Collective Leadership and "STEM Cultures": How Five New York Schools Are Improving STEM Learning

• In Event: Moscone Center West Roundtable Session 13
  In Roundtable Session: Teacher Leadership Initiatives as Complex Endeavors

Abstract

The collective leadership of teachers and administrators can create schools where science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) flourish. Exemplary STEM is a multi-disciplinary integrated approach that addresses global and local challenges through the development of critical thinking, problem solving, teamwork, communication, and empathy. This paper describes the conditions, barriers, and collective leadership of teachers and administrators that facilitate or impeded exemplary STEM learning. We studied five schools in New York who were demonstrating success in STEM. Common themes emerged across sites related to school conditions and collective leadership that led to “STEM cultures” where risk-taking, prototyping, and productive failure were common for administrators, teachers, and students.

Authors

• Jonathan Eckert, Baylor University

• Jimmy Butler, Wheaton College