- Future Students
- Current Students
- Programs
- Programs of Study
- Undergraduate Studies
- Teacher Education
- Professional Development Program (PDP)
- Professional Linking Program - Lower Mainland (PLP-LM)
- Professional Linking Program - Peace Region (PLP-PR)
- Helping Ease Access for Returning Teachers (HEART)
- Alaska Highway Consortium on Teacher Education (AHCOTE)
- Bachelor of Education as a Second Degree
- BC Education System Familiarization Program
- Programs in French
- Graduate Studies
- Masters Programs
- MA, MEd in Arts Education
- MA, MEd in Counselling Psychology
- MA, MEd in Curriculum & Instruction: Educational Theory and Practice
- MA, MEd in Curriculum & Instruction: Equity Studies in Education
- MA, MEd in Educational Psychology
- MA, MEd in Educational Technology & Learning Design
- MA, MEd in Teaching English as an Additional Language
- MEd in Curriculum & Instruction: Contemplative Inquiry & Approaches in Education
- MEd in Curriculum & Instruction: Digital and New Media Literacies
- MEd in Curriculum & Instruction: Ecological Education
- M.Éd. dans Curriculum & Instruction: Enseigner et apprendre en français: plurilinguismes, francophonies et éducation
- MEd in Curriculum & Instruction: Imagination in Teaching, Schooling and Place
- MEd in Curriculum & Instruction: Innovations in Mathematics Education
- MEd in Curriculum & Instruction: Place- and Nature-Based Experiential Learning
- MEd in Curriculum & Instruction: Post-Secondary
- MEd in Curriculum & Instruction: Rethinking STEM In and Beyond Schools
- MEd in Curriculum & Instruction: Science Education and Communication
- MEd in Educational Leadership: Expanding Possibilities in K-12 Education
- MEd in Educational Leadership: Indigenous Resurgence
- MEd in Educational Leadership: Post-Secondary (Surrey)
- MEd in Educational Practice
- MEd in Educational Practice: Indigenous Pedagogy and Indigenous Inquiry
- MEd in Educational Practice: Practitioner Inquiry
- MEd in Teaching Languages in Global Contexts
- MSc, MEd in Secondary Mathematics Education
- Doctoral Programs
- EdD in Educational Leadership: Leading for Educational Change in the Yukon
- PhD in Arts Education
- PhD in Educational Psychology
- PhD in Educational Technology & Learning Design
- PhD in Educational Theory and Practice: Curriculum and Pedagogy Stream
- PhD in Educational Theory and Practice: Philosophy of Education Stream
- PhD in Languages, Cultures and Literacies
- PhD en langues, cultures et littératies
- PhD in Mathematics Education
- Areas of Study
- Program Comparision
- Masters Programs
- Programs in French
- Faculty & Research
- Indigeneity
- Community
- About
- News & Events
- Support Us
- Instructor & Staff Resources
- Work With Us
- Contact
Master of
Education
MEd in Curriculum & Instruction: RETHINKING STEM IN AND BEYOND SCHOOLS
Expand your approach to STEM education and build the skills to design inclusive, transformative learning experiences in schools and beyond.
The MEd in Rethinking STEM offers an opportunity for you to expand understandings of STEM education and interrogate and enhance your practice. Contemporary discussions about STEM have examined this acronym with a critical eye, questioning what it really means, what it entails, and what goals it may represent for the fields of science, technology education and mathematics.
You will engage with critical perspectives and with the possibilities to redefine STEM to tackle wicked questions and concerns in the public realm while advocating meaningful participation in mathematics, science and technology.
Delivery Method and Location: In-person at SFU Burnaby campus
Applications Open: October 1, 2026
Applications Close: February 26, 2027
Next Start Date: September 2027
Estimated Tuition Fee: $2,192.57 per term
This program is ideal for:
K – 12 educators, STEM educators and communicators affiliated with outreach activities, STEM educators working in different educational settings (e.g., science museum non-profit organizations, health organizations, research and science institutes).
