Theme and Strands

Science education and STEM education have long developed along parallel paths — related, mutually informing, but distinct in their traditions, questions and communities. Those paths are now converging. Advances in learning technologies, the rise of generative artificial intelligence, the growing emphasis on interdisciplinary problem-solving, and the demand for curricula that prepare learners for uncertain futures are reshaping both fields at once.

IS²TEM 2027 takes this convergence as its starting point. The word nascent describes what is just coming into being: ideas still forming, findings still provisional, practices still being trialled. These are precisely the contributions we wish to gather. A nascent era is not one in which the answers are settled, but one in which the most consequential work is being started.

The theme is organised around three sub-themes:

Navigating Advancements. New tools and new evidence arrive faster than our capacity to evaluate them. How do we make considered judgements about pedagogy, technology and curriculum? What does rigorous research look like when the object of study is changing as we study it?

Supporting Communities. Educational change is carried by people — teachers, teacher educators, researchers, school leaders and policymakers — and by the communities they form. How do we build networks that cross national, disciplinary and institutional boundaries, and sustain the capacity of those who teach?

Empowering New Trends. Emerging ideas need a platform if they are to take hold. How do we identify work with genuine future potential, disseminate it well, and give early-career and practitioner-researchers the standing to shape where our fields go next?

We welcome contributions from researchers, teacher educators, teachers, graduate students and policymakers working in any area of Science and STEM education, and particularly those whose work sits at the meeting point of the two.

We invite presentations on the theme of Converging Pathways to a NASCENT Era: Navigating Advancements, Supporting Communities and Empowering New Trends in Science and STEM Education in the form of an individual paper, a poster, or a symposium. Please submit your presentation to any of the following strands/topics in science and/or STEM education. 

• Science Teaching and Learning across Settings
• How science is taught and learned, in classrooms and beyond. Pedagogies; pedagogical content knowledge; conceptions and conceptual change; science and engineering practices; learning contexts; teacher–student interactions; cognition; instructional materials; out-of-classroom and informal learning; museums; science centres; student science research; outdoor settings; after-school programmes; community outreach.
• Science Teacher Professional Development and Teacher Education
• The preparation, growth and continuing learning of science teachers and teacher educators. Pre-service teacher education; in-service teacher education; professional development; teacher education reform; teacher education policies; reflective practice; lesson study; action research; transformative practices.
• Curriculum Policy, Assessment, and Evaluation
• What is taught, how it is decided, and how it is judged. Curriculum reform, change and implementation; curriculum frameworks; educational policy; local and global policy issues; science and technology innovation and change; organisational leadership; summative, formative and alternative assessment; assessment issues; TIMSS; PISA; curriculum evaluation; programme evaluation.
• New Media and Technologies 
• Digital tools and emerging technologies as objects and instruments of science learning. Multimedia; science and technology; computers; data analytics; digital tools; online learning; simulation; augmented and virtual reality; artificial intelligence.
• Nature of Science (NOS), History, Philosophy, and Sociology 
• How science works as a way of knowing, and how it is situated in culture, history and society. Nature of science; history and philosophy of science; sociology of science; equity and diversity; sociocultural and sociopolitical perspectives; multicultural and bilingual contexts; culture; race and ethnicity; gender studies.

• STEM Curriculum, Teaching and Learning across Settings
• The design and enactment of integrated STEM curricula, how learners engage with them, and the settings in which this happens. Integrated and interdisciplinary curriculum design; STEM pedagogies; engineering design; problem- and project-based learning; design thinking and making; computational thinking; disciplinary integration; instructional materials; real-world and contextualised tasks; learning progressions; conceptual understanding across disciplines; motivation, interest and engagement; STEM identity; career aspirations and pathways; collaborative problem solving; transfer; cognition and metacognition; classroom and laboratory environments; makerspaces; digital and online environments; simulation, augmented and virtual reality; artificial intelligence in learning; informal and out-of-school settings; museums and science centres; industry and community partnerships; family and home contexts.
• STEM Teacher Professional Development and Teacher Education
• Preparing and sustaining teachers who work across disciplinary boundaries. Pre-service and in-service STEM teacher education; interdisciplinary teacher knowledge; teacher beliefs and identity; professional learning communities; co-teaching across disciplines; teacher agency; school-based professional development.
• STEM Education Goals, Policy, and Assessment
• Why STEM education is pursued, how systems steer it, and how its achievements are judged. Aims and rationales for STEM education; national and regional policy; workforce and economic agendas; curriculum reform; school leadership and implementation; resourcing; STEM for citizenship and sustainability; assessment of interdisciplinary learning; competency and performance assessment; programme and curriculum evaluation; validity and measurement issues; large-scale assessment; assessing collaboration and design; rubrics and portfolios.
• Sociocultural Issues in STEM Education
• Who STEM education serves, and on whose terms. Equity, diversity and inclusion; gender; race and ethnicity; socioeconomic status; language and multilingual learners; culturally responsive STEM; indigenous and local knowledge; access and participation; rural and under-resourced contexts.
• History, Philosophy, Epistemology, and Nature of STEM and STEM Education
• What STEM is, how it came to be, and how it is known. Nature of STEM and of its constituent disciplines; epistemologies of integration; history and philosophy of science, technology, engineering and mathematics; disciplinary boundaries; ethics; critiques of STEM as a construct; theoretical foundations of STEM education.

Science Education Strands

• Science Teaching and Learning across Settings
• Science Teacher Professional Development and Teacher Education
• Curriculum Policy, Assessment, and Evaluation  
• New Media and Technologies 
• Nature of Science (NOS), History, Philosophy, and Sociology 

STEM Education Strands

• STEM Curriculum, Teaching and Learning across Settings
• STEM Teacher Professional Development and Teacher Education
• STEM Education Goals, Policy, and Assessment
• Sociocultural issues in STEM education
• History, Philosophy, Epistemology, and Nature of STEM and STEM Education

For details of each strand, refer to the descriptions on this page.