Defining STEM within a school district: a co-constructed and evolving process
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Defining STEM within a school district: a co‑constructed and evolving process Debbie Siegel1 · Michael Giamellaro1 Received: 4 March 2018 / Accepted: 9 August 2019 © Springer Nature B.V. 2019
Abstract Taking a sociocultural approach, the goal of this qualitative study was to examine the process of implementing a science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) initiative. The study examined how the construct of STEM was individually appropriated and collectively constructed within a rural school district during its launch year. Within this theoretical framework, the authors argue that such a change must be viewed as a contextual, active, co-constructed, and evolving process. Data from practitioner journals, participant interviews, and researcher field notes were characterized by how practitioners referred to and discussed the idea of “STEM.” The perspectives of teachers, administrators, and a STEM coach were examined to determine how practitioners appropriated the notion of “STEM,” how this varied by practitioner group, and how individual appropriations of “STEM” merged and evolved as a co-constructed understanding of “STEM.” Practitioners appropriated this STEM initiative in distinct ways, specific to their context, while at the same time working toward a district-wide understanding of “STEM.” During the course of this year, the district’s ownership of this initiative was reflected in the emergence of a new label for “STEM,” which they renamed “TEAMS.” This new label reified the context-specific conceptualization of a STEM initiative. The results highlight the importance of acknowledging the active role that practitioners play as co-designers of innovations and the value that should be placed on this active role to support long-term sustainability. The study provides a deeper understanding of the process of implementing STEM that might have implications for implementing similar STEM initiatives elsewhere. Keywords STEM education · Research–practice partnership · Educational change · Sociocultural · Professional development Crawford was a school district in change. The superintendent had decided that all students across the district should be engaged in STEM and that all faculty should play a part in this. In a faculty meeting early in the transition process, the teachers were wrestling with the question of what STEM is and their own existing or future relationships with Lead Editor: David Long. * Debbie Siegel [email protected] 1
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it. As a district, faculty mentioned that they wished to add the “arts” to STEM. This led to “STEAM.” Then, with an emphasis on integration and collaboration within and outside the district, the label “STEAM” was changed to “TEAMS” to highlight collaborating or “teaming,” as the high school principal called it. The science teacher who coined “TEAMS” later said, “I hoped it [TEAMS as compared to STEM] was thought of different
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