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Knowledge management (KM), a critical component of modern organizations, promotes the effective leveraging and sharing of intellectual capital. There has been an increasing importance of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. In turn, there has also been a growing interest in exploring the potential of introducing KM education in K-12 STEM education. STEM education has become a focal point in preparing future generations to meet the challenges of technological advancement and global competitiveness.
Educators, organizations, academia, and governments have recognized the need for new skills and abilities since the early 1980s as specialization and professional knowledge in specific domains are no longer the only success factors for future workers. Instead, learning-based skills, people skills, and applied skills have become critical. Today, success is more than just learning and applying existing content knowledge. It also includes managing and generating new knowledge. For example, Partnership for 21st Century Learning (Battelle for Kids, 2019) identified three areas of mastery: (1) learning and innovation skills (creative thinking, collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and problem solving); (2) life and career skills; and (3) information, media, and technology skills. The National Research Council (2012) identified core abilities like cognitive competencies, critical thinking, problem solving, adaptive learning, information literacy, active listening, and innovation.
The competencies required by 21st-century knowledge workers include learning how to use knowledge effectively, search for the knowledge needed, generate new knowledge, organize and store knowledge, and share knowledge to benefit the larger whole. In the past decades, countries have developed education and training programs at professional, higher education, and K-12 levels to prepare current and future workforces. However, there have been few efforts to train students to handle knowledge in a proper and organized way for their long-term benefits.
KM is a valuable approach in the working environment. Yet education programs for KM only start at senior grades of higher education or the post-graduate level. Given that STEM education is being prioritized at all levels of education, especially K-12 groups preparing the future workforce, why is KM education not considered equally important?
With this background, this article aims to investigate the feasibility of introducing KM education in K-12 STEM education programs. Can KM education be introduced in K-12 STEM education programs? The article first conducts a comprehensive literature review to identify STEM and KM education characteristics. Then, it reports the use of a mixed research method, including three interviews with STEM teachers and one survey with STEM students, to identify the KM characteristics implicit in STEM education. The methodology, data collection, analysis, and findings are reported. The article then proposes the KM elements that can be integrated into STEM curriculum. Finally, the article discusses the limitations and significance of the study.
This is a concept article that seeks to provide a comprehensive understanding of the potential of integrating KM education into K-12 STEM education programs. Consequently, it is not an empirical paper that reports interventions to an existing program. Instead, the article aims to propose a STEM curriculum that includes KM learning elements in the program. The proposed curriculum is based on the literature review and mixed-method research findings, providing a framework for future research and implementation. By doing so, the article contributes to filling the gap in KM education for K-12 students.