STEM Learning Ecologies: Relevant, Responsive, and Connected

The science education community is buzzing about STEM learning ecosystems, ecologies of learning, and ecological perspectives on learning. You may not know it, but if your teaching involves building on young people’s prior knowledge or making connections between the science curriculum and science in the broader world, your work may already reflect aspects of ecological learning theories. At the heart of an ecological perspective on learning is the need to make connections across formal, informal, and everyday learning. So, what are STEM learning ecologies all about, and how can science educators build on what they are already doing to support the development of robust ecologies? In this article, we’ll share some of the research and theory underpinning ecological approaches to science learning and explore what they mean for practice.