How school context and personal factors relate to teachers’ attitudes toward teaching integrated STEM

Abstract

Integrated STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education is an emerging approach to improve students' achievement and interest in STEM disciplines. However, the implementation of integrated STEM education depends strongly on teachers' competence, which entails, among others, teachers' attitudes. Nonetheless, not much is known about the factors that influence teachers' attitudes toward teaching integrated STEM. Therefore this paper uses a survey method to get insight into the relationship between three groups of variables and teachers' attitudes toward teaching integrated STEM: teacher background characteristics, personal attitudes and school context variables. The results of the multiple regression analyses reveal three variables that are positively linked with teachers' attitudes: professional development, personal relevance of science and social context. Moreover two variables show a negative correlation: having more than 20 years of teaching experience and experience in mathematics. The results of this study provide valuable information about factors related to teachers' attitudes toward teaching integrated STEM. Moreover, these results can be deployed by school administrators to guide them when composing a team of teachers to implement integrated STEM education.

Assessing Teacher’s Attitude, Knowledge, and Application (AKA) on STEM: An Effort to Foster the Sustainable Development of STEM Education

“…In this research, "attitude" indicates whether the science teacher agrees or disagrees with the implementation of STEM (in students' classroom learning), the teachers' sense of curiosity towards STEM, and the teachers' thinking and feelings about STEM. Within the field of integrated STEM education, research on teachers' attitudes, especially as related to personal factors and personal points of view, is relatively scarce [22]. Therefore, accessing teachers' attitude regarding STEM education is significant in this current research.…”

Measuring Teachers’ Perceptions to Sustain STEM Education Development

“…The nature of the teaching subject constructs teaching assignments so teaching experiences in specific STEM domains are a predictive factor for differences in teachers' perceptions of STEM education [50]. For example, researchers [17] found that teachers who have experience in mathematics had a lower attitude toward teaching integrated STEM than other subjects. In our study, teaching subjects are hypothesized as demographic data to categorized teachers.…”

“…Teachers play important roles in implementing STEM education successfully [15]. However, teaching practices are strongly affected by teachers' perceptions [15][16][17]. Thus, measuring teachers' perceptions of STEM education is evitable to sustain STEM deployment.…”

“…Teachers having positive views in STEM education are advocated as the potential teachers to implement STEM education. For example, researchers [16] indicated that experienced teachers have more positive opinions than novice teachers in STEM education or mathematics teachers have less positive views in STEM teaching [17]. Based on teachers' perceptions of STEM education, teachers' difficulties thereby are investigated.…”

Integrated STEM Education in K-12: Theory Development, Status, and Prospects

“…Similarly, teachers' attitudes to and enactment of prescribed curricula are impacted by school context, such as leadership, scheduling, and concurrent reform initiatives. Thibaut et al have proved that school context is the most strongly related to teachers' attitudes toward teaching integrated STEM [43]. The implementation of integrated STEM education in K-12 requires effective and efficient instructional practice, too [44].…”