This article shares a critical conceptual framework to threaten systemic inequities through computer-assisted language learning (CALL) using a critical crosscultural communicative competence (C5) and equity literacy to engage English learners (ELs) in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). The proposed critical conceptual framework is compatible with ways of thinking in STEM-based problem solving (English, 2023). To achieve this goal, a theory adaptation critical research design was used with a sociocultural analysis and a modified transactional epistemology critical approach. The paper argues for building a critical conceptual framework that is based fundamentally on a critical view of equity literacy and a critical definition of culture where educators use their C5 to threaten systemic inequities. Classroom-tested practical strategies and use of a classroom vignette will be provided to illustrate the use of CALL in developing C5 and STEM content for ELs. Research-based recommendations for institutions of higher education that focus on teacher preparation and professional development are shared.
Drawing on an online professional development modular course that addressed critical approaches to the issues of race, immigration, English Language Learners (ELLs)/Emerging Bilinguals (EBs), and gender and sexual orientation, this paper reports teachers' perceptions on gender stereotypes in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education.In particular, building on the course readings, we discuss teachers' emergent approaches to address gender stereotypes in teaching practice that improve girls' participation in STEM fields.Data is collected from a pre-course survey and teachers' discussions during the course.Centering on the course readings from theoretical and empirical research that address gender issues, discussion prompts were used to elicit teachers' insights on gender stereotypes in education.A thematic analysis method was then employed to discuss strategies for challenging gender stereotypes in teaching practice from teachers' discussion posts.Teachers recognize that gender stereotypes have been embedded in the social norms that influence teachers' practice in an underlying way.Three promising strategies are identified to address gender stereotypes in STEM education, including integrating role models into the curriculum, developing a growth mindset, and promoting justice classroom discourse.We also discussed ways to support teachers in addressing gender stereotypes in their practices.
Drawing on an online professional development modular course that addressed critical approaches to the issues of race, immigration, English Language Learners (ELLs)/Emerging Bilinguals (EBs), and gender and sexual orientation, this paper reports teachers’ perceptions on gender stereotypes in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education. In particular, building on the course readings, we discuss teachers’ emergent approaches to address gender stereotypes in teaching practice that improve girls' participation in STEM fields. Data is collected from a pre-course survey and teachers’ discussions during the course. Centering on the course readings from theoretical and empirical research that address gender issues, discussion prompts were used to elicit teachers’ insights on gender stereotypes in education. A thematic analysis method was then employed to discuss strategies for challenging gender stereotypes in teaching practice from teachers’ discussion posts. Teachers recognize that gender stereotypes have been embedded in the social norms that influence teachers’ practice in an underlying way. Three promising strategies are identified to address gender stereotypes in STEM education, including integrating role models into the curriculum, developing a growth mindset, and promoting justice classroom discourse. We also discussed ways to support teachers in addressing gender stereotypes in their practices.
Active learning experiences that incorporate technology, design, and making combine to form an important and necessary pedagogical approach that supports the 21st century skills of collaboration, communication, creativity, digital literacies, and computational thinking as a problem-solving framework. Active learning experiences in teacher preparation serve as a model for future educators to follow, while building the educators' efficacy to conduct future implementations with their own students. In this study, a multidisciplinary Pop-Up Makerspaces activity was conducted as an active hands-on approach to interdisciplinary STEM education. The intersectionality of English language arts with integrated STEM through design and making included: (a) enriching language and integrated STEM literacy, (b) scaffolding and supporting pre- and inservice educators through well-designed active learning as these opportunities help to develop self-efficacy, and (c) exploring new models and frameworks for transdisciplinarity.
Professional development for STEM instructors and facilitating change in their instruction requires understanding current practices along with what motivates or causes them to change their teaching practice. Teaching during the Covid-19 pandemic caused a lot of change in how courses were delivered in-person or online, but it also provided opportunities for instructors to change the teaching method used in the courses, potentially shifting towards more student-centered practices. Some commonly cited barriers to faculty changes were removed or lowered during this time and instructors had to think about their teaching due to the nature of the pandemic. Opportunity for change was present which could provide lessons for professional development and STEM reform efforts. This article reports on the analysis of experienced introductory STEM instructors’ syllabi before, during, and after the full Covid-19 pandemic academic year 2020-21. Focus group interviews were also conducted to explore how teaching was impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Findings suggest that little changed in instructional strategies, and that the experience likely reinforced teaching practices from prior to Covid. There was no indication of intent to improve or change instruction in anyway. Take aways for professional development and teaching reform with experienced STEM faculty are discussed.
