Developing identities of STEM teachers at emerging STEM schools (original) (raw)
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International Journal of STEM Education
As K-12 STEM education moves toward the integrated application of mathematics and science concepts in collaborative and complex real-world problem solving, there is a commensurate need to redefine what it means to be a STEM teacher in the early grades. Elementary teachers need more than professional development with innovative content and curriculum to be ready to integrate STEM; they need the agency that comes with a strong sense of who they are and who they want to become as STEM teachers. In this commentary, we propose a model for integrated STEM teacher identity with the goal of building a robust definition that is applicable to multiple educational contexts. The model captures the tensions between elementary teachers’ multiple identities as STEM learners, professional teachers, and STEM education innovators. Our proposed model structures the complexity of these roles as an intertwining of components from extant professional teacher identity and STEM learner identity models. The...
Professional Growth and Identity Development of STEM Teacher Educators in a Community of Practice
International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 2021
Quality STEM teacher education is predicated on teacher educators who are well-equipped to design learning experiences, provide feedback, guide the development of teachers across their career span, and conduct rigorous research to advance education theory and praxis. While numerous models and approaches to professional development for teachers exist, few parallels can be drawn between the professional development of teachers and teacher educators (Loughran, 2014). To support the multi-faceted identity (trans)formation of STEM teacher educators, self-directed learning opportunities can help bridge knowledge and practice, enhance productive collaboration, and support efforts to negotiate multiple and conflicting agendas (Goodwin & Kosnik, 2013). The purpose of this empirical study was to explore the identity (trans)formation of teacher educators participating in a long-term interdisciplinary STEM-based Community of Practice (CoP; Wenger, 1998), which began in 2012. An analysis of our ...
The teachers’ role in developing, opening, and nurturing an inclusive STEM-focused school
International Journal of STEM Education, 2016
Background: This study is about teachers' collective activity during the development and initial year of a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)-focused school in the USA. The target school of this study was inclusive, as it sought admission of students from varying backgrounds and levels of ability. Drawing from narrative inquiry and case study methodologies, we examine the collective work of the teachers in the target school from 6 months prior to school start-up through the end of the first year. We focus on visioning, collaboration, and curriculum development in our analysis of the teachers' collective work. Results: We analyze the collective sense-making activity of the teaching staff regarding key facets of the start-up process. While the teachers received a variety of supports, including time and resources for collaborating, there was a lack of specific support for the conceptualization and creation of multidisciplinary , STEM-focused projects. The risktaking and collaborative actions of the teachers led to three specific instructional approaches that were continuously adjusted to respond to the evolving vision of the STEM-focused school. The teachers also solicited the needs and interests of their students and utilized these in curricular design and instruction, which promoted student buy-in and participation. By the end of the school year, a common vision for STEM-focused, project-based learning was emerging, but not solidified. Conclusions: Our study confirms the power of doing and risk-taking in teacher development, particularly in the ways in which teacher collaboration advanced curriculum and instruction in this STEM-focused school context. The intellectual supports that teachers require in this context are numerous and must be carefully identified and nurtured, and the subsequent teacher activity must be monitored as contextual shifts occur and sources of pressure (e.g., external learning standards) become relevant. The teachers' role is a complex mixture of learner, risk-taker, inquirer, curriculum designer, negotiator, collaborator, and teacher. Instructional and curricular supports require substantial time to synthesize and eventually enact, and more than a few months prior to school start-up are necessary to fully engage and prepare teachers for the collective task of visioning, collaborating, and planning the curriculum and instruction of an innovative school.
How STEM Academy Teachers Conceptualize and Implement STEM Education
Journal of Research in STEM Education, 2015
STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education has been gaining increasing nationwide attention. While the STEM movement has ambitious goals for k-12 education, a lack of shared understanding exists of what STEM is as well as how to implement STEM in the elementary classroom. This study investigates how seven elementary teachers in three STEM academy schools conceptualize and implement STEM in their classrooms. Teacher interviews were conducted. The findings reveal that the majority of teachers believe that STEM education involves integrating STEM subject areas. STEM activities consisted of student-led research and reading activities on STEM topics. Two teachers described STEM as involving “hands-on” science activities. Teachers at each STEM academy school conceptualized and implemented STEM differently. How STEM was implemented at each school was based on how teachers interpreted STEM and the resources they had access to. The STEM coaches played a central role in...
