Trends and Hot Topics of STEM and STEM Education: a Co-word Analysis of Literature Published in 2011–2020

Ying Shao Hsu, Kai Yu Tang, Tzu Chiang Lin*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This study explored research trends in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. Descriptive analysis and co-word analysis were used to examine articles published in Social Science Citation Index journals from 2011 to 2020. From a search of the Web of Science database, a total of 761 articles were selected as target samples for analysis. A growing number of STEM-related publications were published after 2016. The most frequently used keywords in these sample papers were also identified. Further analysis identified the leading journals and most represented countries among the target articles. A series of co-word analyses were conducted to reveal word co-occurrence according to the title, keywords, and abstract. Gender moderated engagement in STEM learning and career selection. Higher education was critical in training a STEM workforce to satisfy societal requirements for STEM roles. Our findings indicated that the attention of STEM education researchers has shifted to the professional development of teachers. Discussions and potential research directions in the field are included.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1069-1092
Number of pages24
JournalScience and Education
Volume33
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024 Aug

Keywords

  • Co-word analysis
  • Research trends
  • STEM
  • STEM education

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Education

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