Developing Skills and Attitudes for Preparation Future Workforce: STEM Education Strategies

This paper investigates the methodologies teachers could integrate into the STEM lessons of general secondary education to develop the skills and attitudes required in the workplace as a fundamental component of career readiness development. The conclusions about good practices in teaching STEM are provided by: a) participatory observation for six months in a sample of 27 students aged 16 years old of Evangeliki Model High School of Smyrna in Greece and b) simultaneous integrated design of the mixed methodological approach based on (i) descriptive statistical analysis of students’ skills scores and (ii) qualitative analysis of the data justifying how the learning activities implemented contributed to these scores.

Introduction

Important issues concerning the environment, the economy, and society are changing the pace of educational demands following the challenges facing the modern world (OECD, 2019, 2022). If we use the concept of inertia from physics, which characterizes the tendency of bodies to resist change in their kinetic state, it can be argued that at the global level, education policies need little inertia to promote reforms so that education systems can be adapted to the needs of the world. Investing in developing adolescents’ career readiness is an investment in preparing the future workforce for productivity and, thus, economic growth (OECD, 2023). Career readiness is central to transitioning from secondary education to the labor market (Fletcheret al., 2018).

The research studies (Savitz-Romer & Rowan-Kenyon, 2020; Troisi, 2023) indicate that one of the dimensions in the development of career readiness is the development of skills and attitudes that ensure a successful future career for graduates of general secondary education. All reports on trends in education system reforms reflect the need to design and implement teaching approaches, learning strategies, and good practices to effectively develop students’ skills and attitudes that will contribute to enhancing their career readiness (Argyri & Smyrnaiou, 2021).

In light of the 4^th industrial revolution, there is a particular emphasis on social skills, as these have no substitute due to automation. Machines perform routine tasks according to programmed rules, but this cannot replace tasks requiring flexibility, critical thinking, and creativity (OECD & ILO, 2017; Rioset al., 2020). Businesses need to adapt to the evolving needs and demands of their customers, which requires them to be creative to meet their customers’ needs through innovative products and services and contribute to the economic well-being of society. Creativity refers to both the process of generating ideas and problem-solving and is generally defined as generating new, useful ideas or solutions to problems (Fajaryatiet al., 2020).

Although countries’ social and economic characteristics influence youth unemployment, stakeholders should consider that connecting education with workplaces addresses the needs of labor markets for higher employment rates (Argyri & Smyrnaiou, 2019b). This article focuses on connecting education with workplaces. It provides methodological approaches in teaching and learning in STEM classrooms for developing the ability to process, analyze information, and solve problems, as well as analytical and critical thinking skills. These are broader skills, which, while related to disciplinary knowledge, encompass intrapersonal functions such as tolerance and respect for others, as well as skills for self-regulation and a better understanding of learning processes (Argyri & Smyrnaiou, 2019a).

Method

Teaching Methodology

Design Thinking is an innovative process for producing products and services that turns an idea into an opportunity for the customer’s benefit (Brown, 2008). The competition created by globalization, coupled with rapid technological developments, where consumers have access to many different options over a wide range of geographical distances, creates demands on the products produced, which need optimal desirable characteristics to be competitive. This imposes new organizational structures and operation standards on firms and industries, which are satisfied by integrating design thinking into production processes (Dilan & Aydin, 2021).

Innovation, problem-solving, creativity, and collaboration are keywords in the literature (Foster, 2021; Meinel & Leifer, 2020; Yalçın & Erden, 2021) for implementing design thinking as a learning and teaching strategy. These terms are also included in the list of skills demanded by the workforce (Allenet al., 2017). In other words, design thinking is an innovative methodological approach for preparing adolescents to transition from education to the labor market.

The comparative analysis, as presented in Fig. 1, shows that the process of design and production of products and services in the workplace could be integrated into STEM education as a process of design and production of knowledge to solve problems based on the design thinking model, following the five phases proposed by the Institute of Design Stanford University model (Stanford University, n.d.).

Fig. 1. Comparative analysis of the process of design and production of products and/or services in the workplace with the design thinking model of the teaching intervention.

The students worked in groups of 5–6 people, intending to develop cooperation and respect for different opinions. The groups of students took an active role in choosing one or more sustainable development goals and identifying the problems of the modern world related to them (e.g., air pollution, water purity and scarcity, animal rights, and nutrition).

Implementing the Design Thinking model, in the empathy stage, groups of students search for scientific data on their chosen topics. The scientific data is provided either from a literature review or from numerical data databases, where students interpret and understand the information in the statistical graphs.

Using this scientific data, the student groups created questions on statistical problems to organize and analyze data and develop problem-solving skills. In the problem definition stage, students record the impact of the issues of their project on the school’s learning community as they take on the role of a researcher and collect data through questionnaires on the attitudes of their local community on these issues (taking initiatives). Also, at this stage, the student groups were responsible for processing and presenting the results of the questionnaires.

The stage of ideation and submission of solutions and proposals for some groups of students had taken place from the beginning of their work, from the stage of empathizing with the problem, as they had already submitted what solutions they could provide. The problem definition stage, which contained the research results of their peer learning community, was the subject of a presentation to the whole class with active dialogue between the groups of students. The researcher-teacher motivated and guided them to propose concrete solutions and suggestions beyond the general objective of raising awareness and information about global issues that they had recorded in their initial reports/descriptions of their topics. The prototyping stage and the solution proposals were implemented in parallel with the commentary and feedback from experts in the workplace.

