Taking the lead in STEM: A case study of a Singapore primary science teacher's attempt at STEM
The implementation of STEM is fraught with challenges for teachers as they struggle in the transformation from being single disciplinary-based teachers to cross-disciplinary trailblazers. Since the 1960s, there have been reports on how teachers find it difficult to cope during times of curriculum reform. The reasons are varied, but the unwanted ‘side-effects’ include teachers being deskilled and feeling dejected about the education system, resulting in high turnover. With the inundation of narratives about the promises of STEM education and how teachers need to adapt and prepare students for the 4th industrial revolution, how do teachers digest the narratives and take on this new challenge? What impact does this new wave of education goals have on primary science teachers who are mostly not trained in the STEM disciplines? This paper reports on a case study of a primary school teacher in Singapore who participated in a larger study and made efforts to introduce integrated STEM to his students. We followed the journey of this teacher who led a team of teachers in his school to learn, then teach, an integrated STEM curriculum that entails coding with humanistic outcomes. The findings illuminated his positive thinking about STEM teaching, the STEM capital he had harnessed to enact the curriculum, and the ways he empowered himself to carry out the curriculum effectively. The findings could offer insights for the enablers of STEM curriculum making even as teacher agency is circumscribed by traditional disciplinary and personal structures.
Teaching analytics: A multi-layer analysis of teacher noticing to support teaching practice
This paper, as part of a larger ongoing study, presents the use of a multi-layer approach to analyzing teacher noticing for the improvement of teaching practices. Situated in the field of teaching analytics, the use of multimodal sensors and analytics, especially for teacher noticing research, has provided affordances to discover deep insights for improving teaching practices. We collected data from a case study of one teacher over three lessons of science teaching in a secondary school. Multimodal sensors including an eye-tracking device, a microphone, and multiple video cameras were deployed in a classroom. The various sources of data were integrated and a multi-layer analysis was performed to uncover insights into the teaching practice. The findings show that a novice teacher in our case study was able to attend to events in her classroom, with some interpretations and sense-making of the events; some necessary actions were taken based on the teacher’s analysis but in some instances, necessary action was found to be lacking. Prior knowledge and the wealth of experiences or the lack thereof, together with visual cues in the environment, can affect the decision of novice teachers in executing certain actions in a classroom.
Gender differences in high school students’ interest in STEM careers: A multi-group comparison based on structural equation model
Background Females are underrepresented in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields all over the world. To encourage more girls to choose STEM majors and careers, it is critical to increase their interest in STEM careers. Many studies have investigated the factors that influence females' entry into STEM fields, but few studies have explored the gender differences in the relationships between these factors. Therefore, based on the Social Cognitive Career Theory, this study explored the gender differences in the effects of environmental factors (school education, informal education, social support, and media) on high school students' interest in STEM careers through the mediating roles of STEM self-efficacy and STEM careers perceptions.
Results A questionnaire survey was conducted among 1240 high school students in Hunan Province, China, and the results of t-test, regression analysis, and structural equation model multi-group comparison showed that: Firstly, the scores of male students in all the dimensions except for STEM career perception were significantly higher than those of female students. Secondly, the environmental factor that had the greatest effect on male and female students' interest in STEM careers was different. Finally, there were gender differences in the mediating roles of STEM self-efficacy and STEM careers perceptions between environmental factors and interest in STEM careers.
Conclusions This study revealed the influence mechanisms and gender differences in male and female students' interest in STEM careers in the context of Chinese Confucian culture, and the conclusions are as follows: (1) Male students' interest in STEM careers was significantly higher than that of female students; (2) The environmental factors that had the greatest effect on male and female students' interest in STEM careers were social support and media, respectively; and (3) Environmental factors could affect male students' interest in STEM careers through the mediating roles of STEM self-efficacy and STEM career perception, while environmental factors could affect female students' interest in STEM careers through the mediating role of STEM self-efficacy. Finally, the mediating mechanisms of STEM self-efficacy and STEM career perception between environmental factors and interest in STEM careers, and the importance of STEM self-efficacy for female students were discussed.
The role of dialogue in science epistemic practices
Science as a field of study is defined by epistemic practices of questioning, inquiry, argumentation and legitimising scientific knowledge. These epistemic practices shape the kinds of talk in the classroom as scientific knowledge is “talked into being”. The question that we aim to answer with this chapter is “What is the unique function and role of dialogue in learning science epistemic practices?” Discourse analysis is a means to analyse scientific talk to review the mechanisms and patterns through which scientific knowledge is learnt. As such, to develop our argument, we first delve into the theoretical underpinnings based on a sociocultural perspective of dialogue in science education. This is followed by a review of empirical studies in science education that focusses on talk in four key science epistemic practices of questioning, science inquiry, argumentation and legitimising conceptual knowledge. The review provides evidence of dialogue as fundamental to both the enactment and learning of science epistemic practices by scientists and science students. We included a discussion about the way forward for dialogue in science and STEM education research.
