted in the teaching and learning of graph interpretation. The findings of this study have implications for teachers in the way they scaffold students' approach to answering graphical items. Additionally, students can employ heuristics to answer graphical items more effectively.

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Teo, T. W., & Peh, Z. Q. (2023). An exploratory study on eye-gaze patterns of experts and novices of science inference graph items. STEM Education, 3(3): 205-229.

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While justifications have been made for emerging technologies’ transformative potential in STEM education, the roadmap for their eventual implementation in schools is underexplored. To this end, we review research works in artificial intelligence (AI) and immersive technologies which have been applied to facilitate STEM learning. Through a systematic literature search, we identified 82 papers and analyzed them for three aspects—(1) types of emerging technologies used, (2) science education goals, and (3) implementation value. Our findings indicate that augmented reality and natural language processing are common technologies used to enhance students’ learning experiences. These technologies helped students build conceptual understanding as well as epistemic practices in science. On the other hand, mixed reality and computer vision were the least popular technologies, which may be indicative of the low maturity of these technologies. Of all the science education goals, social aspects were the least commonly tackled through emerging technologies. Moreover, 58.9% of technological applications transformed science teaching and learning through automated ways of providing individualized feedback to students involved in argumentation and reasoning activities. Finally, based on our findings, we derive three research agenda that we believe would further the eventual implementation of emerging technologies in schools.

Keywords: STEM Education· Emerging technologies· Science practices

Chng, E., Tan, A.L. & Tan, S.C. Examining the Use of Emerging Technologies in Schools: a Review of Artificial Intelligence and Immersive Technologies in STEM Education. Journal for STEM Educ Res (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41979-023-00092-y

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STEM education and research has gained popularity internationally over the last decade. However, there is a lack in specifications in existing K-12 STEM classroom observation protocols of how features of an integrated STEM experience/lesson would lead to desired outcomes and how those outcomes should be measured. To bridge this gap, we propose the development of a new integrated STEM classroom observation protocol (iSTEM protocol). This article describes the ongoing development work of the iSTEM protocol, which features two creative attempts. Firstly, the productive disciplinary engagement framework is adapted to design a classroom observation protocol that provides a coherent frame of design principles to be met to achieve desired 3-dimensional pedagogical outcomes. Secondly, interdisciplinarity of student engagement was interpreted in terms of the extent to which students take a systematic and disciplinary-based approach to make and justify decisions during STEM problem-solving. The iSTEM protocol comprises 15 items (4-point scale) rated holistically for the extents to which evidence was found in the observed lesson for (1) the 3-dimensional pedagogical outcomes of productive interdisciplinary engagement (five items) and (2) problematising, resources, authority, and accountability design principles (10 items). The accompanying iSTEM profile visually represents and communicates the strengths and inadequacies in design principles, thus providing explanations for extents of students’ productive interdisciplinary engagement. The iSTEM protocol will contribute as a research tool for STEM education researchers and as a pedagogical guide for STEM classroom teachers to improve their design of STEM learning experiences.

Ong, Y.S., Koh, J., Tan, AL. et al. Developing an Integrated STEM Classroom Observation Protocol Using the Productive Disciplinary Engagement Framework. Res Sci Educ (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11165-023-10110-z

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The disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) have been rising in importance in the public imagination, especially with the numerous technological upheavals that have taken place even within living memory. In development contexts, public education can be perceived as a form of uplift and a means to prepare individuals for future economic participation. From this perspective, STEM is a highly desirable component of a curriculum which might better guarantee success for societies, especially in economic terms. While this basic narrative is not fundamentally in doubt, the experience of “developed” economies can provide lessons for education development. STEM has been used in ways to amplify the human intention, often in ways that have not been sufficiently interrogated in terms of who benefits from, and who pays for the development and deployment of these technologies. While STEM in practice is deeply enmeshed in sociopolitical considerations, school versions often ignore this aspect, treating it is “not really” STEM. Given the numerous problems that have been amplified by the use and misuses of STEM knowledge, educators should reconsider the nature of STEM and seek to accurately represent its human aspects. Doing so may involve a shift away from a celebratory stance, to take a more circumspect position about the role of STEM in society. However, doing so would also provide students with the collective wisdom in decisions on what technologies ought to be used to serve what kinds of human desires. A critical and humanistic STEM education can attend to these issues, but only if educators attend to a more holistic appreciation of the role of STEM in societies. Given the existing discourses circulating about STEM “for the economy,” there is work to be done by educators to head off the worst excesses of such unbridled visions.

