2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Board 170: STEM-ulating Change: Exploring Pre-Service Teachers' Perceptions of Integrated STEM Education (Work-in-Progress)

Presented at Pre-College Engineering Education Division (PCEE) Poster Session

This article highlights the current focus on integrated STEM education, which is based on recognizing that the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines are interrelated in real-world applications. The teaching practices of preservice teachers (PSTs) may be impacted by the perceptions they hold prior to entering the classroom. As a result, attention is needed to understand the perceptions of integrated STEM held by pre-service teachers (PSTs). Gaining a grasp understanding of these perceptions will enable educators to better prepare for teaching integrated STEM, potentially resulting in enhanced long-term teaching practices and student growth. Therefore, this paper employs the eight models of integrated STEM education proposed by Ring et al. (2017) to examine empirical studies and explore the factors that influence the perceptions of PSTs regarding integrated STEM education. Our paper follows the PRISMA guidelines and flow chart, which include a checklist with 27 items and a flowchart with four steps. The inclusion and exclusion criteria for this study required eligible papers to be empirically based, peer-reviewed, published in English between 2011 and 2023, and relevant to the research question. A content analysis method was applied to examine the articles (n = 27) that satisfied the inclusion criteria. PSTs' perceptions of integrated STEM education were influenced, according to preliminary findings, by the following variables: (a) prior knowledge and experiences with STEM education; (b) beliefs about STEM education; (c) perceived benefits and challenges of integrated STEM education; (d) available support and resources; and (e) professional development opportunities. The paper also addresses the theoretical and educational implications of the results for the planning and implementation of integrated STEM professional development programs for policymakers and stakeholders as well as teachers.

Authors

Dr. Ibrahim H. Yeter http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0175-2306 Nanyang Technological University [biography]

Ibrahim H. Yeter, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at the National Institute of Education (NIE) at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore. He is an affiliated faculty member of the NTU Centre for Research and Development in Learning (CRADLE) and the NTU Institute for Science and Technology for Humanity (NISTH). He serves as the Director of the World MOON Project and holds editorial roles as Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Education and Editorial Board Member for the Journal of Research and Practice in Technology Enhanced Learning. He is also the upcoming Program Chair-Elect of the PCEE Division at ASEE. His current research interests include STEM+C education, specifically artificial intelligence literacy, computational thinking, and engineering.
Xue Jia Xie Singapore University of Technology and Design [biography]

Xue Jia Xie (Clairea), a senior research assistant at the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), is actively involved in Dr. Yeter’s Research Team, where she concentrates on STEM+C educational projects, engineering education, AI education, and computational thinking. Her work is pivotal in exploring how technology can be seamlessly integrated into interdisciplinary education to improve learning outcomes and foster educational practices. By leveraging her diverse background in language arts, pedagogy, and architecture design, Xie contributes uniquely to the development of innovative, technology-driven educational models that prioritize sustainability.
Jeffrey D Radloff http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2625-6963 The State University of New York at Cortland [biography]

Dr. Jeffrey Radloff is an Assistant Professor in the Childhood/Early Childhood Education Department at SUNY Cortland, where he teaches elementary science methods, STEM foundations, and critical media literacy courses. He has a background in biology and pre-college engineering education, and he received his Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from Purdue University. Dr. Radloff’s interests are in understanding how to best support pre- and in-service teachers’ integration of interdisciplinary STEM instruction, as well as exploring related instructional variation across classrooms. His current work focuses on chronicling this variation and fostering the development of teachers’ computational thinking using robotics and applications of artificial intelligence.
Michael Jin Khoo [biography]

Michael is a psychological science graduate from James Cook University Singapore. He is currently working in Dr. Yeter's Research Team at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, including artificial intelligence literacy, computational thinking, and engineering education. His background in psychology and passion for research enables Michael to offer a unique perspective to the team.

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