Exploring K–12 Teachers' Views of Integrated STEM Practices

• In Event: How Teachers Teach, Conceptualize, and Talk About Integrated STEM

Abstract

Many scholars have argued that integrating the STEM disciplines into a coherent subject area through shared disciplinary practices may afford substantial educational benefits. We sought to build upon and validate a prior theoretical analysis that identified common practices (i.e., cross-cutting themes) across K-12 STEM learning standards documents and discussed potential promises and perils of such integration. We interviewed 18 K-12 teachers across various STEM disciplines and asked them to “picture a person doing STEM”. Teachers mentioned most of the themes identified in the analysis, but tended to emphasize more concrete rather than more abstract practices. The interviewees also described two potentially key integrated STEM practices—collaborating and creating—that were not present in the original theoretical framework.

Authors

• Megan Selbach-Allen, Stanford University

• Daniel Pimentel, University of Alabama

• Brandon Reynante, Stanford University