Assessing Teachers’ Experiences with STEM and Perceived Barriers to Teaching Engineering

The next generation science standards (NGSS) call for all K-12 students to participate in engineering experiences. This will be a new subject area for many schools in the U.S. Teachers receive training to teach science and math, but most elementary and middle school teachers have not received engineering or technology education training. As the push for incorporating more STEM into K-12 increases, it is important to understand teachers’ attitudes and experiences related to engineering and STEM at the K-12 level. The Novel Engineering Project (formerly Integrating Engineering and Literacy Project) recently surveyed 70 U.S. elementary and middle school teachers in 15 states to explore teachers’ experiences with teaching engineering as well as their opinions about including more engineering in K-8 classrooms. The survey analysis accounted for differences in location, years of experience, and type of school. Conflicting external pressures and a lack of training emerged as consistent barriers to teaching engineering across different types of schools and locations. Many teachers are interested in incorporating more engineering experiences. However, time, focus on standards & testing, and lack of administrative support are significant considerations for engineering education innovators and researchers to take into account when developing curricula. These findings also suggest that teachers would benefit from more training at both the pre-service and in-service levels in effective methods for teaching engineering, especially within an integrated unit that complements other core academic subjects. This paper discusses the results of the survey and its implications for disseminating successful engineering education initiatives that teachers feel empowered and prepared to teach. Introduction The next generation science standards (NGSS) call for all K-12 students to participate in engineering experiences, which will be a new subject area for many schools. Teachers receive training in teaching science and math, but most elementary and middle school teachers have not received training in teaching engineering or technology. A National Association for Research and Teaching article provides an overview of engineering education to date, and the steps necessary for successful integration of engineering in the new NGSS. 2 They suggest a need for more training and new instructional resources to provide opportunities to engage students in STEM learning; however they caution that “effective, equitable, and accessible teaching and learning” require “careful planning and implementation”. There have been several nation-wide engineering curriculum program (Engineering is Elementary (EiE), Project Lead the Way (PLTW), Lego Engineering, etc.) as well as universityled initiatives in local schools which have brought engineering to K-12 students. Engineering education innovators may anecdotally recognize barriers to widespread engineering curricula dissemination; however, a gap exists in the literature in understanding how teachers perceive incorporating engineering into elementary and middle school classrooms. In a 2006 survey of 98 Arizona teachers, Yasar, et al. found that time and administrative support were barriers to teaching design, engineering, and technology (DET), and that all teachers were unfamiliar with DET and lacked the skills to teach it. 6 They also found differences among P ge 26244.2 subjects with different amounts of teaching experience and genders. Hsu, Purzer, and Cardella repeated this survey with 192 teachers from 18 states and found similar results. Both authors suggested a need for more engineering training for both pre-service and in-service teachers. Other research has looked at teachers' self-perceptions of their ability to teach engineering as a barrier to implementing engineering in K-12. Yoon-Yoon, Evans, & Strobel developed the Teaching Engineering Self-efficiacy Scale (TESS) as a way to measure teacher needs and the effect of professional development. 10 In a review of P-12 engineering education initiatives, Brophy, Klein, Portsmore, &Rogers call for a “roadmap to show how educators, learning scientists, and engineers are currently bringing engineering concepts and practices to P-12 learners”. 8 They go on to identify teachers’ discomfort with teaching content they do not understand well as a significant problem for integrating engineering into elementary and middle school. They suggest an emphasis on training and partnerships between schools and universities. As the push for incorporating more STEM into K-12 increases, it is important to understand teachers’ attitudes about and experiences with engineering and STEM at the K-12 level. Previous research has utilized surveys to explore teachers’ views . However, these studies occurred before NGSS and much more understanding is necessary for successful engineering curriculum implementation. This paper describes a recent survey that asked elementary and middle school teachers about their experiences with and opinions about teaching STEM and engineering. The results and their implications for engineering education initiatives will be discussed. Research Questions This survey was conducted as part of dissemination efforts for a new curriculum project; therefore it was intended as a tool to get a snapshot of American teachers’ opinions about STEM. Specifically, we were interested in teachers’ experience, understanding of age appropriate engineering curricula, and perceived barriers to teaching engineering in elementary and middle school. Did location, experience, and type of school affect these responses? We also asked questions about teachers’ social media and curriculum planning habits, but these results are not discussed in this paper. Method The online survey was created in Qualtrics with qualitative multiple choice, likert scale, and open-ended questions. Participants were first asked about their background, location and experience before likert-type and open-ended questions about opinions and beliefs. We used STEM in the initial recruitment and questions because it is a buzzword in K-12 education and it was believed to be more familiar than engineering. Most questions were required to progress. Participants were recruited through e-mail and social media. Consent was obtained at the beginning of the survey, and participants were prompted to provide contact information for an Amazon gift card upon completion. The survey questions were generated from literature reviews and teacher interviews and were reviewed by the research team. All research protocols and instrumentation were reviewed and approved by the university’s Institutional Review Board. P ge 26244.3 Analysis of the results included descriptive and inferential statistics as well as qualitative analysis of open-ended responses. Three of the open-ended questions were coded separately by three researchers and then compared. Any disagreements were discussed until consensus was found. Participants The survey received 70 responses (9 were disqualified from analysis for not being 1-7 grade teachers) from 15 US states (See figure 1). 54 (88%) self-reported as female, 49 (80%) were fulltime in-classroom teachers, the majority (72%) had 10 years or less teaching experience, and most were early elementary teachers, though some taught multiple grades (figure 2). Full sample demographics are shown in table 1. Fourteen (24%) of respondents claimed prior experience teaching engineering (figure 3). Of these, only one had participated in Engineering is Elementary (EIE), though three had heard of it. Only one subject had heard of Project Lead the Way (PLTW), and none had participated. Unless otherwise stated, n=61 for all figures. Figure 1: Participants Locations by State 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 TN IL NC OR NJ WA MA TX CA NH DC VA MT NY AK N u m b e r o f re sp o n se s State Geographic Locations of Participants