Emergent Outcomes

Change strategies in STEM education fall along two axes: the aspect of the system to be changed (Individuals vs. Environments and Structures) and the intended outcome (Prescribed vs. Emergent).

Most change efforts focus on prescribed outcomes which are defined by the change agent as desirable prior to initiating the change. These efforts rarely support widespread changes in undergraduate STEM education, likely because they do not engage the individual in the change process nor do they address the environments and structures in which individuals operate.

The (STEM)² Network focuses on emergent outcomes, those that arise as part of a change process that engages the stakeholders as agents of change. We focus on both aspects, the individual aspect and the environments and structures aspect, since sustainable reforms necessitate change at both levels.