STEM teacher agency: A case study of initiating and implementing curricular reform

Abstract

Most science curricular reform efforts are designed by administrators or science education experts. It is less common for teachers to work collaboratively across disciplines to create, implement, and disseminate an integrated STEM curriculum developed for noncollege-bound students that ended up being popular across student populations at the school. The integrated Geometry in Construction curriculum was developed 12 years ago and has since been adopted by over 425 schools across the United States. This intrinsic case study describes the experiences and perceptions of two high school teachers (one in mathematics and one in industrial science/engineering) as they achieved agency to initiate a deep and sustained reform effort. Drawing on the theory of teacher agency, the factors motivating the teachers to enact their beliefs about students and teaching are described. As a result of increased professional agency (driven by professional discontentment, willingness to take risks, and encouragement by mentors), these two teachers (a) cogenerated integrated engineering-math curriculum with one another and their students and (b) addressed the needs of their community for affordable housing. K E Y W O R D S agency, curriculum, reform, STEM, teachers

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

“…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). Furthermore, such training is newly emerging in the context of traditional teacher education programs.…”

Student absenteeism and ecological agency

“…The ecological agency framework provides a mode to directly observe the implicit and explicit motivators, and interplay of these motivators, which lead a person to act (Biesta & Tedder, 2006; Emirbayer & Mische, 1998). The concept of agency has been theorized over the past 15 years in educational research, most commonly theorizing the work of teachers found in international school contexts (Balgopal, 2020; Biesta et al, 2015; Imants et al, 2013; Tao & Gao, 2017; Wallen & Tormey, 2019). The use of the framework thus far suggests that ecological agency can be used to better understand teachers’ decision-making in different school contexts.…”

Secondary chemistry teacher learning: precursors for and mechanisms of pedagogical conceptual change

“…PD facilitators in this manner can adjust to their teacher participants, identifying ways to effectively enable the precursors for and guide the mechanisms of PCC. We also suggest professional developers to account for secondary chemistry teachers' beliefs and own capacities for change (Balgopal, 2020). This type of PD improvisation can be conducive for strengthening teachers' resilience and agency throughout PCC (Wright et al, 2019).…”