This study examined secondary pre-service science teachers’ understanding of science and engineering practices, the engineering design process, and the scientific method before and after an intervention. Participants were ten pre-service science teachers. Data were collected through a survey and semi-structured interviews. Results show that after the intervention pre- service science teachers developed understanding of science and engineering practices and used more engineering-specific language when describing them. They also developed an understanding that both engineering design process and scientific method are cyclical and iterative and that the two processes share many practices, but the biggest difference between them is in their purposes. Pre-service teachers also said that the redesign process in engineering design, and the repetition of steps can occur at any point in engineering design process and scientific method. These findings have implications for science teacher education, and teaching and learning of science and engineering design in schools.
Due to a shortage of rural computer science teachers, researchers used a three-phase method to design a computer science endorsement, which will be coupled with an instructional coaching endorsement within an Educational Specialist degree program. The team conducted interviews of teachers as well as school and district level administrators in rural areas to determine needs and resources available to develop computer science master teachers. Interviewers also investigated recruitment, preparation and support processes pertinent to the program. Findings included that, although infrastructure for wireless access is lacking, school and district administrators are very interested in supporting teachers to become computer science master teachers. STEM teachers are especially interested in computer science content related to their teaching field. Partners indicated an interest in developing teacher leaders, in order to encourage a sustainable computer science program in the school and district. Information gathered was used to design a program that intends to meet the needs of potential rural computer science master teachers.
The STEM teacher workforce in the United States has faced a host of pressing challenges, including teacher shortages, pervasive job dissatisfaction, and high turnover, problems largely attributable to working conditions within schools and districts. These problems have been exacerbated in high-needs districts with fewer resources and more students from low-income communities. Since social network research has shown that workplace relationships are vital for retention, this study investigates the demographic and relational Journal of STEM Teacher Education Volume 57, Issue 1, Summer 2022 102 antecedents to what we dub ties of retention. We explore how demographic and relational properties affect the likelihood that teachers have “retention-friendly” networks, characterized by connections important for retention. Our analysis of data from a sample of 120 STEM teachers across five geographic regions identifies key demographics (i.e., site, gender, career changer, and prior teaching experience) and relational properties (network size, positive affect, and perceptions of bridging) associated with ties of retention. We discuss the implications of our findings for the STEM teacher workforce and for teacher education programs. “I think another thing as far as retention of teachers goes is department/dynamics/support/cohesiveness. It makes a world of difference to have coworkers that are supportive. And difficult coworkers can make work miserable. New teachers often are hesitant to go to administration for help but are more willing to ask a veteran teacher and not feel judged, so building those relationships among teachers is key.” (Jenny Blue, High School Science Teacher). There have been historic and persistent shortages of teachers in the US workforce, a problem that has worsened due to the COVID-19 pandemic (Bailey & Schurz, 2020; Hutchison, 2012; Lachlan et al., 2020; Steiner & Woo, 2021; Sutcher et al., 2016). The problem has been exacerbated by high turnover among new teachers and is especially salient among science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teachers working in high-needs districts (Ingersoll et al., 2021; Ingersoll & Strong, 2011; Sutcher et al., 2016). This is a national concern since students from low-income communities especially need good role models and quality education for economic empowerment and upward mobility (Berry, 2008; Gershenson et al., 2018; Ofem et al., 2021). Instability in a school’s teacher workforce negatively affects student achievement, diminishes teacher effectiveness and quality, and consumes economic resources that could be deployed elsewhere. Filling a vacancy costs $21,000 a year on average, costing an estimated $8 billion a year nationally (Garcia &Weiss 2019); and the opportunity costs of lower student achievement at these critical life stages could be even greater. This study aims to advance knowledge on the ongoing high turnover problem by exploring the following research question: What workplace conditions affect the likelihood of retention among STEM teachers working in high-needs districts? Since social network research has established that workplace relationships are vital for retention (Ballinger et al., 2016), we investigate the demographic (i.e., attributes of the teachers) and relational antecedents (i.e., attributes of their relationships) to what we dub ties of retention. As the opening quote illustrates, promoting retention occurs through the modality of relationship. People are more likely to stay in a workplace characterized by more positive and supportive ties (Coyle, 2018). We explore how teacher demographics and properties of workplace ties affect the likelihood that teachers have “retention friendly” networks, characterized by connections identified as important for retention. We present ties of retention as a useful construct for research on turnover, and investigate its cofactors in data from a sample of 120 middle and high school science and mathematics teachers working in highneeds districts across five geographic regions in the US. We first describe the distinctive features of social network analysis. Next, we present our methods and analysis, and document patterns we observe in our new STEM teacher dataset in predicting