A Graduate Education Course for Elementary School Teachers: Fostering Knowledge of Science and the Engineering Design Process

This study provides insights to the successes and challenges of elementary school teachers as they refined their knowledge of specific physical science components and notions of the engineering design process. Our analysis of pre- and post-tests suggested that teachers significantly improved their knowledge after attending a graduate STEM education course

Uncovering Elementary Teachers\u27 Notions of Engineering Design Practices using Video-Captured Instruction

This article describes a 3-credit STEM education graduate course that provided knowledge and experiences to elementary school teachers for incorporating engineering design process (EDP) into their instruction. We analyzed teacher\u27s written reflections that gave us insights to the successes and challenges in helping teachers develop their notions and implementation of the EDP

STEM Education Course: Enhancing K-12 Teachers\u27 Cultural Awareness Through Reflections of Socioscientific Issues

This study applied the Socioscientific Issues (SSI) framework to explore how elementary teachers navigate STEM curriculum and apply SSI following a STEM certification endorsement course. Analysis revealed a number of themes regarding shifts in teachers\u27 perceived cultural practices, indicating a substantial shift in focus for these teachers in teaching science

Developing Teachers’ Intentions of Incorporating Socioscientific Issues in Lesson Design

In an effort to increase students’ informed decisions and evidence-based argumentation and perspective taking in the STEM classroom, this case study explored the ways in which teachers’ thinking and intention of incorporating Socioscientific Issues (SSI) into their lesson plans change after participating in an experiential workshop. Recognizing the difficulties inherent in SSI implementation, the day-long teacher development implemented a multi-layered approach which included declarative and procedural knowledge construction, namely understanding SSI components, SSI lesson planning, and learning STEM topics through the SSI framework. Pre-post conference questionnaires and lesson analysis showed that teachers were adept in developing SSI-focused lessons. In addition, the majority of teachers who had not previously taught an SSI lesson, did intend to develop SSI lessons in the future which included scientific phenomena or system dynamics. Implications for STEM teacher development are discussed

Internalization of STEM Education

For many years the need to educate and support our teachers to implement science and mathematics education has been ongoing throughout the world (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2019; Mundry et al., 2009). In more recent years, this call has extended to include teaching through integrated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects as a vehicle to learn disciplinary core ideas, science and engineering practices, and cross-cutting concepts (NGSS Lead States, 2013). This book includes three sections: Learning Contexts in Teaching of STEM Disciplines, STEM Teacher Education, and Components Related to Students\u27 STEM Learning Experiences. The first section of this book explores two unique contexts in which STEM education is being developed. The first chapter describes the current literature on the application of SocioScientific Issues to teach STEM in inclusive settings. The second chapter describes the development of public residential STEM High Schools in Egypt, completely reimagining how STEM is addressed in that country. The second section will explore aspects of teacher professional development in STEM as well as the motivations for teachers to learn and improve their STEM pedagogy. Specifically, the first chapter illuminates teachers’ motivation and practices in STEM implementation. The second chapter describes the demands on and resources for STEM implementations for teachers and the effect these factors have on their job satisfaction. The third chapter in this section describes the analysis of video reflections and personal reflective accounts of a female preservice teacher, exploring self-efficacy, belonging, and identity in learning STEM content through the lens of gender. The final chapter also explores gender as a variable along with problem solving skills to explore the impact of these variables on STEM awareness levels of classroom teachers. These chapters illuminate challenges faced in preparing and developing STEM educators as well as the mindset and motivations of teachers in these fields. The last section dives into issues related to STEM learning experiences for students. The first chapter reports findings from a meta-analytic study investigating the relationship between self-efficacy and interest in a STEM career and the various student factors that influence this relationship. The second chapter analyzes the STEM identity from an international perspective. The final study investigates the effects of computer simulations on students’ conceptual understanding of physics and scientific ideas