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In the last 5 years, there have been several literature reviews or meta-analyses investigating various aspects of STEM education; however, they have investigated a specific aspect of STEM, e.g. robotics, or digital games, or Early childhood, or Teacher perspectives. In addition, a broad-reaching review on STEM integration has not been conducted in the past 10 years. This article reports findings from a Systematic Qualitative Literature Review concerning STEM education for children aged 4–12 in formal education contexts. To provide context, the article initially presents descriptive findings (date and country of research, age of participants, research setting, and research methodologies used) in the 60 research articles that are included for analysis. The article then answers three research questions regarding the: (1) level of integration evident in the studies; (2) role of engineering in any such integration; and (3) teaching approaches used in the studies. Findings from this research suggest that there is still much work to be done to move from scenarios where STEM integration is claimed but is not evident in practice. To do so we encourage educators and researchers to (a) focus on authentic interdisciplinary approaches rather than the siloed approaches evident in the existing research; and (b) use a teaching approach such as problem-based or project-based learning that provide opportunities for authentic integration.

Purpose The authors argue that middle leaders are the key educators in school-based educational development. Schools often secure small-scale funding to engage in government or systemic initiatives, and these projects require a leadership “close to the classroom” if they are to realise sustainable educational gains. This leadership often comes from the middle leaders – those who practice their leading in and around classrooms. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach A single case study methodology is used to investigate two middle leaders, leading a small-scale project. Their leading practices are examined using the “theory of practice architectures”, to identify how these practices were enacted within their educational context. Findings While principals play a crucial role in enacting change, it is the middle leaders who are closer to the classroom than most principals, and whose practices more directly impact teaching and learning as they are best placed to ensure that meagre resources are well used to improve student learning. They do this by ensuring that development is collegial and a response to evidence-based needs. Practical implications First, middle leaders need support in facilitating educational development. Second, their leading practice is crucial for sustainable school-based development. Third, site-based educational development occurs most effectively when it is evidence-based. Finally, this form of educational development requires high-level collegiality. Originality/value This paper is original in two key ways: first, it addresses the under-researched practices of middle leaders; and, second it employs the practice theory to understand school leadership and development.

This paper presents an heuristic that underpinned the development of a range of early years applications (apps) as part of the Early Learning Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Australia (ELSA) project (2016?19). The heuristic was developed to address a range of challenges that accompany the use of digital technologies in the year before formal schooling. These include the role of digital technologies in play-based learning environments, screen time and the importance of agency when young children are using digital technologies. In an increasingly digital world, the issue of screen time looms large as a particularly contested aspect of technology use by young children. The ELSA project responded to this challenge by developing a pedagogical framework that embedded digital technologies into context-rich, play-based STEM learning. The Experience, Represent, Apply (ERA) heuristic discussed in this paper is a component of the project's overall pedagogical framework and provides early years educators with the opportunity, and the know-how, to integrate digital technologies into STEM activities through intentional teaching and play-based engagement. It was evident from educator feedback at the four days of workshops we delivered, and in other comments throughout the year long trial, that the educators were able to embrace the cyclic nature of the ERA heuristic and ensure that the time spent on the tablet (Represent) was connected to contextualised learning opportunities (Experience and Apply). Importantly, the tablets provided affordances for the children to utilise User Generated Content (UGC) to support active engagement when using the tablets.

It is an increasingly common phenomenon that elementary school students are using mobile applications (apps) in their mathematics classrooms. Classroom teachers, who are using apps, require a tool, or a set of tools, to help them determine whether or not apps are appropriate and how enhanced educational outcomes can be achieved via their use. In this article we investigate whether Artifact Centric Activity Theory (ACAT) can be used to create a useful tool for evaluating apps, present a review guide based on the theory and test it using a randomly selected geometry app [Pattern Shapes] built upon different (if any at all) design principles. In doing so we broaden the scope of ACAT by investigating a geometry app that has additional requirements in terms of accuracy of external representations, and depictions of mathematical properties (e.g. reflections and rotations), than is the case for place value concepts in [Place Value Chart] which was created using ACAT principles and has been the primary app evaluated using ACAT. We further expand the use of ACAT via an independent assessment of a second app [Click the Cube] by a novice, using the ACAT review guide. Based on our latest research, we argue that ACAT is highly useful for evaluating any mathematics app and this is a critical contribution if the evaluation of apps is to move beyond academic circles and start to impact student learning and teacher pedagogy in mathematics.

Background. Muslims in the United States (US) exhibit high rates of cigarette smoking. Guided by the Social Cognitive Theory, the study aimed to investigate the associations between the number of serious cigarette smoking cessation attempts and cognitive as well as environmental factors in adult US Muslim smokers. Methods. This cross-sectional study was based on a convenience sample of adult (≥ 18 years) US Muslim smokers. After receiving IRB approval, data were collected using an on-line survey. Unadjusted Poisson regression followed by adjusted multivariable Poisson regression analyses were conducted to answer the research question. Results. One hundred thirty-two smokers completed the questionnaire. Smokers reported more serious cigarette smoking cessation attempts if they 1) had more knowledge about the consequences of cigarette smoking cessation, 2) had more positive attitudes regarding quitting, and 3) reported greater religiosity. Additionally, smokers reported fewer serious cigarette smoking cessation attempts if they 1) were employed, 2) affiliated with Sunnah sect, 3) reported better self-assessed health, 4) reported higher perceived value for quitting, and 5) indicated that using tobacco was not allowed inside the home. Only three smokers reported using both prescription medications and counseling to aid with smoking cessation attempts. Conclusions. Inadequate utilization of pharmaceutical smoking cessation products and provider professional assistance may exacerbate the problems associated with elevated rates of smoking among US Muslim smokers. Knowledge of the consequences, more positive attitudes, and greater religiosity can be influential constructs in future interventions aimed at encouraging smoking cessation attempts in this population. Article type: Original Research

In this chapter, the authors develop a broad understanding of the Australian Curriculum: Mathematics. They appreciate numeracy as the authentic application of mathematics. The authors explain how children learn mathematics and numeracy, and develop an appreciation of the powerful role of digital technologies in mathematics education. They explain some principles for assessing mathematical learning. In mathematics curriculum documents across the world, including in Australia, it is clear that mathematics education aims to promote positive mathematical identities. Mathematics demands that attention is paid to the development of positive student values, beliefs, attitudes and dispositions towards mathematics. Numeracy connects the mandated mathematics taught at school to everyday situations that require ‘problem-solving and critical judgement’. The conceptualisation of numeracy supports teachers in making the distinction between numeracy and mathematics, and provides a common language to describe numeracy practices and the numeracy of their students.

Background: Percutaneous-assisted arthroplasty was introduced to minimize complications traditionally associated with minimally invasive techniques, such as component malposition and periprosthetic fracture. Proponents of percutaneous-assisted techniques have more than 15 years of clinical utilization with good outcomes. This study reports our early experience, and outcomes, with an anterior percutaneous-assisted total hip arthroplasty (AnteriorPath). Methods: A retrospective evaluation of a single-surgeon experience with the first 46 patients undergoing AnteriorPath using a cannula for acetabular cup instrumentation was compared with a similar-sized cohort undergoing traditional direct anterior (DA) total hip arthroplasty. Patients needed at least 2 postoperative visits for inclusion. Baseline preoperative characteristics, operative time, component positioning, and 6-week all-cause complications were evaluated. P values

Engaging young learners in STEM practices such as robotics and coding gives students the opportunity to use new and emerging technologies to solve problems while extending their own knowledge and understanding of mathematics. In Australia, a digital technologies curriculum was introduced in 2014 to assist with making connections between Technology and areas such as mathematics. Drawing on examples from Australia, British Columbia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand, this chapter examines how the introduction of a new curriculum intersects with existing curricula. As an example of an authentic activity that successfully combines elements of both curricula to support STEM learning, findings of a research project that has been conducted with Year 2 students (n = 153) from two Australian primary schools are presented. It appears as young students engage in robotics and coding (Technology) to learn mathematics concepts, they demonstrate learning that moves beyond their curriculum year level, creating a possible conflict between the digital technologies and mathematics curricula with their tightly prescribed sequence of content.

This chapter provides a critical synthesis of research on technology-related classroom practice from the early years of schooling through to tertiary and initial teacher mathematics education. The synthesis considers ways in which research has explored the use of digital technologies through the three dimensions identified by Pierce and Stacey’s map of pedagogical opportunity: mathematics content (subject), in classroom interactions (classroom), and through task design (task) (2010). The chapter also provides a synthesis of the research methodologies undertaken within the included studies. The review concludes with a discussion of emerging themes and a range of future directions for research into technology-related mathematics education.

In this article we critique, disrupt and resist the taken for granted use of the term fun in learning; specifically as it is used to justify mathematics education apps that purport to portray maths learning as a fun experience. We accomplish this critique through the creation of a digital artwork called Arithmomania. This artwork challenges how users interact with education apps by employing the aesthetic of the glitch, an aesthetic characterized by reifying disorder and malfunction. Arithmomania shows fun as a miasma to learning, rather than the nostrum it is believed to be.

This chapter explores how the completion of a doctorate can be seen as a journey where similar landscapes, in terms of rules for completion, supervision and the like, are traversed in unique ways by individual doctoral students. These transversals are conceptualised via an ‘Activity Systems’ approach, as the author travels a unique path from a doctoral student to Early Career Academic (ECA). The various experiences of this journey form the ‘dataset’ for this chapter. As an initial position, Engestrom’s (1987) Activity Systems are used to situate the author in a university Community of Practice (CoP), with the notion of Active Subjectivities (Valsiner & Van Der Veer, 2002) used as a conceptual tool. This approach identifies an active subject, who chooses from a range of available roles (student, researcher, author, lecturer or colleague) in response to a range of intellectually disquieting discourses within a particular context. In investigating the transition from commencing doctoral student to ECA, it is suggested that the resolution of the tensions in an Activity System is a consequence of personal transformation whilst simultaneously acknowledging that individual agentic action in a CoP shapes this transformation at a more granular level than can solely be explained by Activity Systems. A new conceptual model, offering a relational approach to the individual and social dichotomy evident in workplaces (Billett, 2006), is proposed.