Are You a STEM Teacher?: Exploring PK-12 Teachers' Conceptions of STEM Education
Journal of STEM Education, 2022
This study explores teachers' conceptions of STEM education at the beginning of an online graduate course for practicing PK-12 teachers (n=20). A grounded theory approach was used to analyze open-ended survey data and concept maps. Teachers in the study interpreted STEM teaching from either a disciplinary or an integrated perspective. Their conceptions of STEM education within their concept maps fell into one or more of six categories: (1) utilitarian; (2) acquisition of disciplinary knowledge; (3) activities and resources; (4) access to meaningful problem-solving experiences; (5) advocacy for systemic change; and (6) buzzwords. This study reveals the complexity of teachers' conceptions of STEM education as they prepare to integrate STEM in their classrooms. The use of concept maps as a formative assessment can better position teacher educators and professional developers to move teachers toward a more sustainable integrated perspective of STEM teaching.
Context of STEM Integration in Schools: Views from In-service Science Teachers
This study explores science teachers' views regarding Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) pedagogy and its interdisciplinary nature. It also seeks to identify teachers' views on the contextual factors that facilitate and hinder such pedagogy in their schools. Qualitative methodologies were used through focus group discussions and an interview protocol. From the specific contextual issues that were highlighted in the findings, was teacher self-efficacy, pedagogical-knowledge, issues related to establishing a collaborative school culture and familiarity to STEM education among school administrators, students and parents. Findings expressed teachers' concerns of their under-preparedness to enact STEM practices and illustrated that engineering is the least mentioned discipline to be integrated with science. The study ends with recommendations that could lead to develop a professional development model to enact STEM education in schools based on valuing pa...
Defining STEM within a school district: a co-constructed and evolving process
Cultural Studies of Science Education, 2019
Taking a sociocultural approach, the goal of this qualitative study was to examine the process of implementing a science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) initiative. The study examined how the construct of STEM was individually appropriated and collectively constructed within a rural school district during its launch year. Within this theoretical framework, the authors argue that such a change must be viewed as a contextual, active, co-constructed, and evolving process. Data from practitioner journals, participant interviews, and researcher field notes were characterized by how practitioners referred to and discussed the idea of "STEM." The perspectives of teachers, administrators, and a STEM coach were examined to determine how practitioners appropriated the notion of "STEM," how this varied by practitioner group, and how individual appropriations of "STEM" merged and evolved as a co-constructed understanding of "STEM." Practitioners appropriated this STEM initiative in distinct ways, specific to their context, while at the same time working toward a district-wide understanding of "STEM." During the course of this year, the district's ownership of this initiative was reflected in the emergence of a new label for "STEM," which they renamed "TEAMS." This new label reified the context-specific conceptualization of a STEM initiative. The results highlight the importance of acknowledging the active role that practitioners play as co-designers of innovations and the value that should be placed on this active role to support long-term sustainability. The study provides a deeper understanding of the process of implementing STEM that might have implications for implementing similar STEM initiatives elsewhere. Keywords STEM education • Research-practice partnership • Educational change • Sociocultural • Professional development Crawford was a school district in change. The superintendent had decided that all students across the district should be engaged in STEM and that all faculty should play a part in this. In a faculty meeting early in the transition process, the teachers were wrestling with the question of what STEM is and their own existing or future relationships with
Journal of Research in STEM Education
Because elementary teachers are typically responsible for teaching all subjects, there is a unique opportunity for integrative approaches to teaching iSTEM Education at the elementary level (Becker & Park, 2011). However, there is a need for professional development if teachers are to be successful in teaching iSTEM Education (NRC, 2011), as elementary teachers may lack strong content knowledge in STEM disciplines (Ginns & Watters, 1995; Trygstad, 2013; Honey et al., 2014; Fulp, 2002; Ma, 1999; Hanover, 2012). Elementary teachers are prepared as generalists--they take few courses in STEM content, and experiences with iSTEM Education in their teacher preparation programs are rare (Fulp, 2002). Beyond the need for professional development related to STEM content knowledge, however, we know very little about the unique needs of elementary teachers regarding instructional approaches to iSTEM Education. This study examines and describes the ways in which elementary teachers conceptualize...
Theorizing STEM Leadership: Agency, Identity and Community
Asia-Pacific Science Education, 2021
STEM education, when perceived as integrated learning that encompasses knowledge, skills and practices of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, points to a need to re-examine ways of classification of school subjects and learning. Consequently, dilemmas related to integrated STEM education arise. School leaders are faced with the task to organize teams to address issues such as the ownership of STEM, identity issues such as STEM teacher or teacher of STEM subjects, evaluation of STEM programs and resources to support STEM education. The unique characteristics of integrated disciplines demand leaders who understand the unique characteristics and demands of each discipline and to apply them to build a synergistic platform to magnify the similarities and harness the differences for learning. In this paper, we present an argument for STEM leadership to focus on building STEM teachers’ agency, identity and sense of belonging to a community. These three aspects are important f...