Date of Award

4-2022

Rights

© 2022 Rachel Brill-Lee

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Education

First Advisor

Ian Menchini

Second Advisor

Aniello Trotta

Third Advisor

Usha Rajdev

Abstract

Many educational institutions reported challenges with achieving student success in STEM disciplines and attribute these challenges to the lack of knowledge and education among educators on how and what to teach regarding STEM education (Stehle & Peters-Burton, 2019). This qualitative case study explored how core subject teachers outside STEM/CTE education in one middle school in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States view, understand, and integrate STEM education and skills into their curriculum. The study used a combination of Likert surveys and semi-structured interviews to identify themes that may contribute to challenges many educational institutions are experiencing in regard to student success in STEM disciplines. The study found three themes and three subthemes. The first theme discovered was that most teachers outside STEM/CTE courses understand what STEM is and agree that it promotes STEM skills within the content areas they teach. The second theme identified was that there is a lack of training in STEM education and STEM integration among teachers at the study site. The third theme found was that many teachers struggle to collaborate with other teachers in different content areas to conduct STEM activities and integrate STEM across the curriculum. This struggle is due to a lack of knowledge and pressure to implement state standards and prepare students to be successful on the state standardized test. The interpretations of the data led to the implications that there is a need for more professional development in STEM education among all educator in all content areas at the school level. Another implication is that there is a need to include STEM focused programs for teachers in teacher preparation programs so that they are equipped with the skills needed to successfully integrate STEM education in any content area.

Comments

Ed.D. Dissertation

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