The present study seeks to identify teachers' perceptions regarding STEM teaching professional development and to identify the factors that facilitate or hinder the success of teachers' professional development. The participants of the study were 35 teachers. A qualitative approach was used for data collection by conducting semistructured interviews with 11 teachers out of 35. All the participants were involved in the three focus group sessions. The findings of the study revealed that teachers have various perceptions toward the STEM professional development based on their experience, knowledge, and skills. Moreover, the study revealed different factors influencing STEM professional development among teachers including personal characteristics and internal factors including attitudes and beliefs toward STEM professional development activities, and teachers' capacity. Also, external factors such as design of the training program, availability of training material, and timing of training. The findings of the study could benefit the decision‐makers to be aware about these factors that influence professional development and the teachers' needs.

中文翻译：

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促进和阻碍教师STEM专业发展的因素

本研究旨在确定教师对STEM教学专业发展的看法，并确定促进或阻碍教师专业发展成功的因素。该研究的参与者为35名教师。通过对35名中的11名教师进行半结构化访谈，采用了定性方法进行数据收集。所有参与者都参加了三个焦点小组会议。研究结果表明，教师根据他们的经验，知识和技能对STEM专业发展有多种看法。此外，该研究揭示了影响教师STEM专业发展的不同因素，包括个人特征和内部因素，包括对STEM专业发展活动的态度和信念以及教师的能力。另外，外部因素例如培训计划的设计，培训材料的可用性和培训时间。该研究的结果可以使决策者意识到影响专业发展和教师需求的这些因素。