STEM Expansions: a Model of Approach to STEM Education in the Perspective of Educational Innovation and Teacher Professional Development

This article describes a model of approach to STEM education in the perspective of educational innovation based on professional teacher development. The conception of the STEM Expansions Program, set in a Community of Practice formed by educators of formal and non-formal education Institutions in Brazil, is articulated with concrete practice in the school, because we understand that professional development is only effective through reflection of practice and sustains the evolution of school culture. The STEM Expansions model implemented with students treats addresses the integration of STEM areas as a means of bringing real problems within the school and to go beyond simply assembling a technological device or solving the challenges associated with it, expanding to other áreas of the curriculum in a transdisciplinary perspective and maintain the focus on the formation of critical and ethical thinking, especially in the relationships between science, technology and society.