Abstract
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 supporting the elementary teachers to plan and implement lessons. Teachers relied on them for ideas to plan and teach STEM lessons. The results of this study indicate that as more schools embrace the STEM movement, a unified understanding and resources are needed to support teachers.
Highlights
STEM education has been gaining increasing nationwide attention
This study investigates how STEM academy schools in a western state interpret and implement STEM education
Six out of the seven teachers indicated “reading about STEM or STEM topics” as an integral part of their STEM curricula, exemplified in this response by a teacher from School One: We separate our subjects throughout the day, but as I said before you can find all aspects of STEM throughout the day, so it’s more broad fields
Summary
STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education has been gaining increasing nationwide attention. This study investigates how seven elementary teachers in three STEM academy schools conceptualize and implement STEM in their classrooms. This study investigates how STEM academy schools in a western state interpret and implement STEM education. With the rapid changes in society and the 21st century affecting everything from health to technology, STEM skills help individuals make more informed decisions With this new movement in education to focus more on STEM, educators are questioning what is STEM and how exactly to teach STEM. Gerlach asked whether science alone or mathematics by itself can be considered STEM education; whether using technology is sufficient in covering the ‘T’ in STEM (2012) He pointed out that asking a number of teachers to define STEM will likely bring about many different answers
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