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Background

The first year of implementation of the Toronto District School Board

(TDSB) K-12 Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics

(STEM) Strategy included a study conducted with 80 teachers, 50

administrators, 10 STEM Learning Coaches1 and 439 students in 60

STEM pilot schools in the TDSB. This Fact Sheet will focus on the

impact of this initiative on teachers2

Figure 1: TDSB K-12 STEM Strategy

1 In this Fact Sheet, STEM Learning Coach and STEM Coach are used interchangeably.

2 This fact sheet is based on Sinay, E., Jaipal-Jamani, K., Nahornick, A., & Douglin, M. (2016). STEM teaching and learning in the

Toronto District School Board: Towards a strong theoretical foundation and scaling up from initial implementation of the K-12 STEM strategy. Research Series I. (Research Report No. 15/16-16 Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Toronto District School Board”. Retrieved from: http://www.tdsb.on.ca/Portals/research/docs/reports/TDSBSTEMStrategyResearchRpt1.pdf

TORONTO DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD STEM RESEARCH SERIES I: IMPACT ON TEACHERS

IMPACT ON TEACHERS

STEM FACT SHEET I: Teachers ISSUE 1 August 2017

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How do teachers feel about the first year of implementation of the STEM initiative?

Overwhelmingly, teachers felt very positive about the K-12 STEM strategy. Following is a summary of the

key results:

82% of teachers reported they would like to see the STEM initiative continued.

87% of teachers believed that STEM education will improve their teaching practice. Over 90% of teachers strongly believed in the value of STEM for improving student learning.

Teachers strongly believed in the value of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)

education to:

1. develop students with the skills and competencies needed for living in the world.

2. enhance student learning.

3. help students solve real-world problems. On the other hand, some teachers (19%) were concerned that a STEM transdisciplinary approach can diminish the importance of individual content areas. Additionally, a sizeable percent of teachers (38%) felt STEM is a “fad”.

Figure 2: Overview of Teachers Feelings about the First Year of the K-12 STEM Initiative

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What are teachers’ perceptions and knowledge of STEM?

Teachers felt that they have the necessary understanding of STEM pedagogy.

Over 90% of teachers felt they understood inquiry-based and problem-based learning.

Over 90% of teachers believed in the importance of integrating content from different subject

areas and disciplines when teaching.

The majority of teachers (84%) reported they were confident in their ability to teach STEM

effectively.

In some areas, teachers report places where their knowledge could be improved:

40% of teachers wondered to some degree if they have the necessary skills to teach STEM.

27% of teachers felt they could improve in their knowledge of the Engineering design process.

23% of teachers felt they do not have strong knowledge of STEM careers.

58% of teachers have not used the STEM education resources on the TDSB STEM K-12 Academic

Workplace (AW) Site.

Teachers’ recommendations for improvement

Teachers would like to see more resources and support in the Engineering design process and

STEM careers.

More time needs to be spent to explicitly show and demonstrate the utility of the STEM

resources available on the TDSB STEM K-12 AW site.

Provide teachers with sustained and ongoing STEM professional development to help with

teachers feeling unfamiliar with STEM content or pedagogy.

Figure 3: Teacher Perceptions and Knowledge of STEM

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What are teacher practices for teaching STEM?

Most TDSB teachers (82% of them) reported that they have tried to a great or moderate extent to develop students’ STEM skills, and that the students have in turn learned the STEM skills.

The majority of students, 84% of them, felt that teachers engaged them in inquiry based, and

problem based (90% elementary and 78% secondary) learning practices.

Teachers implemented a variety of STEM-related activities into their classrooms. The most popular

activities were:

hands-on activities (90% of teachers)

experiments (67% of teachers)

Using computer technology for data collection, analysis and presentation (64% of teachers).

On the other hand, the least used STEM-related activities were:

co-op opportunities with business and community partners (3% of teachers)

site visits (14% of teachers)

robotics (23%)

Figure 4: STEM Teaching Practices

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Teachers also advanced their STEM practice through collaboration and the development of professional learning communities.

89% of teachers strongly agreed, agreed, or somewhat agreed that they networked and collaborated with colleagues regarding STEM education.

81% strongly agreed, agreed, or somewhat agreed that they co-planed and worked with other colleagues around STEM teaching.

How has their teaching impacted students?

Seventy-seven percent (77%) of teachers surveyed, felt that the majority of students in their class had learned STEM skills. In conjunction with this, 78% of secondary school students strongly agreed, agreed, or somewhat agreed that STEM education is relevant and meaningful to their lives. The results further demonstrated that students were very interested in STEM careers. In fact, the most popular career interests among secondary school students included careers: (1) that allow them to create or design things, (2) use technology, and (3) work in science. Additionally, students showed very high agreement with STEM skills and competencies, such as collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, and citizenship However, the findings from this study indicated that there are also teaching areas which are not being

fostered to the same degree. Only 61% of teachers had students analyze competing arguments,

perspectives, or solutions to a problem to develop critical thinking skills. Furthermore, about one third

of teachers reported they never or rarely discuss issues related to global interdependency.

Figure 5: Impact of STEM Teaching

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What do teachers feel was done well with STEM implementation?

Seventy-seven percent (77%) of teachers felt the coaching they received was excellent, very good, or

good. Teachers felt the professional development support received from coaches was excellent in the

following areas:

professional learning focused on a variety of hands-on learning experiences

STEM teaching and learning resources

how to use various teaching strategies

supporting teaching using the STEM resource kits and monographs

Figure 6: What do teachers feel was done well with STEM Implementation?

What do teachers feel was NOT done well with the STEM implementation?

Teachers felt STEM Learning Coaches could improve their support in:

Providing STEM career information: Roughly one third of teachers (37%) did not know where to

find STEM career resources and 23% felt that they did not have a strong knowledge of current

STEM careers.

Assisting with STEM start-ups: Only 26% of teachers received this type of support.

Developing assessment criteria for STEM: 33% of teachers felt they had difficulty assessing students’ STEM skills.

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Figure 7: What do Teachers Feel was NOT done as well with the STEM Implementation

What recommendations do teachers have for moving forward?

Teachers would like to see the STEM initiative continued, but recommend that more time and support should be given for it to develop. Seventy-three (73%) of teachers felt the STEM Learning Coach model was a very effective or moderately effective model and that it should be retained and improved.

Teachers would like to see more funding for more resources such as STEM Coaches, readymade lessons plans, and new technology. Teachers felt the largest barriers were a limited availability of professional learning opportunities followed by inadequate facilities.

Following is a list of teacher recommendations:

Teachers having continued and consistent access to STEM Coaches

More time for planning and collaboration with teachers and STEM Coaches

More resources (i.e., lesson plans, technology, activities)

More examples of best practices/teaching strategies for STEM

More professional development (perhaps, in the areas that teachers reported lower knowledge or use such as Engineering design process, assessment, global interactions, and analyzing competing arguments)

Time to observe colleagues teaching STEM

Clearer directions on how to cover curriculum and include STEM activities

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Figure 8: Recommendations for Moving Forward

Cite as:

Sinay, E., & Ashley, N. (2017). Toronto District School Board STEM research series I: Impact on teachers: STEM fact sheet I – teachers.

ISSUE 1, August 2017. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Toronto District School Board.