Teacher Professional Development in STEM Education: An Integrated Approach with Real-World Scenarios in Portugal

Maria Cristina Costa (), António Manuel Dias Domingos, Vítor Duarte Teodoro and Élia Maria Rodrigues Guedes Vinhas
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Maria Cristina Costa: Department of Mathematics and Physics, Instituto Politécnico de Tomar, Estrada da Serra, 2300-313 Tomar, Portugal
António Manuel Dias Domingos: CICS.NOVA—Interdisciplinary Centre of Social Sciences, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, 1099-085 Lisbon, Portugal
Vítor Duarte Teodoro: CICS.NOVA—Interdisciplinary Centre of Social Sciences, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, 1099-085 Lisbon, Portugal
Élia Maria Rodrigues Guedes Vinhas: Agrupamento de Escolas de Pombal, 3100-484 Pombal, Portugal

Mathematics, 2022, vol. 10, issue 21, 1-21

Abstract: The implementation of an integrated approach of STEM education with real-life scenarios is crucial to motivate students to learn and to better prepare them for real-world challenges, which is a big challenge for teachers. Therefore, there are implications for teaching practice and consequently the need for professional development. This paper presents an integrated approach of STEM education developed in the context of a collaborative professional development programme implemented in an exclusive online context, provoked by the COVID-19 pandemic. The programme aimed at providing teachers with knowledge and skills to develop STEM integrated tasks to be implemented in class. This study used a quantitative–qualitative approach to answer the research questions, using mixed methods to collect data. Participants are primary school teachers who participated in the programme during four months in the school year 2020/2021. Based on data collected from questionnaires, participant observation and teachers’ final reports, it was verified that teachers recognized the importance of obtaining training in STEM education and that this type of professional development was very relevant and improved their knowledge and skills to implement STEM hands-on practices in class. In addition, a case study of a science and mathematics 6th grade teacher is presented to illustrate how she implement integrated STEM tasks in class based on a real-world scenario such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, teachers recognized the importance of this approach and that it increases students’ motivation to learn.

Keywords: STEM education; professional development; primary school; hands-on; COVID-19 pandemic (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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