The impact of integrated STEM modeling on elementary preservice teachers’ self‐efficacy for integrated STEM instruction: A co‐teaching approach

The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the impact of co‐taught integrated STEM methods instruction on preservice elementary teachers’ self‐efficacy for teaching science and mathematics within an integrated STEM framework. Two instructional methods courses (Elementary Mathematics Methods and Elementary Science Methods) were redesigned to include STEM integration components, including STEM model lessons co‐taught by a mathematics and science educator, as well as a special education colleague. Quantitative data were gathered at three time points in the semester (beginning, middle, and end) from 55 preservice teachers examining teacher self‐efficacy for integrated STEM teaching. Qualitative data were gathered from a purposeful sample of seven preservice teachers to further understand preservice teachers’ perceptions on delivering integrated STEM instruction in an elementary setting. Quantitative results showed a significant increase in teacher self‐efficacy across all three time points. Item‐level analysis revealed that self‐efficacy for tasks involving engineering and assessment (both formative and summative) were low across time points, while self‐efficacy for tasks involving technology and flexibility were consistently high. Qualitative results revealed that the preservice teachers did not feel adequately prepared by university‐level science and mathematics courses, in terms of content knowledge and integration of science and mathematics for elementary students.     

Construction of Teacher Knowledge in Context: Preparing Elementary Teachers to Teach Mathematics and Science

The purpose of this study was to further the understanding of how preservice teachers construct teacher knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge of elementary mathematics and science in a school‐based setting and the extent of knowledge construction. Evidence of knowledge construction (its acquisition, its dimensions, and the social context) was collected through the use of a qualitative methodology. The methods course was content‐specific with instruction in elementary mathematics and science. Learning experiences were based on national standards with a constructivist instructional approach and immediate access to field experiences. Analysis and synthesis of data revealed an extensive acquisition of teacher knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge. Learning venues were discovered to be the conduits of learning in a situated learning context. As in this study, content‐specific, school‐based experiences may afford preservice teachers greater opportunities to focus on content and instructional strategies at deeper levels; to address anxieties typically associated with the teaching of elementary mathematics and science; and to become more confident and competent teachers. Gains in positive attitudes and confidence in teaching mathematics and science were identified as direct results of this experience.     

Mathematics and Science Integration: Models and Characterizations

The squeeze on instructional time and other factors increasingly leads educators to consider mathematics and science integration in an effort to be more efficient and effective. Unfortunately, the need for common understandings for what it means to integrate these disciplines, as well as the need for improving disciplinary knowledge, appears to continue to be significant obstacles to an integrated approach to instruction. In this study we report the results of a survey containing six instructional scenarios administered to thirty-three middle grades science and math teachers. Analysis of teacher responses revealed that while teachers applied similar criteria in their reasoning, they did not possess common characterizations for integration. Furthermore, analysis suggested that content knowledge serves as a barrier to recognizing integrated examples. Implications for professional development planners include the need to develop and provide teachers with constructs and parameters for what constitutes mathematics and science integration. Continued emphasis on improving teacher content knowledge in both mathematics and science is also a prerequisite to enabling teachers to integrate content.     

Urban Elementary STEM Initiative

The new standards for K–12 science education suggest that student learning should be more integrated and should focus on crosscutting concepts and core ideas from the areas of physical science, life science, Earth/space science, and engineering/technology. This paper describes large‐scale, urban elementary‐focused science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) collaboration between a large urban school district, various STEM‐focused community stakeholders, and a research‐focused private university. The collaboration includes the development of an integrated STEM curriculum for grade K–5 with accompanying teacher professional development. This mixed‐methodology study describes findings from focus group interviews and a survey of teachers from Title I elementary schools. Findings suggest the importance of the following critical features of professional development: (a) coherence, (b) content focus, (c) active learning, (d) collective participation, and (e) duration to the success of large‐scale STEM urban elementary school reform     

Preparing Middle Level Preservice Teachers to Integrate Mathematics and Science: Problems and Possibilities

Many members of the mathematics and science education community believe that the integration of mathematics and science enhances students' understanding of both subjects. Despite this belief, attempts to integrate these subjects have frequently been unsuccessful. This study examines the development and implementation of a team‐taught integrated middle level mathematics and science methods course. The data presented in this study were collected from three groups of preservice teachers who were enrolled in a grades 5–8 middle level teacher certification program in Connecticut from 1998–2000. The data analysis indicates that preservice teachers appreciated the emphasis on integration used in the course, but at the same time when concepts did not integrate easily they were frustrated. Despite this frustration, the preservice teachers' understanding of integration was enhanced as a result of the course.     

