Introduction

Consequently, the STEM education researcher is tasked with designing innovative and rigorous means of answering complex questions of practice in the, often ambiguous, milieu of STEM education. This also includes research in the extremely complex biopsychosocial ecology of the contemporary school/education system. The complexities in the concept of STEM education, from its brief historical foundations to the present-day upsurge of research, is a potential minefield for the newly minted postgraduate student, the action-research-oriented teacher seeking to improve their practice, or the seasoned STEM academic taking a discipline-based educational research approach for the first time. The sociocultural reality of education in STEM is conducted under the systemic structures that are often in place by external parties (e.g., governments, examination bodies) and there is none more influential than policy. The chapter also presents an overview on the key concepts discussed in this book.