Breaking the silence: Understanding teachers’ use of silence in classrooms
Silence in classrooms is an undervalued and understudied phenomenon. There is limited research on how teachers behave and think during teachers’ silence in lessons. There are also methodological constraints due to the lack of teacher’s talk during silence. This study used eye-tracking technology to visualize the noticing patterns of two science teachers during silence lasting more than three seconds. Using video data recorded from cameras and eye trackers, we examined each silent event and interpreted teachers’ perceptions and interpretations with consideration of eye fixations, actions of students and teachers during the silence, and teachers’ actions immediately after they broke the silence. We further examined expert-novice differences in teachers’ use of silence. Four categories of teachers’ silence were identified: silence for (1) preparing the classroom for learning; (2) teaching, questioning, and facilitating learning; (3) reflecting and thinking, and (4) behavioural management. Expert-novice differences were identified, especially in the teachers’ use of silence for approaches to teaching, reflection, and behavioural management. The novel contribution of this paper lies in the characterization of silences as observed in actual classroom settings as well as the methodological innovation in using eye trackers and video to overcome the constraints of lack of talk data during silence.
Singaporean pre-service teachers’ perceptions of STEM epistemic practices and education
Integrated Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education is perceived to be the magic bullet for progressive and futuristic learning. It is widely touted as a way to develop 21st century competencies and scientific literacy. Despite the ubiquitous use of the term STEM, understanding of STEM education remains largely diffused. This study serves as a first in contributing a Singaporean narrative on perceptions of STEM education. To discern the diversity and prevalence of understanding of STEM education, 16 undergraduate preservice teachers (PST) responded to a series of questions. Out of the 16, nine PSTs were randomly selected for an interview to further elucidate their perceptions. Responses were coded and organized with respect to a validated conceptual lens. PSTs presented ideas that were similarly reported in other studies such as workforce readiness and making interdisciplinary connections, suggesting some perceptions are universal. New ideas such as STEM education transcending school contexts also emerged from the data. Further, PSTs could distinguish the epistemic practices of science and engineering to some extent. Their understanding of the knowledge-building processes in each discipline appeared to be emerging with generally accurate descriptions of certain epistemic practices. Some PSTs demonstrated ease in blending epistemic practices of both disciplines. However, PSTs harboured some potentially limiting conceptions of engineering such as a focus on physical products.
Theorizing STEM leadership: Agency, identity, and community
STEM education, when perceived as integrated learning that encompasses knowledge, skills and practices of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, points to a need to re-examine ways of classification of school subjects and learning. Consequently, dilemmas related to integrated STEM education arise. School leaders are faced with the task to organize teams to address issues such as the ownership of STEM, identity issues such as STEM teacher or teacher of STEM subjects, evaluation of STEM programs and resources to support STEM education. The unique characteristics of integrated disciplines demand leaders who understand the unique characteristics and demands of each discipline and to apply them to build a synergistic platform to magnify the similarities and harness the differences for learning. In this paper, we present an argument for STEM leadership to focus on building STEM teachers’ agency, identity and sense of belonging to a community. These three aspects are important for meaningful planning, enactment and sustainability of STEM programs since teachers’ beliefs, intentions, actions and empowerment are known to be instrumental in the success of many educational reforms.
Giving students a voice in science practical assessments
This paper examines Science Practical Assessment (SPA) in the Singaporean classroom. In contrast to teacher-centric task setting and evaluation, this paper reports findings from a study where a class of students were involved in their own assessments mediated by digital video. Students were recorded during practical work and were then asked to review and edit the footage. Next, they evaluated their own and their classmates’ practical skills. These evaluations, scaffolded with a template and facilitated by the teacher, aimed to give the students a voice in presenting what they thought made ‘good’ science practical skills and practices in the laboratory. They also served as a platform for peer learning and provided a means for the students to be involved in discussing science and science practical skills. Results of this study reveal that students’ awareness of acceptable laboratory practices is enhanced through this innovative method of evaluating science practical work.
Developing an integrated STEM classroom observation protocol using the productive disciplinary engagement framework
STEM education and research has gained popularity internationally over the last decade. However, there is a lack in specifications in existing K-12 STEM classroom observation protocols of how features of an integrated STEM experience/lesson would lead to desired outcomes and how those outcomes should be measured. To bridge this gap, we propose the development of a new integrated STEM classroom observation protocol (iSTEM protocol). This article describes the ongoing development work of the iSTEM protocol, which features two creative attempts. Firstly, the productive disciplinary engagement framework is adapted to design a classroom observation protocol that provides a coherent frame of design principles to be met to achieve desired 3-dimensional pedagogical outcomes. Secondly, interdisciplinarity of student engagement was interpreted in terms of the extent to which students take a systematic and disciplinary-based approach to make and justify decisions during STEM problem-solving. The iSTEM protocol comprises 15 items (4-point scale) rated holistically for the extents to which evidence was found in the observed lesson for (1) the 3-dimensional pedagogical outcomes of productive interdisciplinary engagement (five items) and (2) problematising, resources, authority, and accountability design principles (10 items). The accompanying iSTEM profile visually represents and communicates the strengths and inadequacies in design principles, thus providing explanations for extents of students’ productive interdisciplinary engagement. The iSTEM protocol will contribute as a research tool for STEM education researchers and as a pedagogical guide for STEM classroom teachers to improve their design of STEM learning experiences.