2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Mechatronics is an interdisciplinary field that combines mechanical, electrical, and computer engineering principles to develop systems and products (Bradley, 2018). Due to technological advancements and a national demand to expand the STEM workforce in the US, there is a pressing need to provide workshops that support STEM teachers' professional learning, enabling them to apply the knowledge gained in their respective learning environments and develop future STEM professionals. Thus, we will describe STEM teacher leaders' perspectives on a 9-month mechatronics workshop and how they perceive it impacted their technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK).

The workshops were facilitated by STEM faculty at a research university in the southeastern region of the US and community partners once a month, during a 6-hour meeting. The meetings aimed to provide STEM teachers with hands-on experiences in mechatronics and to make explicit connections between the content and their existing practices. The workshops provided insights into foundational knowledge of mechatronics, coding, sensors, microcontrollers, robotics, artificial intelligence, CAD, 3D printing, laser cutting, and sustainable technologies.

To examine STEM teachers’ perspectives about the workshops we employed a mixed-methods research design. Data were collected through surveys and personal reflections from September 2024 to May 2025 from 10 STEM teachers, who were also Master Teaching Fellows in an NSF–Noyce Funded project. The quantitative data were analyzed via frequencies and measures of central tendency. The qualitative data were analyzed through the lens of the TPACK Framework (Mishra, 2019).

The findings suggest that the STEM teachers found the monthly workshops to be insightful and that the content presented was applicable and valuable for their learning environments. In relation to technological knowledge, STEM teachers have become familiar with the various technological topics addressed. The teachers acknowledged that they generally were not familiar with mechatronics-related content prior to the training, and now have a deeper understanding of content and process related to mechatronics after participating in the workshops. In relation to their pedagogical knowledge, the STEM teachers indicated that the hands-on activities employed helped make meaningful connections between abstract STEM content and real-world applications in industry and everyday life activities. They also felt that by developing their knowledge, they would be more willing to include mechatronics-related tasks during their instructional practices. Furthermore, as it related to their discipline-specific content knowledge as teachers of mathematics, science, or career and technical education (CTE) courses, they valued seeing how abstract content could be applied to everyday settings. Thus, the STEM teachers perceived that the workshops helped to develop their TPACK.

The findings of this study have implications for supporting the professional growth of in-service STEM teachers, enabling them to foster meaningful educational opportunities in their learning environments while integrating mechatronics content. It also provides insights into the development of STEM teachers' TPACK.

References
Bradley, D. (2018). Mechatronics: electronics in products and processes. Routledge.

Mishra, P. (2019). Considering contextual knowledge: The TPACK diagram gets an upgrade. Journal of digital learning in teacher education, 35(2), 76-78.