A case study on professional development: Improving STEM teaching in K-12 education

Abstract

STEM Outreach Center is a non-profit educational center in southern New Mexico that supports K-12 STEM teachers and students by providing professional development, after school programs, summer camps, and field visits. This center has been organizing the Summer Institute Professional Development (SIPD) for more than ten years. The purpose of this research is to understand the effect of SIPD on teachers' pedagogy to excite and engage students in STEM learning. This study contributes to the program evaluation by analyzing the experiences of teachers who participated in SIPD. This qualitative study uses the open-ended questionnaire as a method of data collection. The findings of this study show that teachers who attended the SIPD are eager to (i) integrate readings and arts in STEM teaching practices, (ii) improve their teaching pedagogies, and (iii) look for additional resources to support STEM teaching. Therefore, the authors recommend further research on how teachers transfer skills into their classrooms after attending SIPD.