Understanding STEM and its challenges
STEM provides learners with the foundation of in-demand skills, such as problem-solving, innovation, and analytical thinking, in a rapidly developing technological landscape. These skills are greatly valued, as they provide learners with a well-rounded capability of addressing real-world challenges. STEM can also be expanded into other education frameworks such as STEAM, including Arts, or STREAM, including Arts and Religion.
Creating content for these subjects can pose specific hurdles for educators and trainers, such as writing formulas, generating graphs, and incorporating specialised characters. Assessing students can also be a complicated process, especially when it comes to math and science exams that are conducted online. For instance, students may write a number in different formats, such as 1/2, 2/4, 0.5 or 0.50, which can cause inconsistency in grading. Educators need to ensure that they grade the students’ work accurately and fairly, regardless of the format used, so it is important that they have access to tools that will let them go beyond multiple-choice or true/false questions.
Teaching STEM in K-12 and higher education
Teaching STEM subjects virtually to students in K-12 presents a distinct set of challenges, which include a lack of engagement and difficulty in getting students into a problem-solving mindset. It requires innovative methods and tools to create an effective learning experience for the students.
With Moodle LMS, you will be equipped with all the necessary tools to:
- Build your own education content tailored to your preferred teaching style.
- Easily track and record student progress.
- Make data-driven decisions to create tailored content according to your students’ needs.
- Motivate and encourage students in their online learning journey through badges and certificates.
As students progress to higher education, STEM subjects become more complex, creating significant barriers for learners. If these challenges become unsurmountable, students might reassess their career plans and discover that their passion lies in fields outside of STEM, leading them to switch majors or opt for non-STEM careers.
What STEM tools can you use on Moodle?
Moodle LMS helps educators create secure online learning spaces that can engage all learners. One key feature is the default Equation Editor, which is designed to assist educators and trainers in presenting STEM materials visually. This tool allows users to build formulas in both visual and TeX formats conveniently by selecting buttons from a toolbar. For more information about Moodle’s in-built formula editor, you can refer to our documentation for Moodle’s in-built Equation Editor.
In the context of content creation, a powerful equation editor is a great asset in an LMS for learners, whether they are working on assignments, participating in forums, or contributing to Moodle Quizzes, particularly in open or short-answer question types.
For mathematics assessment within Moodle, there are a number of tools out there, from which we have selected three recommended tools:
- WeBWorK by the Mathematical Association of America is an open-source project seamlessly integrated with Moodle modules Assignment and Quiz.
- STACK, a leading open-source assessment system, integrates with Moodle through the standard LTI (Learning Tools Interoperability) protocol.
- WirisQuizzes, a commercial solution that integrates MathType and provides the capability to grade graphical questions and open answer questions. It is integrated with Moodle via a plugin.
MathType: Digital math made simple
Now, if you need a high-performance equation editor, MathType is the world-leading equation editor and a Moodle Certified Integration. Its key features include handwriting recognition, which seamlessly converts handwritten formulas into digital equations for educators, and a configurable toolbar that generates publisher-grade formulas in a visual (WYSIWYG) manner.
MathType integrates flawlessly with Moodle, enabling users to easily add mathematical equations and formulas to various content, such as Pages, Quizzes, Assignments, Forum posts, and lesson materials. It also extends its capabilities beyond mathematical equations, providing educators with several extra capabilities:
- The ability to customise the toolbar;
- The ability to add units and prefixes (like milli-gram) to be used in physics, biology, geology, etc; and
- A toolbar especially designed for editing inorganic chemistry formulas.