Tan, M. (2023). Beyond Economic Goals for STEM Education Development in the Asia Pacific. In: Lee, W.O., Brown, P., Goodwin, A.L., Green, A. (eds) International Handbook on Education Development in Asia-Pacific. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-2327-1_59-1

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This integrated STEM activity on the design of a vertical farming system has biology as the lead discipline and relates to the concept of photosynthesis. Students investigated the optimal design of vertical farms that will deliver appropriate amounts of water, sunlight and carbon dioxide to plants such that there will be optimal yield. Through design, testing and refinement of their design, students appreciate the connections between photosynthesis, food supply and design.

Aik-Ling Tan, Yong Sim Ng, Jaime Koh, Yann Shiou Ong & Dominic Koh (2022) Applying concepts of plant nutrition in the real-world: Designing vertical farming systems, Science Activities, DOI: 10.1080/00368121.2022.2138249

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The benefits of STEM education for learning important knowledge, skills, and affect are widely accepted, though the former is currently absent in Singapore’s formal curriculum. This study therefore describes a model-integrated STEM curriculum at the middle-school level for developing scientific as well engineering literacy. Based on design-based inquiry (DBI), it incorporated inquiry science learning with an engineering design challenge for students to build improvised microbial fuel cells (MFC). Co-planned with science teachers from various disciplines, the curriculum was implemented as a 10-week enrichment program with two groups of Grade 8 students (N = 77) from one secondary school in Singapore. Through the use of vignettes, we show how learning about/of science and engineering occurred in the conceptual, epistemic, and social domains. In addition, students applied evidence-based reasoning, various epistemic skills, and a variety of problem-solving approaches as they iteratively improved their MFC set-ups, which often outperformed commercial kits. This proof-of-concept case study represents the first successful implementation of a STEM-integrated curriculum for middle-school students and can serve as a model for the development of similar programs elsewhere.

Tan, T.T.M.; Lee, Y.-J. Building Improvised Microbial Fuel Cells: A Model Integrated STEM Curriculum for Middle-School Learners in Singapore. Educ. Sci. 2022, 12, 417. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci12060417

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Applying Dewey’s idea of practical and science inquiry and Bereiter’s idea of referent-centred and problem-centred knowledge, we examine how integrated STEM problem solving offers opportunities for learners to shuttle between practical and science inquiry and the kinds of knowledge that result from each form of inquiry. We hypothesize that connecting science inquiry with practical inquiry narrows the gap between science and everyday experiences to overcome isolation and fragmentation of science learning. In this study, we examine classroom talk as students engage in problem solving to increase crop yield.

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Tan, AL., Ong, Y.S., Ng, Y.S. et al. (2022). STEM Problem Solving: Inquiry, Concepts, and Reasoning. Sci & Educ

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This commentary is an extension to the integrated S-T-E-M Quartet Instructional Framework that has been used to guide the design, implementation and evaluation of integrated STEM curriculum. In our discussion of the S-T-E-M Quartet, we have argued for the centrality of complex, persistent and extended problems to reflect the authenticity of real-world issues and hence, the need for integrated, as opposed to monodisciplinary, STEM education.

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Teo, T. W., Tan, A. L., Ong, Y. S., & Choy, B. H. (2021). Centricities of STEM curriculum frameworks: Variations of the S-T-E-M Quartet. STEM Education, 1(3) : 141-156.

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Tan, A. L., Teo, T. W., Choy, B. H., & Ong, Y. S. (2019). The S-T-E-M Quartet. Innovation and Education, 1(3).

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According to the World Economic Forum (2016), "more than one third (36%) of all jobs across all industries" (p.21) need problem-solving as a key skill. Trilling and Fadel (2009) noted the shift from industrial to knowledge-based economies, requiring students not only to possess content knowledge but also have skills that enable them to make sense of information and synthesise useful products. Students in this century would certainly be facing more complex and multifaceted problems as well. 21st century problems can include those of a biological nature, such as persistent and complex health disorders such as diabetes mellitus.

