Self-efficacy is a topic of great interest in elementary preservice and inservice teacher education, considering that elementary teachers often have low science and engineering teaching self-efficacy. In this systematic review, we synthesize existing research to reveal trends and uncover existing gaps, including recommendations for future research. Out of 117, we found 84 articles studied preservice, 31 inservice and two articles studied both preservice/inservice teachers’ self-efficacy. Findings from thematic analysis indicate that the diversity of teacher education programs, both across the United States and globally, offers a rich context for considering a range of programmatic features that impact elementary teachers’ science and engineering teaching self-efficacy. Implications for future research and practice in multiple contexts across teacher preparation programs are discussed. 
                        more » 
                        « less   
                    
                            
                            Teaching the E in STEM: A Synthesis of the Engineering Teaching Self-Efficacy Literature.
                        
                    
    
            Preservice teacher preparation programs and inservice professional development enhance science teaching self-efficacy. Research has shown that elementary teachers often have low self-efficacy for teaching science and engineering. However, there is less evidence surrounding engineering teaching self-efficacy. In this systematic review of literature, we explored the research question: What does the existing literature on self-efficacy reveal about fostering elementary teachers’ engineering teaching self-efficacy? We (1) synthesize the existing research on engineering teaching self-efficacy and (2) describe trends in research and uncover gaps that exist, including recommendations for future research. Among the 117 articles included in our full systematic review of science and engineering teaching self-efficacy, only 13 empirical studies focused specifically on engineering teaching self-efficacy. With a dearth of studies in both preservice and inservice contexts, there is a need for additional research on engineering teaching self-efficacy. In particular, longitudinal studies that track change over time and measure lasting effects of interventions. Further, detailed explorations of the factors that impact engineering teaching self-efficacy across multiple contexts are needed. Findings from these studies will help STEM educators to inform the design of preservice teacher education programs as well as inservice professional development opportunities. 
        more » 
        « less   
        
    
                            - Award ID(s):
- 2151056
- PAR ID:
- 10415443
- Publisher / Repository:
- Association of Science Teacher Education Conference Proceedings
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Association for Science Teacher Education
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
- 
            
- 
            Elementary teachers often have low self-efficacy for teaching science and engineering, and a range of professional development experiences have been designed to support teaching self-efficacy. Out of 117 total studies from 2010-2021 included in our systematic review, 22 focused specifically on inservice elementary teachers’ science and engineering teaching self-efficacy. In this presentation, we synthesize this existing research to identify trends in the literature. Our findings reveal that while existing research suggests that professional development opportunities can support elementary teachers’ science and engineering teaching self-efficacy, significant gaps in the literature remain. It is unclear why some professional development experiences support improved self-efficacy while others do not, and it is difficult to disentangle the effects of the many factors that may relate to self-efficacy within these studies. Recommendations for future research are described.more » « less
- 
            Elementary teachers often feel underprepared to teach integrated STEM (iSTEM) and describe their preservice teacher preparation as ineffective. The purpose of this study is to investigate the extent to which semester-long STEM methods courses influenced elementary preservice teachers’ (PSTs) iSTEM teaching self-efficacy and identify how the sources of self-efficacy influenced their beliefs and confidence in teaching iSTEM. Participants included 131 PSTs at a large midwestern research-intensive public university in the United States. Quantitative data sources included the Self-Efficacy for Teaching Integrated STEM instrument administered as a pre-and post-test. The qualitative data collection included two semi-structured interviews with 10 selected participants. Findings suggest that PSTs experienced growth in iSTEM teaching self-efficacy through their STEM methods coursework. Sources that emerged as contributors toward enhanced confidence to teach iSTEM were enactive mastery, emotional arousal, vicarious experiences, and verbal persuasions. The implications for preservice teacher preparation programs and future research on iSTEM teaching self-efficacy are discussed.more » « less
- 
            Early science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education sets the stage for future STEM learning. The purpose of this synthesis is to understand the findings from investments to improve prekindergarten (preK) and elementary science teaching from projects funded by the National Science Foundation’s Discovery Research PreK-12 (DRK-12) program. In the 5 years spanning 2011–15, the DRK-12 program funded or cofunded 25 projects, totaling more than $60 million, related to improving preK and elementary science teaching. Our review identified 25 DRK-12 projects related to improving preK and elementary science teaching funded in 2011–15. We synthesized findings from 25 of those projects that produced products (e.g., peer-reviewed journal articles, conference papers) that described the project and outcomes. We synthesized the empirical findings from interventions in four common areas of investment: (a) preservice preK and elementary preparation programs, (b) in-service teacher professional development (PD), (c) instructional materials for preK and elementary teachers, and (d) strategies for diverse learners. Link to PDF: https://www.air.org/sites/default/files/2022-08/Improving-Prek-and-Elementary-Science-Teaching--DRK-12-STEM-August-2022.pdfmore » « less
- 
            Many professional learning (PL) opportunities with inservice teachers often focus on enhancing their understanding of the nature of engineering and the work of engineers. However, few studies connect inservice teachers’ conceptualizations of science and engineering and how these inform their classroom practice. Therefore, this study explores inservice elementary teachers’ conceptions of teaching science and engineering and how they connect their understandings of these disciplines to classroom practice. We examined the breakout discussions of 11 inservice elementary teachers regarding five vignettes of science and engineering classroom activities in a completely online PL experience. We employed the Attending-Interpreting-Responding (AIR) Teacher Noticing Framework and followed a six-step thematic analysis process by Braun and Clark (2012). These steps included collaborative sense-making sessions to discuss the descriptive coding (Saldaña, 2021) generated during independent coding sessions. Our analysis revealed several consistent key (mis)conceptions about teaching science and engineering. Teachers often characterized engineering classroom activities as tasks where students should be building and solving a problem, while they characterized science as involving observation and learning content knowledge about a topic. When describing a vignette as engineering, teachers often used the words goal, problem, and purpose interchangeably. Additionally, we uncovered teachers’ misconceptions about science that do not align with the nature of science or science and engineering practices. This gap in how teachers make sense of classroom science and engineering tasks versus how they conceptualize science and engineering disciplines highlights a significant need to address in teacher education.more » « less
 An official website of the United States government
An official website of the United States government 
				
			 
					 
					
