Conclusions
Implementing research‐based reform on a large scale in STEM is not an easy task. Despite the
intense efforts of change agents in developing and disseminating curricular products and ideas, progress
has been slow. However, it is also the case that little effort has been put into developing an
understanding of the basic problems and solutions of reform. Remedying this shortcoming offers many
promising avenues for success.
Most of the money spent on the improvement of STEM education has been spent on research and
development. Little effort has gone into understanding and improving the integration of the outcomes
of that intense R&D effort in classrooms. Research into how students learn, along with the
development of curriculum based on that research, is an essential component of reform. However,
while there is still a need for more R&D effort in STEM, we now have a reasonably good understanding
of what students need in order to learn, as well as a large collection of research‐based curriculum and
pedagogies. These research‐based products, however, are being underutilized due to a lack of effort
focused on understanding the problems and solutions of reform.
Fortunately, there is a clear, if somewhat challenging, solution. We, as a community, can improve
our change efforts by remembering that successful change requires a successful change model. We can
develop effective pedagogies and materials, but simply showing that these products are effective, and
making them available, does not mean they will be used. Ultimately, researchers in STEM education,
need to greatly increase efforts to understand change so as to develop more effective change models,
and within those models more effective change strategies. It is the systemic study and exploration of
the reform process that offers the greatest promise for effective large‐scale research‐based reform.
The current state of research on STEM change strategies is similar to the state of research on STEM
instructional strategies 20‐30 years ago. At that time STEM educational researchers started to
systematically study teaching and learning. This has been tremendously effective in developing new
knowledge and also in incorporating knowledge from other fields (e.g., psychology, sociology). We
believe that research on STEM change strategies can be equally fruitful with more systematic research
efforts.