DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-019-0201-4

Summary
The analysis on how teachers’ beliefs and practices reflect on the interdisciplinary STEM classes was analyzed in the article. The authors present the methods and procedures used in the research and research findings with the supportive individual teachers’ stories which consisted of the description of lessons, teaching beliefs, ideas, and challenges of collaboration in the interdisciplinary field. Two STEM implementation models, namely, multi-classroom model and extracurricular activity model were identified, and the respective schemes were provided for better understanding. The discussion on the differences and similarities of both models helps to understand variety of possible paths to reach the same goals of developing knowledge, skills, and competences in STEM subjects for solving real-world problems. The authors state that the size of teachers’ group, teaching goal, and collaboration are the crucial factors to the successful implementation of the STEM collaboration model in the high school settings.

Relevance for Complex Systems Knowledge
The article presents two models used to teach biology, chemistry, physics and agriculture, denoted as multi-classroom model and extracurricular activity model. In both cases which were presented in the article, the teaching program was based on the research of hydroponics system. The authors mention that the integration of interdisciplinarity highly depends on teachers’ beliefs and science teachers tend to choose a conventional disciplinary teaching strategy.
On the other hand, teachers admit that interdisciplinary teaching encourages collaboration among community members and uses knowledge, skills and perspectives of different disciplines to design a complex system and solve a problem which is similar to real-life problem. Also, it stimulates students’ interest to find the scientific reason why something does not work in the project. However, the application of complex teaching approach should be evaluated by the means of the mandated curriculum and standardized tests, the shared teachers’ beliefs on the integration of interdisciplinarity and administrative support, including flexible schedules.

Point of Strength
The point of strength of this article is that it presents two types of schemes which were applied for the interdisciplinary teaching (biology, science and agriculture (engineering)) in a secondary school and designing a complex system of hydroponics, the beliefs and practices of teachers, the hindrances and challenges each model has.