Date of Award

2021

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Education

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine how teacher and principal perceptions of STEM implementation affected school culture, student performance, and partnership opportunities and how instructional strategies were used to integrate STEM into the curriculum as a result of STEM implementation in elementary schools in Indiana. For schools to include quality STEM education, it is important to understand teachers and principals beliefs and perceptions related to STEM talent development. Perceptions play an important role in STEM outcomes and are a valid measure of how STEM rollout is impacted. The research questions are as follows: RQ1: How do Indiana principals perceive the effect of STEM certification on school culture, student learning, and school partnerships RQ2: Have the perceptions of Indiana teachers, as a result of STEM certification, impacted their school in the area of school culture, student learning, and school partnerships? RQ3: How are instructional strategies being used to integrate STEM into the curriculum? Research is needed to gain an understanding of factors that affect STEM implementation and integration of STEM subjects. Little literature pertains directly to the areas of school culture, student learning, and partnership opportunities in the context of STEM implementation. Teachers, and principals, as important persons within a students talent development, hold prior views and experiences that will influence their STEM instruction. The variables of interest are positively correlated with students performance. The current study is significant because limited literature exists in terms of perceptions of schoolteachers and principals in the US who currently are STEM certified. This particular study has not been carried out before. The information provided in this study will help inform the state of Indiana in regard to educators perceptions of STEM. It may provide findings that are useful, if not generalizable, to other states or even countries. The methodology used in this study was qualitative with a descriptive design and followed the constructivist approach. Two sets of surveys were conducted, one for principals and one for teachers. There were 4 principals and 33 teachers that participated in the survey. Data were analyzed using evolved grounded theory. The five themes identified by the grounded theory data analysis were as follows: First, teachers lack essential content and pedagogy to be effective. Second, teacher effectiveness was limited due to specific challenges of STEM, where implementation of STEM was difficult to mitigate. Third, there is a lack of knowledge about STEM implementation and partnerships from the teachers perspective, due to the limited scale to which STEM was available at the schools. In the fourth theme, student engagement was believed to motivate learning and improve the belief in their abilities. STEM made it difficult for some teachers to rate students because of the subjective aspect of engagement. Lastly, instructional strategies were more effective for teaching STEM content that relied on integrated content, visualization, self-learning, creativity, and positivity. An integration of traditional learning methods, as well as instructional strategies is believed to bring positive results in students overall academic performance. Student learning was the only phenomena under study that did not emerge as a theme, only arising as an axial code. This could have been a limitation of the data collection instrument. Student awareness arose as an overarching concept underpinning the rest of the themes, culminating in the desired outcome of student learning. The results showed that both principals and teachers lacked awareness of STEM. These two concepts have been derived into a new conceptual model for STEM with the themes.

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