Data Collection

Participant observation was applied for two hours each week for six months during the teaching intervention of integrating attitudes and skills required by workplaces in the STEM classroom in a sample of 27 students aged 16.

In order to examine the level of skills possessed by the students selected Core Skills for Work Developmental Framework (CSfW) by the Department of Industry, Innovation, Climate Change, Science, Research and Higher Education and the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations describes a set of non-technical skills and knowledge for successful transition and participation in working life (DIICCSRT & DEEWR, 2013).

The CSfW describes successful career pathways through ten skill categories grouped into three clusters:

1. Cluster 1: Exploring future careers Managing future professional life Performing duties with roles, respecting intellectual property rights and protocols/rules
2. Cluster 2: Interaction with others Communication Cooperation Recognition and use of different perspectives
3. Cluster 3: Completion of tasks and works Design and organization Decision-making Identifying and solving problems Creativity and innovation

The comparative analysis justifies (Table I in Appendix) that the CSfW framework includes the domains and categories of i) employer required skills as outlined in the Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) that has been used as a tool to assess the skills that workers need to possess in the 21^st century (Cappelli, 2015), ii) career readiness skills (NACE, n.d.) (Table II in Appendix).

Results

The results of the questionnaire for the rating of the students’ skills through a graded scale of 1 to 5 show that the categories of the skills’ decision making,’ ‘identifying and solving problems,’ ‘creativity and innovation,’ ‘communication,’ and ‘cooperation’ had average scored 4.6.

The quantitative analysis results are complemented by the qualitative analysis of the students’ responses to the open question to justify their contribution to developing their skills.

Extracting from their replies, provided that:

• The added value of collaborative problem solving and the development of critical thinking, as it required the evaluation of information obtained from the statistical processing of the actual data.
• Engaging with and acquiring knowledge about environmental issues by linking them to STEM and science curriculum knowledge.
• Developing the ability to communicate and share with team members to help find solutions.
• Engaging with the Design Thinking model involves continuous and systematic engagement in solving problems, especially finding appropriate strategies to overcome obstacles and difficulties.
• In the context of collaboration, it was important that all team members took responsibility for their assigned roles and worked together to achieve the team’s goals.
• The learning process supports students’ development of initiative and self-confidence.
• The design thinking strategy supports the students in their preparation for their future professional lives.
• The development of critical thinking and self-assessment of their ability to find innovative solutions was encouraged through the exchange of ideas with logical arguments,
• The development of social skills and cooperation benefits from the group learning activity of real-life problem-solving.

The researcher-teacher’s observations for each of the skill categories, combined with the scoring of the skill categories of the questionnaire, and especially the results of the qualitative data/responses, which aim to triangulate within the data to assess the implementation of the teaching strategy, are

• The management of young people’s future careers is not very satisfactory compared to the others, nor is there any evidence of this in the students’ extracts. Although an attempt has been made to link their research projects to workplaces, the experiential approach and the linking of career prospects relevant to the topics of their projects are lacking. Visits to workplaces through field trips were included in the original planning. However, the pandemic in March 2020 was a major obstacle.
• The sense of responsibility and respect for copyrights and protocols/rules are satisfactory. Several recommendations and observations were made regarding the bibliographical references of scientific data, and there has been significant improvement in carrying out creative research.
• The groups of students developed strong interactional bonds through communication and cooperation to achieve a common goal. At the same time, they had close communication outside the classroom to carry out the activities and keep to the timetable. Collaboration was developed with members of the same group and between groups in the exchange of ideas (brainstorming as recorded).
• The completion of tasks and assignments was the result of teamwork and respect for different opinions and suggestions.
• Decision-making, identification, problem-solving, creativity, and innovation are mentioned in almost all the students’ answers, which validates the high scores of these categories of skills;
• The execution of the tasks was not implemented exclusively with the use of digital technologies. However, they worked as a support for the search for information and the presentation of their work.

Finally, the performance of tasks and assignments of all groups of students is characterized by diligence, consistency in keeping to the timetable, dedication to the objectives of achieving the task, and generally very good quality of performance of tasks and assignments: avoiding mistakes, trying to satisfy the completeness of the content.

Discussion

By crossing the boundaries of the two systems of activities, STEM learning, and workplace situations/functions, it follows that the process of designing and producing products and services in the workplace can be integrated into STEM teaching as a process of designing and producing knowledge to solve problems based on the Design Thinking model. This is validated by the research literature, as the integration of the Design Thinking strategy in Educational Design is a demand of contemporary challenges to prepare the future workforce who will be able to solve problems in a creative way to provide innovative solutions.

Conclusion

This paper is part of the doctoral thesis The Connection between General Secondary Education and Workplaces: A Methodological Approach for Integrating Career Readiness: Case Study in Sciences (Argyri, 2024), which explores further strategies to provide students with accurate and up-to-date information about the labor market and opportunities for career exploration through links and collaborative relationships with experts in the workplace (employers/professionals). Teachers have a key role in developing students’ career readiness by implementing appropriate pedagogical models of instructional design and appropriate strategies for linking education to the workplace. In particular, teachers need to update their knowledge of the labor market by gaining an ‘on-the-ground’ understanding of the skills required by workplaces and future career prospects to prepare all students for their future careers. In this way, the impact of designing methodological approaches to developing young people’s career readiness on the professional development of STEM teachers could be explored in future research.