Preservice teachers’ experiences of STEM integration: challenges and implications for integrated STEM teacher preparation

In the United States, recent STEM education reform initiatives call for teaching STEM subjects through integration of multiple related subjects. In response to this call, an integrated STEM education methods course was developed for secondary preservice teachers in STEM disciplines. At the conclusio...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inInternational journal of technology and design education Vol. 29; no. 3; pp. 493 - 512
Main Authors Ryu, Minjung, Mentzer, Nathan, Knobloch, Neil
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.05.2019
Springer
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects
Barriers
Constraint modelling
Cultural Background
Education
Educational Change
Educational Practices
Educational Technology
Interdisciplinary Approach
Interdisciplinary subjects
Learning and Instruction
Learning Processes
Lesson Plans
Mathematics education
Methods Courses
Preservice Teachers
Qualitative analysis
Role Models
Science Education
Secondary School Teachers
STEM Education
Student Attitudes
Students
Teacher education
Teachers
Teaching
Teaching Methods
Technical education
Technology education
Interdisciplinary technology education
K-12 education
STEM integration
Teacher Education
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Summary:In the United States, recent STEM education reform initiatives call for teaching STEM subjects through integration of multiple related subjects. In response to this call, an integrated STEM education methods course was developed for secondary preservice teachers in STEM disciplines. At the conclusion of the course, qualitative data (e.g., interviews, student artifacts) were collected to examine the methods course students’ practices and experiences of STEM integration. Teachers’ learning was approached from situated perspectives that shed light on contexts in which teaching practices are situated and funds of knowledge that individual teachers bring to bear to their teaching contexts. While the students successfully developed STEM integration lessons and taught them, they faced challenges attributable to current school practices, limited interdisciplinary understandings, and a lack of role models. Acknowledging the numerous constraints in the current educational system and structure, several ways were suggested to mitigate the challenges and build on the strengths that preservice teachers established.
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ISSN:0957-7572
1573-1804
DOI:10.1007/s10798-018-9440-9