Exploring Teachers' Beliefs About Disciplinary Hierarchies in STEM Education: Implications for Integrated STEM

• In Event: There's an E in STEM: Engineering's Place in STEM Teaching

Abstract

Integrated STEM provides an opportunity to disrupt subject-matter hierarchies that privilege particular kinds of knowledge. We interviewed 18 STEM teachers to explore their beliefs about how STEM disciplines are—and should be—prioritized. Most perceive mathematics to be the most-valued followed by science, which they attributed to prevalence of math and science in curricula and testing and lack of teacher preparation in engineering and technology. Teachers who believe the ranking is based on bureaucratic structures (e.g., testing) often disagreed with it. Teachers who believed mathematics and science are foundational to other STEM disciplines often agreed with it. Several teachers believe there should be no hierarchy. Findings suggest a need to further study teacher preparation and school structures that facilitate integrated STEM.

Authors

• Megan Selbach-Allen, Stanford University

• Brandon Reynante, Stanford University

• Daniel Pimentel, Stanford University