Reflection and Problem Solving: Integrating Methods of Teaching Mathematics and Science

An innovative teacher preparation course which integrates methods of teaching elementary mathematics and science was the context of this study. The course was developed as a prototype for the Teachers As Reflective Problem Solvers model for the preparation of elementary mathematics and science teachers. Data from 35 preservice elementary teachers' performance-portfolios were analyzed to reveal patterns of change in their reflections and problem-solving performance during the semester. Many of the students' reflections changed from task-focused learning to broader teaching applications. No relationship was discerned between changes in students' reflections and changes in their levels of problem-solving performance, although both increased during the semester. A significant correspondence was found, however, between students' perceptions of their problem-solving abilities and their actual performance in solving teaching problems in integrated mathematics and science contexts.     

Communication in Mathematics: Preparing Preservice Teachers to Include Writing in Mathematics Teaching and Learning

“Math was strictly math, from what I remember.” This is a comment about using writing in mathematics from a preservice elementary teacher enrolled in a methods course. Comments such as these concern teacher educators who wish to prepare elementary teachers to include writing in mathematics instruction. A teacher development experiment was completed to discover how to improve preservice teachers’ abilities and attitudes toward using writing in mathematics. The preservice teachers made use of a graphic organizer to facilitate writing in the college math methods class, then practiced teaching writing with the same graphic organizer and in the math classes in an elementary classroom. Reflections of the preservice teachers illustrated this was a positive practice. The preservice teachers also concluded that writing in mathematics is valuable to instruction and would include it in their teaching.     

Elementary Preservice Teachers' Knowledge and Beliefs Regarding Science and Mathematics

The development of teacher education programs to better prepare elementary teachers requires an empirical base in which to anchor meaningful change. The research reported herein makes just such an effort. Preservice teachers' mathematics and science knowledge was measured as were their beliefs regarding instruction in these content areas. The results suggest that an increase in the number of college credit hours in science and mathematics content is less likely to effect necessary change than alteration of the methods and curriculum materials.     

‘I Finally Get It!’: developing mathematical understanding during teacher education

A deep conceptual understanding of elementary mathematics as appropriate for teaching is increasingly thought to be an important aspect of elementary teacher capacity. This study explores preservice teachers’ initial mathematical understandings and how these understandings developed during a mathematics methods course for upper elementary teachers. The methods course was supplemented by a newly designed optional course in mathematics for teaching. Teacher candidates choosing the optional course were initially weaker in terms of mathematical understanding than their peers, yet showed stronger mathematical development after engaging in the extra hours the optional course provided.     

A quantitative study of the effects of informal mathematics activities on the beliefs of preservice elementary school teachers

This study sought to determine the relationship between participation in informal mathematics activities and the formal-to-informal beliefs of university teacher candidates in elementary education. Three classes of preservice teachers participated in the study through their enrollment in a content mathematics course for elementary education majors. Four informal mathematics activities were employed as part of the course requirements. Before and after formal-to-informal beliefs about mathematics and mathematics instruction were measured using a Likert-scale beliefs assessment instrument used by Collier (J Res Math Educ 3(3):155?C163, 1972) and Seaman et al. (School Sci Math 105(4):197?C210, 2005). Changes in beliefs about mathematics and mathematics instruction were compared to a control group. Student reflection upon personal experience derived from participation in the activities was analyzed for formal and informal belief statements.     

Making mathematics and science integration happen: key aspects of practice

The integration of mathematics and science teaching and learning facilitates student learning, engagement, motivation, problem-solving, criticality and real-life application. However, the actual implementation of an integrative approach to the teaching and learning of both subjects at classroom level, with in-service teachers working collaboratively, at second-level education, is under-researched due to the complexities of school-based research. This study reports on a year-long case study on the implementation of an integrated unit of learning on distance, speed and time, within three second-level schools in Ireland. This study employed a qualitative approach and examined the key aspects of practice that impact on the integration of mathematics and science teaching and learning. We argue that teacher perspective, teacher knowledge of the ‘other subject’ and of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK), and teacher collaboration and support all impact on the implementation of an integrative approach to mathematics and science education.     