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Koh, J. Q. D., & Tan, A.-L. (in press). Students as pharmaceutical engineers: A biology-centric STEM task. Teaching science, 65 (2) Pp. 26-32.

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When considering science education within the makerspace (engineering workshop) context, insufficient attention may be paid to the cultural models organising the learning activity in such spaces. Too often, learning is imagined to be orchestrated by instructors, and students are supposed to passively respond to activities and events planned on their behalf; even when constructivist approaches are considered, curriculum goals are seldom negotiated, let alone led by student interests. We report on a case study of school which designed a learning organisation around a makerspace, built upon a hacker model of learning.

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Tan, M. (2019). When Makerspaces Meet School: Negotiating Tensions Between Instruction and Construction. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 28(2), 75–89.

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The STEM movement is a recent phenomenon receiving worldwide attention as the darling educational project for school systems and research centres. This interest has no doubt been fuelled by economic rationales of the supposed necessity of STEM for continued material wealth, and the claims that the future will require a different sort of expertise than what we currently possess. However, not as a conservative response, but as a critical one, it is important for us to become clearer about what it is that we would want students to learn.

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Tan, M. (2018). Why STEM? Why now? Educating for technologies, or technologies for education? Learning: Research and Practice, 4(2), 203–209.

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The third wave feminist studies in science education take the stance that science teaching is political and that social change is possible through interrogating power inequalities and decentering science to balance out power. For science educators, this means developing an awareness of positionality, which I define here as a stance undertaken by an individual as she or he recognizes and makes sense of the workings of the factors and forces that constitute the politics of her/his context.

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Teo, T. W. (2015). Inside versus outside the science classroom: Examining the positionality of two female science teachers at the boundaries of science education. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 10(2), 381-402.

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The central thesis of this article is that conceptualizations of accountability systems need to be more encompassing to accommodate the current diversity of school choice. This article examines an emerging type of school that specializes in advanced STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) curriculum for gifted and academically talented students.

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Teo, T. W., & Osborne, M. (2014). Understanding accountability from a microanalysis of power dynamics in a specialised STEM school. Critical Studies in Education, 5(2), 229-245.

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Specialized science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) schools create niche areas in an attempt to attract the best students, establish the school status, and justify their privilege to valuable resources. One Singapore STEM school does this in applied science learning to differentiate its curriculum from the national prescribed curriculum.

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Tan, A.-L., & Leong, W. F. (2014). Mapping curriculum innovation in STEM schools to assessment requirements: Tensions and dilemmas. Theory into Practice, 53(1), 11-17.

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As former and current STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) school teachers in Singapore, we explore the challenges we both experienced while teaching at different STEM schools. Through this article, we make a case for the teacher preparation programs locally and around the world to give more attention to a changing education landscape with emerging specialized STEM schools.

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T. W., & Ke, K. J. (2014). Challenges in STEM teaching: Implication for preservice and inservice teacher education program. Theory Into Practice, 53(1), 18-24.

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In this article, I use the idea of dyschrony to describe the multiple disjunctures experienced in a Hispanic woman's life as she struggled to gain full membership in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) community. Despite having earned a doctoral degree in chemistry and a teaching position in a STEM school, she was cognizant of how gender and race had marginalized her and her minority female students, making them feel like border members of the STEM community.

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Teo, T. W. (2014). Hidden currents in the STEMpipeline: Insights from the dyschronous life episodes of a minority female STEM teacher. Theory Into Practice, 53(1), 48-54.

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In this paper, we present a microanalysis of a specialized STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) high school teacher’s experience of self-initiated science inquiry curriculum reform. We examine the meanings of these two constructs: inquiry curriculum and curriculum change through the process lens of interactions, actions, and interpretations.

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Teo, T. W., & Osborne, M. (2012). Using symbolic interactionism to analyze a specialized STEM high school teacher’s experience in curriculum reform. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 7, 541-567.

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‘Potemkin schools’ is used as the phrase to capture what a US science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) public speciality high school becomes as a result of its institutional branding. By way of an examination of the efforts of one teacher drawn into school branding through his ‘inquiry-based reform’ of an Advanced Chemistry course, this paper illuminates the tensions between the rhetorical intentions to engage in curriculum innovation and the reality of constraints and conflicting goals.

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Teo, T. W. (2012). Building Potemkin schools: Science curriculum reform in a STEM school. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 44(5), 659-678.

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