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.