STEM CURRICULUM ALIGNMENT IN ISRAELI GRADE 10 SECONDARY EDUCATION: A QUALITATIVE DOCUMENT ANALYSIS OF MATHEMATICS, SCIENCE, AND BIOTECHNOLOGY CURRICULA

This study examines the extent to which the official Israeli Grade 10 curricula in mathematics, biology, biotechnology, chemistry, and physics align with internationally recognized characteristics of STEM education. A qualitative document analysis was conducted using a structured binary coding rubric (0 = absent, 1 = present) derived from established STEM education literature and applied to a total of 362 instructional items across the five curricula. The findings reveal considerable variation in STEM alignment across subjects. Biotechnology achieved the highest overall alignment, with inquiry and modeling at 85.7% and real-world contexts at 71.4%. Physics ranked second, with inquiry and modeling at 83.3% and quantitative reasoning at 77.8%.