ties of retention. We then discuss the broad implications of our findings for theory and https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/jste/vol57/iss1/7 DOI: 10.30707/JSTE57.1.1664998343.920643 Journal of STEM Teacher Education Volume 57, Issue 1, Summer 2022 103 practice. We do this while making the case for the dual wielding of human and social capital approaches in tackling the voluntary turnover problem across schools and districts. Furthermore, we contend that this approach is useful for teacher educators equipping this critical workforce with the right knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) to succeed in their early years of in-service. Theoretical Framework The fundamental insight of social network analysis (SNA) is that individual behavior is best understood in the context of social relationships, which can be modeled with a social network perspective (Borgatti & Ofem, 2010). A social network consists of a set of nodes and ties, where the nodes are the social actors (e.g., people, teams, schools), and the ties are the relationships between them (e.g., friendships, information sharing, trust). The structure and composition of social networks have important implications for the social actors within them. They serve as pipes through which information, resources, and influence flow; bonds facilitating cooperative action; and prisms signaling status to network observers (Borgatti & Ofem 2010). The network lens has exploded across the social sciences over the past few decades, and scholars have applied it to understanding human resource outcomes such as organizational attachment and employee turnover (Ballinger et al., 2016). For educational researchers and teacher preparation programs, this relational perspective is crucial for theory and practice. Relationships constitute the most critical feature of the workplace, so understanding how their patterning affects teachers’ perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors is essential for promoting retention. The network lens provides analytical tools and constructs for diagnosing, treating, and innovatively solving problems of retention (Cross et al., 2018). Explaining Retention Scholarship around retention has generally followed a traditional mode of explanation in the social sciences that focuses on the characteristics of entities to predict outcomes. In this view, retention is explained in terms of how characteristics of the organization (e.g., selection processes, onboarding practices, work design, promotion and compensation packages, etc.) impact characteristics of the individual (e.g., knowledge, skills and abilities) that make them more likely to stay (Cross et al., 2018). Or, they use other characteristics of the individual (e.g., age, prior experience) to predict voluntary turnover (Ingersoll, 2001). These explanations/antecedents have an atomistic quality in the sense that individual outcomes are considered in isolation and use a human capital lens. In contrast, SNA points to the importance of social capital, which refers to the relational advantages available to social actors due to their position within a larger network (Adler & Kwon, 2005). In this mode of explanation, characteristics of the social actor and the social environment (i.e., social network) are used to explain organizational outcomes. Over a decade of research across dozens of organizations has shown that social network measures predict retention better than typical human capital measures (Ballinger et al., 2016; Cross et al., 2018). Yet, research has only begun expanding the suite of social capital measures, beyond simple measure of network size, to explore what factors matter the most for voluntary turnover and retention for new STEM teachers across schools, districts, and/or the overall teaching profession. In this study, we apply an egocentric approach to investigate the demographic (i.e., site of teacher preparation, prior teaching experience, career changer, age, and gender) and relational (i.e., Journal of STEM Teacher Education Volume 57, Issue 1, Summer 2022 104 instrumental and expressive ties) correlates of what we dub ties of retention, characterized by connections identified as important for retention. Thus, this study is primarily a theory of network study that aims to predict why some teachers report more ties identified as important for their retention than other teachers. The outcome variable we explore is based on the commonsense notion that teachers are more likely to stay in their school/profession if they have people contributing to their perceived desirability to remaining in their school/profession. This perceived desirability is especially critical for retaining STEM teachers in high-needs districts that face additional stressors and resource constraints. In sum, our guiding theory is this: Demographics (i.e., characteristics of the teachers) and network properties (i.e., characteristics of their networks) both contribute to whether teachers’ ego networks consist of ties deemed important for retention. Demographic and network properties are both associated with resources that help or hinder the perceived desirability of remaining in the school/profession, contributing to job satisfaction and retention. The dual wielding of human and social capital approaches is the best way to study and manage voluntary turnover (Cross et al., 2018). Individual differences and networks both matter for predicting ties of retention for new STEM teachers working in high-needs districts.
This paper presents the process two professors engaged in to develop a co-taught model for two online graduate courses taught concurrently as part of a justice-oriented STEM education curriculum. Students in the courses, who are k-12 teachers, contributed to the development of the courses across iterations through feedback and discussions with the professors. Our previous co-teaching experiences in face-to-face courses supported by literature on co-teaching in higher education online environments were instrumental in preparing for the initial semester and ongoing development of these two co-taught courses. Development of the courses also relied on extensive cogenerative dialogue that resulted in a merged calendar tool and revised discussion assignment strategies. Integration of content across STEM disciplines was enacted and modeled in both courses, in part through assignments that were connected across the two courses.
