Temporary Concern or Enduring Practice? Examining the Progress of Safety in STEM Education

Overview & Synopsis

Technology and Engineering (T&E) education has traditionally included safety as a core component of its curriculum and instruction. Recommendations for safety instruction can be found in manual arts and industrial arts documents (Christy, 1938). Safety was emphasized across all grade levels, including the elementary grades (Miller & Boyd, 1970). At the elementary level the purpose was to, "promote the use of tools and develop a desirable attitude toward safety in the school and home" (Sotzin, 1960). Safety was also emphasized in the Standards for Industrial Arts Education Programs (Dugger, Bame, Pinder, & Miller, 1981). This focus on safety provided the foundation for identifying safety as a core concept in the field. Many of the safety resources and research findings from these eras helped to inform the safety practices used today. Currently, a number of content areas have identified safety as a fundamental component, specifically technology education (Gunter, 2007; ITEA, 2003), engineering education (Huffman, Grubbs, Strimel, & Gurganus, 2018), career and technical education (CTE) (Toglia, 2009), science education (NSTA, 2016), and elementary education (ACS, 2011; Weaver, 2017). This widespread focus on safety may be the result of increased hazards resulting from interdisciplinary STEM initiatives such as makerspaces and the addition of engineering practices within "Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)."