STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) education emphasizes interdisciplinary integrated learning oriented to real-world problem solving, which helps to cultivate students' inquiry ability, innovation ability, critical thinking and other core literacies required by future society, and is widely considered by the international community as the next generation of innovative education paradigm. The development of STEM education and the cultivation of STEM professionals are crucial for improving national core competitiveness, and countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Finland have launched national-level education policies and plans to increase investment in the construction of the STEM education field. Since 2016, when the Ministry of Education included the exploration of STEM education in the 13th Five-Year Plan of Education Informatization, STEM education has been flourishing in China.In recent years, STEM education research has been booming, and tracking and critiquing the latest international research results can help clarify the dynamic hotspots and future development directions of STEM education research. This study uses Citespace bibliometric software to examine the English-language STEM education literature from 2002 to 2022, and to sort out the current development of international STEM education research in order to better grasp the research hotspots and development directions of STEM education.

Citespace is a visual bibliometric software written in Java language, developed by Mei-Chao Chen of Drexel University and Dalian University of Technology, which integrates co-occurrence analysis, co-citation analysis, cluster analysis, cooperative network analysis, etc. It can visualize the intrinsic complex relationships among knowledge units and reveal the development trend and frontier hotspots of a certain field.This study uses Citespace to quantitatively analyze the key words, countries/regions, and cited literature of the literature, and conducts content analysis in conjunction with the text of literature titles and abstracts to provide an in-depth description of the research lineage, research hotspots, and dynamic trends of international STEM education. International literature from WOS core collection: TS indicates topic, (TS="STEM education" OR TS="STEAM education" OR TS="integrated STEM education" OR TS="STEM integration"), 3583 documents were retrieved, refinement basis: time 2002-2022, document type: thesis OR online publication OR review paper, 2220 remaining after refinement, 1944 remaining after data cleaning and weight reduction, finally, 1939 documents are available for visualization research.

1. Current status of STEM education research development ① Analysis of the number of articles issued this study counted the number of papers published year by year based on the number of literature from 2002 to 2022, and the number of literature showed an increasing trend year by year, indicating that the researchers' attention to this field increased year by year. ②Author collaboration network analysis From the author collaboration network diagram, 11 major collaboration networks were analyzed in the included literature. Among them, the most influential group is Gillian Roehrig's team from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, USA, with 17 annual publications. 2. Analysis of Hot spots of STEM education research The current major research hotspots can be divided into the following seven categories: literature on the integrative understanding of STEM education. research on the concept of STEAM education and the integration of STEM in art education. research on STEM teachers' conceptions and professional competence development. issues on the influencing factors of STEM education and its mechanisms. issues on STEM education evaluation/curriculum evaluation. Topics related to female participation in STEM careers/equity in STEM education. Theoretical research on the challenges and challenges encountered in STEM education. 3. Analysis of Frontiers of STEM Education Research it was found that international STEM education development frontiers include STEM teacher professional development and training, students' STEM learning expectations and interests, STEM education participation of disadvantaged groups, new technologies empowering STEM education practices, approaches and methods of STEM education teaching, STEM education research The seven aspects of STEM education development include professional development of STEM teachers, students' expectations and interests in STEM learning, participation of disadvantaged groups in STEM education, new technology-enabled STEM education practices, STEM education teaching methods and approaches, STEM education research methods empirical, evaluation and assessment of STEM education effects.

Chen Yue, Chen Chaomei, Liu Zelin, Hu Zhigang, Wang Xianwen Citespace.Methodological functions of knowledge graphs[J]. Scientology Research, 2015, 33 (02) : 242-253. Wolf, V., Hsiao, V., Rodriguez, B., Min, A., Mayorga, J., & Ashcroft, J. (2020). Utilization of Remote Access Electron Microscopes to Enhance Technology Education and Foster STEM Interest in Preteen Students. Research in Science Education, 1-18. Kelley, T. R., & Knowles, J. G. (2016). A conceptual framework for integrated STEM education. International Journal of STEM education, 3(1), 1-11. Perignat, E., & Katz-Buonincontro, J. (2019). STEAM in practice and research: An integrative literature review. Thinking skills and creativity, 31, 31-43. Estapa, Anne (2017) Supporting integrated stem in the elementary classroom: a professional development approach centered on an engineering design challenge. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF STEM EDUCATION DOI 10.1186/s40594-017-0058-3. Roehrig, G.H., Dare, E.A., Ring-Whalen, E. et al. Understanding coherence and integration in integrated STEM curriculum.IJ STEM Ed 8, 2 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-020-00259-8. Rodger W.Bybee. The BSCS 5E Instructional Model Origins and Effectiveness [EB/OL](2006-06-12）[2022-04-16]. https://bscs.org/sites/default/ files/_media/ about/downloads/ BSCS_5E_Full_Report.pdf National Research Council. (2011). Successful K-12 STEM education. Identifying efective approaches in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. TheNational Academies Press. Bybee, R. (2013). The case of STEM education: Challenges and opportunities.Arlington: NSTA Press. English, L. D., King, D., & Smeed, J. (2017). Advancing integrated STEM learning through engineering design: Sixth-grade students’ design and construction of earthquake resistant buildings. Journal of Educational Research, 110(3), 255–271. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220671.2016.1264053.