Integrated STEM teaching competencies and performances as perceived by secondary teachers in South Korea

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore what key competencies and characteristics of teachers are needed for integrated Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) teaching and to investigate teachers’ perceptions on how important those competencies are and how often they are executed. Design/methodology/approach An exploratory sequential mixed methods approach was used to investigate key characteristics of integrated STEM teaching competencies and the level of their importance and performance as perceived by teachers. By using behavioral event interview technique, qualitative data were collected from professional secondary teachers in science, math and technology subjects. An instrument was constructed based on the result of qualitative research; and a survey was conducted with 48 STEM teachers working in South Korea. The mean values between importance and performance of integrated STEM teaching competencies were compared. A perceived importance level of each item was compared with a practice level by using importance-performance analysis. Findings As a result of qualitative research, in total 21 items were constructed as detailed characteristics of each domain of integrated STEM teaching competencies, which provide insights about teachers’ perceptions of teaching competencies that are critical for integrated STEM education. A comparison of means between importance and performance of integrated STEM teaching competencies showed that whereas teachers considered each of these items to be of significant importance in their overall evaluation of the integrated STEM teaching competencies, they are not performing at a level that reflects the assigned importance. Practical implications This research results provide information for future research on how to implement an integrated STEM education initiative at the secondary school level, for planning teacher training programs, pre-service teacher education and related educational policies. Originality/value South Korea has focused on integrated STEM education to raise talented human resources in the fields of science and technology. However, many teachers have experienced serious difficulties and troubles in executing integrated STEM education. It is necessary to figure out key competencies and characteristics of teachers to facilitate integrated STEM teaching.

Investigating teachers expectations from a professional development program for integrated STEM education

“…Therefore, teachers from different subjects must encounter opportunities to work collaboratively in PD programs. According to Song (2020), one of the essential teaching skills for integrated STEM education is applying team-teaching by cooperating with other subject teachers. Yet, few studies show how teachers work collaboratively to create or implement an integrated STEM curriculum (Balgopal, 2020).…”

“…Research suggests that a STEM education program should be compulsory for all STEM-related teachers (Herro & Quigley, 2017;Song, 2020). This is particularly true for practicing teachers because many teachers have never had this type of learning experience in their teacher education (Morrison et al, 2021).…”

“…Teacher qualifications are a crucial element for successfully implementing integrated STEM education (Song, 2020). Given the current state of teacher education programs (Wilson, 2011), it is highly contradictory to ask teachers to implement STEM curricula that integrate different disciplines.…”

“…It is essential to understand what teachers understand as integrated STEM education (Ring et al, 2017), to identify the necessary teacher competencies (Song, 2020), and to use these understandings to support their PD (Stohlmann et al, 2012). This study investigates the expectations of science, mathematics, and computer science (CS) teachers from a PD program for integrated STEM education.…”

STEM Productive Learning of Lower Secondary School in Southern Zone, Malaysia

“…Auerbach et al (2018) propounded that teachers should use active activities such as discussions, presentations, and critiquing sessions to assess students' level of mastery. Furthermore, according to Song (2019), by integrating technology into constructive student activities, they would be able to explore learning independently. In fact, research carried out by Abdul Hanid et al (2022) has proven that technology is not only a teaching aid but can also be integrated to solve problems in teaching and learning.…”