Explore the Potential Meaning of STE(A)M Education: Teachers’ Perceptions in a Chinese Context

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 7:45 am - Gold 1
  In Roundtable Session: Professional Development and Praxis: Innovations within Asian Contexts

Abstract

Despite the academic and governmental efforts to promote STE(A)M education in primary and middle schools, many teachers still struggle to embrace it. Against this background, this study endeavors to clarify the potential meaning of STE(A) education from teachers’ perspectives. Ten in-service Chinese teachers were interviewed during a STE(A)M teacher professional development program. The findings indicate that teachers tend to implement STE(A)M education through an interdisciplinary learning model of "subject +". Meanwhile, STE(A)M education is expected to supplement the daily single-subject curricula, and facilitate the overall pedagogical reform at the basic education level in China. This study helps to reconsider the meaning of STE(A)M education in a Chinese context, and demonstrates a bottom-up approach for clarifying a curricular concept.

Authors

• Zhuoyue Shao, East China Normal University

• Hui Liu, Zhejiang University