The Design & Pitch Challenges in STEM: A Theoretical Framework for Centering Mathematics Learning in Entrepreneurial Pitch Competitions
Solving many of the pressing issues facing the world today will require a deep and integrated understanding of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). To prepare today’s K-12 students to tackle these challenges, STEM education must create opportunities to learn disciplinary content...
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| Format: | Article |
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MDPI AG
2025-05-01
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| Series: | Education Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/15/6/651 |
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| author | Michael Belcher Jere Confrey Erin E. Krupa Margaret L. Borden |
| author_facet | Michael Belcher Jere Confrey Erin E. Krupa Margaret L. Borden |
| author_sort | Michael Belcher |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Solving many of the pressing issues facing the world today will require a deep and integrated understanding of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). To prepare today’s K-12 students to tackle these challenges, STEM education must create opportunities to learn disciplinary content while inventing actionable solutions to messy, interdisciplinary problems. Learning frameworks, such as Project-Based Learning (PBL), Design-Based Learning (DBL), and Entrepreneurial-Based Learning (EBL), could support this reconceptualization of STEM education. New approaches are needed that leverage and integrate what works from these frameworks to better prepare students for success post-schooling. This means leveraging frameworks that emphasize practices and ways of thinking that support students to build and justify solutions that create value for users, while also creating a need for disciplinary content knowledge. This is especially necessary for mathematics, a discipline that is often treated insufficiently in interdisciplinary STEM activities. This paper introduces the Design & Pitch (D&P) Challenges in STEM Learning Framework, a novel learning framework that leverages features of PBL, DBL, and EBL, situating math learning within entrepreneurial pitch competitions. It describes the D&P Learning Framework and explores how each contributing learning framework combines to enhance students’ work, focusing their mathematical reasoning, while also empowering them to invent relevant solutions to authentic problems. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-5b2fb1863d1f40c0a450ef207737308f |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2227-7102 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Education Sciences |
| spelling | doaj-art-5b2fb1863d1f40c0a450ef207737308f2025-08-20T03:24:34ZengMDPI AGEducation Sciences2227-71022025-05-0115665110.3390/educsci15060651The Design & Pitch Challenges in STEM: A Theoretical Framework for Centering Mathematics Learning in Entrepreneurial Pitch CompetitionsMichael Belcher0Jere Confrey1Erin E. Krupa2Margaret L. Borden3College of Education, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USACollege of Education, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USACollege of Education, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USACollege of Education, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USASolving many of the pressing issues facing the world today will require a deep and integrated understanding of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). To prepare today’s K-12 students to tackle these challenges, STEM education must create opportunities to learn disciplinary content while inventing actionable solutions to messy, interdisciplinary problems. Learning frameworks, such as Project-Based Learning (PBL), Design-Based Learning (DBL), and Entrepreneurial-Based Learning (EBL), could support this reconceptualization of STEM education. New approaches are needed that leverage and integrate what works from these frameworks to better prepare students for success post-schooling. This means leveraging frameworks that emphasize practices and ways of thinking that support students to build and justify solutions that create value for users, while also creating a need for disciplinary content knowledge. This is especially necessary for mathematics, a discipline that is often treated insufficiently in interdisciplinary STEM activities. This paper introduces the Design & Pitch (D&P) Challenges in STEM Learning Framework, a novel learning framework that leverages features of PBL, DBL, and EBL, situating math learning within entrepreneurial pitch competitions. It describes the D&P Learning Framework and explores how each contributing learning framework combines to enhance students’ work, focusing their mathematical reasoning, while also empowering them to invent relevant solutions to authentic problems.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/15/6/651project-based learningdesign-based learningentrepreneurial-based learningmathematicsSTEM |
| spellingShingle | Michael Belcher Jere Confrey Erin E. Krupa Margaret L. Borden The Design & Pitch Challenges in STEM: A Theoretical Framework for Centering Mathematics Learning in Entrepreneurial Pitch Competitions Education Sciences project-based learning design-based learning entrepreneurial-based learning mathematics STEM |
| title | The Design & Pitch Challenges in STEM: A Theoretical Framework for Centering Mathematics Learning in Entrepreneurial Pitch Competitions |
| title_full | The Design & Pitch Challenges in STEM: A Theoretical Framework for Centering Mathematics Learning in Entrepreneurial Pitch Competitions |
| title_fullStr | The Design & Pitch Challenges in STEM: A Theoretical Framework for Centering Mathematics Learning in Entrepreneurial Pitch Competitions |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Design & Pitch Challenges in STEM: A Theoretical Framework for Centering Mathematics Learning in Entrepreneurial Pitch Competitions |
| title_short | The Design & Pitch Challenges in STEM: A Theoretical Framework for Centering Mathematics Learning in Entrepreneurial Pitch Competitions |
| title_sort | design pitch challenges in stem a theoretical framework for centering mathematics learning in entrepreneurial pitch competitions |
| topic | project-based learning design-based learning entrepreneurial-based learning mathematics STEM |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/15/6/651 |
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