ABSTRACT: In this editorial, I am explaining my background in STEM education course design, delivery, and research experiences and discussing the current state of STEM journals internationally. I am also including a short overview of the three articles of this inaugural issue of Hellenic Journal of STEM Education.

ABSTRACT: Over the last two decades, discussions, rhetoric, recommendations, and policies regarding STEM education have escalated among businesses and industry, policy makers, think tanks, and educators around the world. STEM education is cast as pivotal in increasing productivity, prosperity, and global competitiveness; as a lynchpin in addressing current and future socio-geo-political-economic challenges; as a panacea for filling shortages in workforce pipelines. In this commentary, we discuss the emergence of STEM acronym, its variants, and the rhetoric surrounding STEM that drives educational policy. We examine more closely the integration of STEM and present an example of how in our own work, we have begun to clarify the characteristics of integrated STEM that guide our projects. We summarize some of the research studies in the emerging field of integrated STEM that document its benefits and reflect on the opportunities afforded STEM educators for future research. This commentary is by no means exhaustive, but is intended to instigate thought, reflection, and progress regarding the nascent state of integrating the STEM disciplines.

ABSTRACT: Computational Pedagogy is an instructional approach based on Computational Science and the Computational Experiment as well as on the CPACK model. Computational Science in Education engages students in computational modeling and simulation technology in alignment with the essential features of Inquiry based teaching and learning approach and the Computational Thinking dimensions (practices and skills). STEAM –content based epistemology- education is connected to Computational Pedagogy through the Computational Experiment leading to a proposed model called ‘Computational STEAM Content Pedagogy’ as a teaching and learning approach which can be implemented in a STEAM holistic interdisciplinary/trans-disciplinary epistemology approach to the curriculum for solving real computational problems.

ABSTRACT: Biotechnology is at the heart of STEM education. Assessment of student understandings of biotechnology concepts is essential for designing learning and teaching. Thus, the aim of this study was to develop and validate the Biotechnology Knowledge Scale (BKS) for eighth graders in order to investigate their understandings biotechnology related concepts. The content validity was ensured by experts by comparison to the outcomes included in Turkish eighth grade curriculum. After the biotechnology subject was taught, the BKS was administered to a sample of 155 eighth grade students in three groups in Ankara in 2019-fall semester. The Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient of the BKS was calculated to be .770.