Background
Teachers can have a significant impact on student interest and learning in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) subjects and careers. Teacher self-efficacy can also significantly affect student learning. Researchers investigated the effects of teacher professional development and integrated STEM curriculum development on teacher self-efficacy. Participants in the study included high school science and engineering technology teachers enrolled in a National Science Foundation–ITEST project called Teachers and Researchers Advancing Integrated Lessons in STEM (TRAILS). The TRAILS program sought to prepare teachers to integrate STEM content using engineering design, biomimicry, science inquiry, and 3D printing as pedagogical approaches. Teachers learned within a community of practice working alongside industry partners and college faculty. The purpose of the study was to investigate the impact of the 70 h of professional development to train three cohorts of teachers over 3 years on teacher self-efficacy. The research design utilized a quasi-experimental nonequivalent control group approach, including an experimental group and an untreated control group.

Results
Measurements on beliefs about teacher self-efficacy were collected on pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest survey assessments. Researchers analyzed the T-STEM survey results for teaching self-efficacy using the Wilcoxson signed-rank test for detecting significant differences. Science teachers showed a significant increase in teacher self-efficacy comparing the pretest and delayed posttest scores after TRAILS professional development and STEM lesson implementation ( p = . 001, effect size = .95). Additionally, significant differences between groups (science experimental vs science control group teachers) using the Wilcoxon rank-sum test were detected from pretest to posttest ( p = .033, effect size = .46), posttest to delayed posttest ( p = .029, effect size = .47), and pretest to delayed posttest ( p = .005, effect size = .64). There were no significant differences detected in the control group. Engineering technology teachers showed no significant differences between the pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest self-efficacy scores.

Conclusions
The results indicate the science teachers’ self-efficacy increased after professional development and after lesson implementation. Potential implications from this research suggest that the science teacher participants benefited greatly from learning within a community of practice, engaging in science practices, and using science knowledge to solve a real-world problem (engineering design).



中文翻译：

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通过合作的实践社区提高高中教师的综合STEM教学自我效能

背景
老师会对学生对科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）学科和职业的兴趣和学习产生重大影响。教师的自我效能感也可以极大地影响学生的学习。研究人员调查了教师专业发展和STEM课程整合发展对教师自我效能感的影响。该研究的参与者包括参加了国家科学基金会– ITEST项目“教师和研究人员推进STEM综合课程的教师”的高中科学和工程技术教师。TRAILS计划寻求通过使用工程学设计，仿生学，科学探究和3D打印作为教学方法，使教师整合STEM内容。教师在与行业合作伙伴和大学教职员工一起工作的实践社区中学习。这项研究的目的是调查70个小时的专业发展对3名教师进行3年培训对教师自我效能的影响。研究设计采用了准实验的非等效对照组方法，包括实验组和未治疗的对照组。

结果
在测试前，测试后和延迟的测试后调查评估中收集了有关教师自我效能感的测评。研究人员使用Wilcoxson秩和检验检验了T-STEM问卷调查结果以提高自我效能，以检测出显着差异。科学教师表现出教师自我效能一显著上升比较前测和后TRAILS专业发展和STEM课程实施（延迟后测分数 p = 。 001，效果大小= 0.95）。此外，使用Wilcoxon秩和检验在各组之间（科学实验组与科学对照组的教师）在前测与后测之间存在显着差异（ p = .033，效果大小= .46），后测到延迟后测（ p = .029，效果量= .47），预测试到延迟后测（ p = .005，效果量= .64）。在对照组中未检测到显着差异。工程技术教师的测验前，测后和测验后自我效能得分没有明显差异。

结论
结果表明，理科教师的自我效能感在专业发展和课程实施后有所提高。这项研究的潜在含义表明，在实践社区中学习，参与科学实践以及使用科学知识来解决现实世界的问题（工程设计），理科教师参与者将从中受益匪浅。