Cultivating Teachers for STEAM Education

Dear Colleagues,

We use the term “STEAM Education” to refer to both discipline specific (e.g., science education, mathematics education, technology education, etc.) and integrated approaches to supporting teachers who teach STEAM topics. Supporting the development of teachers for teaching STEAM is  necessary and complex (Nadelson et al., 2013). STEAM education can refer to the collective siloes of science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics, and also to an integrated approach to teaching. STEAM can also include computational thinking, computer science, and humanities. As approaches and programs are diverse, teachers must be supported and provided professional learning opportunities (Brand, 2020; Chai et al., 2019; Williams et al., 2019). Teacher education programs have also headed the call to prepare STEAM teachers within teacher preparation programs, certificates, foci of graduate programs including masters and doctoral work. Gaps still exist in how teachers are supported in becoming STEAM teachers, both siloed and integrated, in both teacher education (e.g., Nesmith and Cooper, 2020) and in in-service professional learning (Brand, 2020; Chai et al., 2019; Williams et al., 2019).

Thus, the purpose of this Special Issue is to highlight work in STEAM teacher education, including preservice teacher preparation and in-service teacher learning in both discipline-specific and integrated STEAM education. This Special Issue provides the opportunity to present original empirical research, conceptual pieces, evaluation of innovations in STEAM teacher learning, and research-to-practice articles. Potential paper themes include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Coaching and mentoring of STEAM teachers – sustained support/ job embedded professional learning
• The role of professional learning in dismantling oppressive practices in STEAM education
• Transformative STEAM programs as a result of professional learning programs
• Professional development projects
• Undergraduate and/ or graduate preparation of STEAM teachers
• STEAM certificate or endorsement programs
• Alternative routes to STEAM teacher preparation
• Preparation and support of special education educators in STEAM

Dr. Thomas Roberts
Dr. Stefanie Livers
Dr. Holly Plank
Guest Editors

Reference

Nadelson, L. S., Callahan, J., Pyke, P., Hay, A., Dance, M., & Pfiester, J. (2013). Teacher STEM perception and preparation: Inquiry-based STEM professional development for elementary teachers. The Journal of Educational Research, 106(2), 157-168.

Brand, B. R. (2020). Integrating science and engineering practices: outcomes from a collaborative professional development. International Journal of STEM Education, 7, 1-13.

Chai, C. S., Jong, M., Yin, H. B., Chen, M., & Zhou, W. (2019). Validating and modelling teachers’ technological pedagogical content knowledge for integrative science, technology, engineering and Mathemat-ics education. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 22(3), 61-73.

Williams, T., Singer, J., Krikorian, J., Rakes, C., & Ross, J. (2019). Measuring pedagogy and the integration of engineering design in STEM classrooms. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 28, 179-194.

Nesmith, S. M., & Cooper, S. (2020). Elementary STEM learning. In Handbook of research on STEM education (pp. 101-114). Routledge.

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