Paper short abstract:

The contribution focuses on two challenges of the current STEM curricula in formal education based on the research conducted within the European project Open Learning for All: the lack of transdisciplinarity, crucial in facing complexity; stereotypes and biases conveyed by educational resources

Paper long abstract:

This contribution aims to reflect on STEM curricula in formal education, debating the findings emerged by the European project Open Learning for All (OLA). We will present two of the dimensions addressed by the project:

- At all educational levels, STEM disciplines are usually managed as silos not preparing learners to engage in ‘wicked problems’, complexity and uncertain reality (Colucci Gray 2017; Funtowicz, Ravetz 1994; Morin 2002; Pennacchiotti e al. 2021); in the OLA research process, the adoption of a transdisciplinary approach to STEM subjects was enhanced through the participatory design and testing (involving students, teachers, researchers from 5 European countries) of educational open scenarios within the STEAM framework.

- As documented by several studies there is a differential achievement in STEM subjects based on gender, economic status, background. The Council of Europe (2020) highlighted that working to overcome stereotypes, especially those that constrain the students’ choices for their field of study, is one of the challenges we must face to reduce these gaps. Educational resources and textbooks have a crucial role in shaping learning and teaching processes (UNESCO 2017) and conveying epistemologies and values, explicitly and implicitly (Caravita et al. 2007). In OLA we fostered the consciousness and capability of teachers and students to detect stereotypes in educational resources, taking into account the plurality of possible points of view and backgrounds, through the development of a theoretical framework, Moocs and guidelines for teachers, and an open repository with more than 200 transdisciplinary scenarios.