STEM Conceptions and Curricula: How Teachers' Conceptions of Integrated STEM Are Reflected in Curriculum Writing

• In Event: Poster Session 10
  In Poster Session: Methodologies and Ethics Poster Session

Abstract

This study, contextualized in a professional development (PD) experience, investigated what components of STEM education K-12 science teachers find fundamental to integrating STEM in the classroom and how these conceptions influence curriculum development. Photo elicitation interviews (PEIs) were conducted with in-service science teachers to understand self-created models of what STEM integration is in order to have a better understanding of how practitioners might use their models in their curriculum and instruction. Additionally, curricula created by teams of teachers in the PD were analyzed to understand how these models were realized in practice. Our findings suggest that different conceptual models of integrated STEM held by teachers lead to different ways of creating, developing, and writing integrated STEM curriculum.

Authors

• Elizabeth A. Ring-Whalen, St. Catherine University

• Emily Anna Dare, Michigan Technological University

• Gillian Roehrig, University of Minnesota

• Preethi Titu, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

• Elizabeth A. Crotty, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities