Subject Area
Education, Engineering, General/Other, Humanities, General/Other, Sustainability and Development
Abstract
This dissertation examines how place-based approaches to STEM education can bridge a persistent divide between disciplinary-focused STEM pedagogy and equity-oriented educational scholarship. Three empirical studies approach this question at different scales of education research. Chapter 2 presents a 20-year mixed-methods systematic review of place-based STEM education (PBSE) for secondary-grade students. A random-effects meta-analysis of 23 studies found positive and statistically significant pooled effects across four outcome domains: STEM content knowledge (g = 0.641), STEM career interest (g = 0.502), civic engagement (g = 0.459), and self-efficacy (g = 0.384), with substantial between-study heterogeneity. A qualitative meta-synthesis of 81 studies found that this heterogeneity reflects systematic variation in the depth of operationalization on how place (biophysical, psychological, sociocultural, or political) is defined within educational settings. Chapter 3 presents a case study of two secondary teachers who co-developed and implemented a community-based, environmental-justice-oriented curriculum in applied STEM classrooms. Drawing on sociocultural theory and critical social theory, the analysis found that integrating community-based learning shaped the teachers’ perspectives on STEM education through three themes: city as classroom, classroom as community, and authentic human connection for community problem-solving. Chapter 4 presents a multi-case analysis of college-level engineering students conducting GIS site analysis under pandemic-era restrictions on in-person community engagement. Students articulated specific learning losses associated with the removal of community-engagement components and developed workaround strategies that have ongoing value for hybrid engineering practice. These three studies demonstrate that PBSE can bridge the STEM-equity divide when community is treated as constitutive rather than contextual.
Degree Date
Spring 5-16-2026
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Department
Multidisciplinary Studies
Advisor
Jessie Zarazaga
Second Advisor
Barbara Minsker
Third Advisor
Janille Smith-Colin
Fourth Advisor
Brad Klein
Fifth Advisor
Andrew Quicksall
Sixth Advisor
Dinesh Rajan
Number of Pages
196
Format
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Recommended Citation
Hua, Cindy P., "Toward Critical Place-Based Learning in STEM Education: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches to Understanding Learning Outcomes" (2026). Multidisciplinary Studies Theses and Dissertations. 7.
https://scholar.smu.edu/engineering_multidisciplinary_etds/7
