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REVIEW article

Front. Educ.
Sec. STEM Education
Volume 9 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/feduc.2024.1306016
This article is part of the Research Topic Invention Education and STEM: Perspectives and Possibilities View all 7 articles

Assessing Learning and Development Through Transdisciplinary Problem-Based Invention Education (IvE) Offerings

Provisionally accepted
Stephanie Renee Couch Stephanie Renee Couch 1*Kelli Paul Kelli Paul 2Michelle Sullivan Michelle Sullivan 1
  • 1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, United States
  • 2 Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Invention Education (IvE), a form of problem-based learning, presents new challenges for educational assessments in public schooling because traditional assessments were designed to evaluate learning in singular disciplines. This study explores the challenges and possibilities for assessing new knowledge and capabilities acquired through students' engagement with multiple disciplines through IvE. Guided by constructivist and sociocultural theories, as well as an understanding of IvE principles and practices derived from the literature on IvE, we examine the phases of work within a national IvE program for high school students and educators. We then examine ways existing assessments align with the work at each stage of the IvE process. Findings from this case study underscore the need for a flexible assessment system with multiple measures (e.g., disciplinary knowledge and practices, skill inventories, etc.). The system must account for variations in learning contexts, individual and collective achievements, and varying lengths of time students engage in IvE.Invention, or the process by which humans devise and produce something that is new, novel, useful, and unique (Couch et al., 2019), is central to the creation of technological advancements that increase productivity, foster economic growth, and improve lives by meeting human needs. Educators' deliberate efforts to develop in pre-college students the capabilities that are essential for the creation of inventions (Kuznets, 1962) constitute a distinctive form of problem-based learning known as Invention Education (IvE). IvE practices are being integrated into the teaching of individual subjects or content areas (such as science or history) in public schooling, beginning in the early years and continuing through high school. Some invention educators are making the process of finding a

    Keywords: invention, stem, Education, Transdisciplinary, creativity, assessment, Problembased learning

    Received: 03 Oct 2023; Accepted: 20 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Couch, Paul and Sullivan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Stephanie Renee Couch, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.