Understanding intrinsic challenges to STEM instructional practices for Chinese teachers based on their beliefs and knowledge base

Abstract

Background China has great student participation in STEM education. Chinese society has a progressive and positive attitude towards STEM as it is considered to provide more opportunities in life. Teachers play a vital role in the success of any STEM program in K-12 schools. However, teachers are facing instructional challenges because of the interdisciplinary nature of the STEM curriculum and the current typical school structure. The success of the STEM programs depends on teachers’ beliefs and their knowledge in adapting to instructional implementation of STEM concepts. Results The data (n = 216) was collected from STEM primary and secondary teachers from 25 provinces in mainland China. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was applied, and Pearson’s correlation analysis was used to examine the correlation between Chinese STEM teachers’ beliefs, knowledge, implementation, and the intrinsic challenges of STEM education; t tests and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were performed to ascertain whether there were differences. The structural equation model (SEM) was applied to identify interrelationships. The results indicated that Chinese STEM teachers encounter higher-level intrinsic challenges to instructional implementations based on their beliefs and knowledge. Teachers who utilize their experience of teaching science as their main discipline and then attempt to integrate STEM using mathematics and engineering are likely to encounter higher-level intrinsic challenges in implementation. Conclusion The intrinsic challenges perceived by Chinese teachers in the practice of STEM education can be predicted by their beliefs and knowledge base. Teachers who understand the nature and pedagogy of STEM education are more likely to encounter lower-level intrinsic challenges of STEM teaching, while teachers who utilize their main discipline when conducting integrated STEM learning activities through modeling based on science, technology, engineering, and mathematical problem situations are more likely to encounter higher-level intrinsic challenges. This study also reveals that there are some significant differences in the level of STEM teachers’ beliefs, knowledge base, instructional practice, and their intrinsic challenges based on their teaching grade, seniority, and experience of STEM training and teaching.

The Construction and Sustainability of Teachers’ Positive Emotions toward STEM Educational Work

“…Theoretically, it provides new insight into STEM educational implementation. Different from previous studies that focus only on the roles of teachers' knowledge, skills, self-efficacy, and attitude in STEM educational implementation in primary and secondary schools [4,5,10,13,38], the study suggests that teachers' emotions are also an important factor influencing the outcome of STEM education since they significantly shape teachers' motivation, commitment, and engagement in STEM educational work. From the social constructionist perspective, the study advances our theoretical understanding of how teachers' positive emotions toward STEM educational work may be constructed by their interpretations of the work and sustained by enabling school institutions.…”

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Teachers’ Perspectives on Achieving an Integrated Curricular Model of Primary STEM Education in Ireland: Authentic or Utopian Ideology?

“…It is encouraging to observe the positive attitudes that the participants in this study exhibit towards integrated STEM education and the fact that they seem to have been positively influenced by their postgraduate studies. Teachers' attitudes to integrated STEM education are directly predictive of their subsequent instructional practices (Dong et al, 2020) so it is clear that PD initiatives that can enhance teachers' attitudes will have a positive impact on the implementation of integrated STEM approaches.…”

Understanding a STEM teacher’s emotions and professional identities: a three-year longitudinal case study

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