Note: This program is intended for working professionals who are working within their profession throughout the program, therefore may not be suitable for international applicants. See resources for international students.
How the program is structured
- 2-year program held over six consecutive terms
- Six 5-unit courses plus a comprehensive exam
- Cohort-based model
- In-person classes at the SFU Burnaby campus
- Classes meet once a week from 5:00 - 9:00 pm
Intake Schedule
Next Start Terms
Fall 2027
Program Design
Designed with working professionals in mind, this two-year degree program offers the opportunity to obtain a high-quality master's degree. Our cohort-based model allows students to work through the program and coursework together (18-24 students).
Through different frameworks (e.g. history and philosophy of science and mathematics, nature of science, socio-scientific issues, public engagement with STEM, decolonial perspectives in science education, critical informal STEM education), you will consider the social, cultural and political purposes of science, mathematics and technology education in our current times. The program will also nurture your development of critical appraisal, values and agency towards pressing contemporary issues like climate emergency, environmental degradation, digital transformation and gender gaps and inequalities in STEM. Many of those pressing issues report structural problems stemming from ways of knowing and being currently in force in our society. Because of that, First Peoples’ perspectives will be part of our program, so you will challenge hegemonic ways of viewing science, technology and math with consequences for conceptualizing, for instance, the “nature/culture divide,” objectivity in science, community-based learning, and views on equity and decolonization.
This program allows you to:
- Engage with theory, philosophy and community- and practitioner-based scholarship in science, math and technology education
- Appraise and examine the complex relationship between science, math and technology across educational contexts and settings (e.g., schools, museums, social media, NGOs, outreach initiatives, science cafes, etc.)
- Develop critical views and values on the relationships between technoscientific development and the distribution of wealth and power
- Examine the current state of STEM education practices in the provincial, national and international contexts
- Explore theoretical perspectives and practical approaches and initiatives to decolonizing and Indigenizing science, math and technology education
- Reflect upon the meanings and possibilities of public engagement and participation in pressing science technology and environmental issues
- Engage in transformative practices related to STEM education
B.C. K-12 Educators: You may be eligible for a TQS category upgrade upon successful completion of the program.
EDUC 859-5: Philosophy of Science and Perspectives on Education
An introductory examination of various philosophical positions about the nature of science, including logical positivism, naive realism, instrumentalism, relativism and social constructionism, and their relation to curriculum and instruction in science.
Students will engage with STEM education and communication outside formal settings. The course offers opportunities to explore and make collective meaning of the models of science communication, citizen science experiences, STEM communication in diverse media and contexts, science communication and Indigenous knowledge, and inclusion and equity in STEM communication.
EDUC 816-5: Developing Educational Programs and Practices for Diverse Educational Settings
Investigates theories and issues associated with developing educational programs and practices in various educational contexts. Addresses the development of new programs and their implementation in schools and other educational settings.
EDUC 837-5: Seminar in Education, Equity, and Social Theories
An in-depth study of selected topics in education, equity, and social theories.
EDUC 820-5: Current Issues in Curriculum and Pedagogy
Focuses on educational issues, trends and practices which impact teaching and learning in schools and other educational settings.
EDUC 864-5: Research Designs in Education
Designing and interpreting research about education. Introduction to survey techniques, correlational designs, classic experimental and evaluation designs for investigating causal relations, case study methods, interpretive approaches to research. Students with credit for EDUC 814 may not take this course for further credit. Equivalent Courses: EDUC 814
Specially, students will design and interpret research about STEM education in formal and informal educational settings (e.g., action-research, practitioner inquiry, case study) and engage with methods of data collection and data analysis.
EDUC 904-5: Fieldwork III
Developing and implementing a change in personal instructional practice. Recording, analyzing and reporting the impact on students and self.
EDUC 883-5: MEd Comprehensive Examination
The examination is graded on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory basis.
Program courses and order of delivery subject to change.
