stem-education
Filtering by topic stem-education(2)Clear all filters
- PaperLanguage Teaching Research9 Jul 2026
Outcome-Based Language Teaching in EMI Listening: Balancing Accountability With Ungraded Supports for Low-Proficiency Learners
Camik Wanhassan
A three-year longitudinal reform of an EMI listening course found that combining graded accountability with ungraded supports (collaborative learning, voluntary practice, reflective work) reduced failure risk and sustained engagement among low-proficiency STEM learners. Listening was re-conceptualized as a transferable academic skill rather than a short-term requirement. The study offers design principles for balancing accountability with ungraded supports in EMI listening courses.
Original abstract
Listening plays a critical yet undertheorized role in English-medium instruction (EMI), where subject courses are taught through English rather than learners’ first language, and access to disciplinary knowledge relies heavily on real-time comprehension of lectures and academic tasks not designed for language development. For low-proficiency students enrolled in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programmes, this creates a high-stakes learning condition in which assessment-driven accountability can intensify cognitive and affective pressure. While outcome-based education (OBE) offers curricular structure and transparency, it is frequently criticized for privileging measurable outcomes over sustained engagement and long-term skill development. This study examines how accountability in EMI listening courses can be structurally balanced with ungraded pedagogical supports to foster engagement and learning sustainability. Drawing on a three-year longitudinal reform of a compulsory elective EMI listening course, the study analyses how a design approach integrating graded accountability with collaborative learning, voluntary practice, and reflective work reshaped learners’ engagement and learning trajectories. Using a mixed-methods design combining descriptive and inferential quantitative analyses with thematic analysis of learner reflections, integrated through triangulation, the analysis synthesizes performance data, engagement logs, and learner reflections collected from 533 low-proficiency STEM learners across three cohorts. Findings indicate that assessment-driven designs alone were insufficient to support learning progression in EMI listening. When graded accountability was complemented by ungraded, low-risk supports, learners demonstrated reduced failure risk, sustained voluntary engagement, and heightened reflective awareness of listening strategies and goals. Listening was increasingly construed not as a short-term course requirement, but as a transferable academic skill. The study contributes to EMI and language teaching research by theorizing EMI listening as a pedagogically constrained condition and by illustrating how OBE can be enacted as a supportive, rather than compliance-oriented, design. The findings offer transferable design principles for balancing accountability with ungraded pedagogical supports in EMI listening courses beyond the immediate institutional context.
- NewsEdSurge24 Jun 2026
Outgrowing the Chromebook: Why Advanced STEM Demands Better Student Tech
K-12 schools' one-to-one Chromebook programs support basic digital literacy but lack the computing power needed for advanced STEM coursework like engineering CAD and data science, prompting districts to evaluate more capable student devices.
Original abstract
<p>Across the United States, K-12 schools have spent the past decade building one-to-one device programs. These initiatives have established an essential baseline for digital access, making it easier for students to complete daily schoolwork across grade levels and subjects. By putting a device in the hands of every learner, districts have created a standard foundation for digital literacy, research and everyday classroom engagement.</p><p>As STEM programs continue to grow and mature, however, school leaders are beginning to encounter new questions about how well those devices support more advanced coursework. Pathways in fields like robotics, engineering, cybersecurity and data science increasingly rely on specialized professional applications that reach well beyond general-purpose classroom software.</p><p>In many cases, students can successfully complete introductory work on school-issued devices. But as instruction progresses, the tools required for STEM programs place different demands on student computing resources. As a result, educators and technology directors are taking a closer look at how hardware capacity can keep pace with shifting curricular needs.</p><h2>STEM Tools and Computing Demands</h2><p>While web-based applications work well for introductory coursework and daily assignments, many expanding STEM pathways introduce entirely different technical requirements. Courses in engineering, 3D modeling, cybersecurity and data science rely on industry-standard applications that demand substantial local computing capacity, robust memory and dedicated graphics processing.</p><p>A prime example is <a href="https://www.solidworks.com/"><u>SolidWorks</u></a>, a professional computer-aided design (CAD) platform used in both higher education and engineering industries. When students build detailed, multi-part models or run stress-test simulations, the performance of the device they’re using directly affects how efficiently they can work. Insufficient hardware can