The 21st Century Leadership Academy grew out of an effort by the Council of Technology Teacher Education’s (CTTE) Leadership Development Committee to prepare future leaders for the field of Technology & Engineering Education (TEE). Efforts by Drs. Roger Hill (University of Georgia) and Bill Havice (Clemson University) led to the creation, and subsequent implementation, of this leadership academy with support from CTTE (later renamed the Council on Technology & Engineering Teacher Education [CTETE]) and the International Technology & Engineering Education Association (ITEEA). Initially, participation in the leadership academy was focused on early-career university faculty but recruitment was later expanded to include individuals with related professional experience (e.g., graduate students, tenured faculty members, etc.) and, as of January 2021, more than 80 individuals have participated in the academy. This study reports an investigation into the experiences and perceptions of the academy alums with an additional focus on their professional involvement, how participation may have influenced these activities, and suggestions they had for future cohorts. In addition, our investigation provides suggestions for future similar leadership training efforts that could be applied in a variety of fields. Our efforts, as researchers, aim to present the shared experience as navigated by the cohort participants. Although individual takeaways vary, overall themes such as networking and collaboration underscore the experience of participants in each cohort year. While participants consider themselves active in the field of Technology & Engineering Education, few of them are serving in leadership roles within CTETE or ITEEA.
Curriculum, legislation, and standards across the nation are quickly evolving to incorporate computer science and computational thinking concepts into K-12 classrooms.For example, many states have passed legislation requiring computer science to be included in every school's curriculum.Most states, however, report high shortages of qualified computer science teachers, meaning, teachers without extensive training will be required to integrate these concepts into their classrooms-a daunting task for most teachers without the necessary background and experiences.This paper reports the impacts of a thirteen-week intervention in a local elementary school designed to introduce computational thinking skills to 4th and 5th grade students.This intervention involved the first two authors working with a teacher and her students to introduce a project-based activity into the traditional curriculum.As students worked to design, build, and automate a model clubhouse, they incorporated foundational construction concepts as well as computational thinking skills.Our findings shed light on the potential for such a project to influence student and teacher's perceptions of related fields, and abilities, and student's perceptions of related professions.
This metasynthesis review analyzes the possible influences impacting the underrepresentation of People of Color (POC) in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. Underrepresented minoritized (URM) groups are defined in this article as Black and Latinx populations due to their low representation in STEM education professions (National Science Foundation, 2019). This review explores the possible influences at the high school and undergraduate levels in STEM and education. Previous research has explored the racism impacting the underrepresentation of POC in both STEM and education, but little research has examined the intersectionality of STEM education. The purpose of this metasynthesis review is to analyze the existing research on SOC’s experiences in STEM and education in order to better understand the underrepresentation of minoritized groups in STEM education.
Curriculum, legislation, and standards across the nation are quickly evolving to incorporate computer science and computational thinking concepts into K-12 classrooms. For example, many states have passed legislation requiring computer science to be included in every school's curriculum. Most states, however, report high shortages of qualified computer science teachers, meaning, teachers without extensive training will be required to integrate these concepts into their classrooms—a daunting task for most teachers without the necessary background and experiences. This paper reports the impacts of a thirteen-week intervention in a local elementary school designed to introduce computational thinking skills to 4th and 5th grade students. This intervention involved the first two authors working with a teacher and her students to introduce a project-based activity into the traditional curriculum. As students worked to design, build, and automate a model clubhouse, they incorporated foundational construction concepts as well as computational thinking skills. Our findings shed light on the potential for such a project to influence student and teacher's perceptions of related fields, and abilities, and student's perceptions of related professions.
Current education reforms call for engaging students in learning science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in an integrative way. This critical case study of one fourth grade teacher investigated the use of educational robots (ER) not only for teaching coding, but as an instructional support in teaching mathematical concepts. To support teachers in teaching coding in an integrative and logical manner, our team developed the Collective Argumentation Learning and Coding (CALC) approach. The CALC approach consists of three elements: choice of task, coding content, and teacher support for argumentation. After a cohort of elementary teachers completed a professional development course, we followed them into their classrooms to support and document implementation of the CALC approach. Data for this case consisted of video recordings of two lessons, a Pre-interview, and Post-interview after each lesson. Research questions included: How does an elementary teacher use the CALC approach (integrative STEM approach) to teach mathematics concepts with ER? What are the teacher’s perspectives towards teaching mathematics with ER using an integrative STEM approach? Results from this critical case provide evidence that teachers can successfully integrate ER into the mathematics curriculum without losing coherence of mathematics topics and while remaining sensitive to students’ needs.
