A Study Of STEM Curriculum Standards And Curriculum Types In K-12 Stage In America

In response to the international community’s competition and the enhancement of American scientific and technological strength,the United States proposed the K-12 stage STEM course in the 1980 s,namely science,technology,engineering and mathematics courses,aimed at cultivating STEM literacy of American students and providing the United States with Technology talents with STEM capabilities.With the continuous expansion of the influence of STEM education in the world,China has gradually paid attention to STEM curriculum in recent years,actively promoted the Localization Practice of STEM curriculum and fostered STEM literacy of primary and secondary school students in the basic education class,so as to enhance the national scientific and technological quality and effectively respond to international competition.Therefore,the author hopes to provide some lessons for the development of STEM curriculum in China by studying the K-12 stage STEM course in the United States.This study adopts the methods of literature research,case analysis and comparative analysis.Based on the analysis of the implementation background,development process and realistic needs of STEM curriculum in the K-12 stage in the United States.Then it discusses the curriculum standards,content,types and characteristics of STEM curriculum in the United States,and actively explores the effective reference and experience for the development of mathematics,science,technology and engineering curriculum in China.This paper is divided into five parts:The first part firstly introduces the research background,purpose and significance of STEM course in the K-12 stage in the United States,as well as the research status at home and abroad.Then it defines the three concepts of "K-12 stage","STEM education" and "STEM curriculum".Finally,it clarifies the research ideas and methods of this paper.The second part firstly introduces the political,economic and cultural background of theSTEM course in the K-12 stage in the United States.After that,it reviews the development of STEM curriculum in the K-12 stage in the United States from the 1980 s to the present,such as the initial formation period and the reform development period.Finally,it analyses the realistic requirements of the Ameircan K-12 stage STEM course in terms of course quality,teacher training,integration trend and financial expenditure.The third part is based on the analysis of the national curriculum standards and state curriculum standards of the American K-12 stage STEM curriculum.It is known that the national standards of the American K-12 stage STEM curriculum are instructive and open,while the state curriculum standards are Flexibility and creativity.And the American K-12 stage STEM courses are divided into sub-disciplinary courses and comprehensive courses.Among them,the sub-discipline courses include mathematics,science,technology and engineering courses,while the national comprehensive courses refer to the PLTW course projects developed by the “project guiding institutions”.The fourth part combines the STEM curriculum integration case in Indiana to study the implementation status of the American K-12 stage STEM course.Taking the "Theme-led" and "Practical Experience" courses developed by the Indiana State Council of Education as the research objects,it is found that the STEM integrated curriculum in the United States has four implementing characteristics,including strengthening the concept of interdisciplinary,creating a real situation,adopting 5-E teaching links and integrating social resources.The fifth part firstly analyzes the dilemmas faced by Chinese primary and secondary schools in implementing STEM courses,such as the lack of perfect curriculum standards,inadequate curriculum,inadequate teaching mode,inadequate STEM teacher training,and insufficient social support.Then it explores the effective experience of STEM curriculum development in the K-12 stage of the United States,and puts forward the following suggestions:strengthening the establishment of curriculum standards,standardizing STEM curriculum design,promoting the construction of teachers,and improving the social linkage mechanism.