An Interdisciplinary Approach to Science,Mathematics, and Reading: Learning as Children Learn

A project was designed to implement an integrated curriculum in mathematics, science, and reading by promoting the professional growth of K-4 in-service teachers through a 6-hour graduate course. The course adopts a view of teachers' knowledge acquisition based on constructivism, a perspective currently more accepted for elementary children than for teachers. The effectiveness of the project in the Ist year was evaluated in part by employing content examinations, portfolios, journals, questionnaires, and course assignments. The findings suggest implications for teacher educators, program administrators, teachers in K-4, and the children served by the educational system.     

Efficacy for Teaching Elementary Science and Mathematics Compared to Other Content

The study was conducted to examine preservice, elementary teachers' efficacy for teaching science and mathematics as compared with other elementary content. The instrument assessed efficacy for teaching (EFT) five elementary content areas: science, mathematics, reading, classroom management, and general instruction. Three hundred twenty‐five preservice, elementary teachers completed a 15‐item instrument assessing efficacy for teaching in these five areas. The instrument was found to be valid and reliable. Overall group results indicated participants' EFT science and mathematics were lower than for teaching other areas. Intra‐individual patterns showed there were six clusters including a group with low EFT mathematics and a group with low EFT mathematics and science. Implications for preservice, teacher preparation opportunities and experiences are discussed.     

Connecting Mathematics and Science in Undergraduate Teacher Education Programs: Faculty Voices from the Maryland Collaborative for Teacher Preparation

The study reported in this paper investigated perceptions concerning connections between mathematics and science held by university/college instructors who participated in the Maryland Collaborative for Teacher Preparation (MCTP), an NSF-funded program aimed at developing special middle-level mathematics and science teachers. Specifically, we asked (a) “What are the perceptions of MCTP instructors about the ‘other’ discipline?” (b) “What are the perceptions of MCTP instructors about the connections between mathematics and science?” and (c) “What are some barriers perceived by MCTP instructors in implementing mathematics and science courses that emphasize connections?” The findings suggest that the benefits of emphasizing mathematics and science connections perceived by MCTP instructors were similar to the benefits reported by school teachers. The barriers reported were also similar. The participation in the project appeared to have encouraged MCTP instructors to grapple with some fundamental questions, like “What should be the nature of mathematics and science connections?” and “What is the nature of mathematics/science in relationship to the other discipline?”     

Preservice teachers’ use of mathematics and science learning processes

Mathematics and science have similar learning processes (SLPs) and it has been proposed that courses focused on these and other similarities promote transfer across disciplines. However, it is not known how the use of these processes in lessons taught to children change throughout a preservice teacher education course or which are most likely to transfer within and between disciplines. Three hundred and ninety lesson plans written by 113 preservice teachers (PSTs) from 10 sections of an elementary mathematics/science methods course were analyzed. PSTs taught an eight‐lesson sequence to children: five science lessons followed by three mathematics lessons. The findings suggested that: (a) PSTs needed to only teach three mathematics lessons, after five science lessons, to reach the same number of SLPs used in the five science lessons; (b) some SLPs are highly correlated processes (HCPs) and are more likely to transfer within and between science and mathematics lessons; and (c) PSTs needed to teach no mathematics lessons, after four science lessons, to reach the same number of HCPs used in the four science lessons. Implications include centering courses on multiple and varied representations of learning processes within problem‐solving, and HCPs may be essential similarities of problem‐solving which promote transfer.     

Perceptions of Professional Growth: A Mathematics Teacher Educator in Transition

To meet the need for reform in mathematics teacher preparation courses, two cycles of changes made in an elementary mathematics methods course are presented. Using action research, teaching approaches were developed, implemented, and evaluated as a meaningful way to continue my professional development. Results suggested that I improved my teaching practices and focused more on teaching tasks that engaged my students to “think like teachers.” Three critical components of teacher preparation courses are identified that are important for teacher educators to acknowledge when implementing change: (a) using reflective verbal and written communication, (b) establishing a collaborative mathematical community, and (c) focusing on a narrower selection of mathematical content.     

A Review of the Integration of Science and Mathematics: Implications for Further Research

Building on the earlier analysis by Berlin (1991) , this paper reviews various studies on integrating mathematics and science in the 1990s and provides some implications for further research. The areas identified for further exploration include comparison of the nature of mathematics and science, epistemological debates in mathematics and in science education, the bases used to emphasize science over mathematics or vice versa, empirical evidence of effectiveness of integration, connections between teacher education programs for integration and teachers' subsequent classroom teaching practices, perceptions of integration on the part of teacher educators, contextual difficulties in implementing integrated approaches and possible solutions, and rationales of integrating mathematics and science through technology. In order to help all students become scientifically literate, which most reform documents call for, more focused attention on integration of curriculum and instruction is necessary.