UL’s Prof Geraldine Mooney Simmie discusses her research into STEM education and the work of the Epi-STEM research centre.
In Ireland, STEM disciplines are very popular in third-level education. Figures from the Central Statistics Office showed that in 2022, the number of STEM graduates in Ireland was 40.1 per 1,000 people aged 20 to 29 – the highest rate in the EU.
“STEM education in Ireland is for the most part very positively received across all sectors of the education system, with a new emphasis placed on STEM education in the new primary school curriculum,” says Prof Geraldine Mooney Simmie, professor of STEM education at University of Limerick’s (UL) School of Education.
“There is an increasing emphasis on engineering education and on computer science, in addition to the former emphasis on science and mathematics education.
“There is at the same time an urgent need for new thinking and new pedagogical approaches to STEM education, especially their connectivity to ethics, equity and ecology, keeping in mind the new scientific discoveries aligned to the multiple purposes of education.”
Mooney Simmie’s research is focused on the area of the cultural politics of STEM education, pedagogy and society in relation to STEM teachers’ work practices, such as teaching, teachers’ professional learning and mentoring.
“The importance of my research lies in the role of STEM and STEAM education today, and in a future Ireland, Europe and internationally as it rises to multiple challenges in an increasingly complex and highly scientific and technological world,” she says.
As an expert researcher with the European Commission, Mooney Simmie recently completed a research study of education and skills for equity and sustainability in relation to Europe’s green and digital transitions.
Epi-STEM
As well as her role as professor and researcher, Mooney Simmie is also director of Epi-STEM, the National Centre for STEM Education.
Epi-STEM is a research centre based in UL that explores ways to improve STEM education through STEM teacher upskilling and continuing professional development.
“Our aim is to progress research and innovation in UL for wisdom and action in relation to all aspects of mathematics, science, engineering and technology, and computer science education, including STEM education,” explains Mooney Simmie.
Epi-STEM has a core team of four people. As well as Mooney Simmie, the centre includes co-director Dr Niamh O’Meara, senior executive administrator Helen Fitzgerald and research liaison officer Dr Michelle Starr.
The centre has more than 40 affiliates, drawn from STEM education researchers in UL’s School of Education, scientists, mathematicians and engineers in the Faculty of Science and Engineering, and from the Bernal Institute.
Epi-STEM hosts a number of projects and programmes, such as the professional diploma in mathematics for teaching –a fully funded government programme for upskilling “out-of-field mathematics teachers”. The centre also established a repository of post-primary STEM teaching resources.
Improvements and barriers
While STEM has significant uptake in Ireland, a number of barriers remain. For example, a recent report from Engineers Ireland found that women are far less likely than men to be encouraged to pursue a STEM career.
According to Mooney Simmie, STEM subjects have traditionally been the purview of the elite and the wealthy, being most associated with “the wealthy white man of science”.
“To date our national policies and practices in STEM education are steeped in the disciplines and wrapped in an even tighter regulatory frame than heretofore,” she says. “This keeps in play a hierarchical transfer of attitudes, knowledge and skills at play that can be dehumanising and unrealistic.
“We can clearly improve this and breathe new life into the STEM curriculum, making the STEM subjects come to life for all young people, especially for women, and girls and minorities, by connecting the topics to a critical reflexive appreciation of the power and limits of science and to the necessity for affective equality in relation to STEM as a sociological project.”
Luckily, it seems that things might be changing for the better. Mooney Simmie says that internationally there is a growing recognition that the focus of STEM education needs widening and deepening to “better support the fast-changing world”.
“There is a growing interest in STEAM education as a transdisciplinary field of study and practice, where the natural sciences and the applied sciences are positioned on an equal footing with the arts and the deliberative traditions.”
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