Investigating in-service teachers’ STEM literacy: the role of subject background and gender

Background STEM literacy has increasingly become a significant educational goal worldwide. Teachers’ STEM literacy is of utmost importance in mediating students’ learning. Although many teacher preparation programs are being structured to accommodate the changing educational landscape there is still limited understanding of how teachers engage with STEM.Purpose The purpose of this paper was to provide a comprehensive framework for tracing teachers’ STEM literacy which can be adapted for empirical investigations. The paper provided both a theoretical framework which consists of STEM knowledge, ability and attitudes and a methodological approach for tracing teachers’ STEM literacy.Sample This study was conducted with 97 compulsory education teachers (48% female) in China. Overall, 66.0% of the participants taught science in primary and secondary school, 16% taught technology and 17% taught mathematics.Design and methods The study was guided by two research questions: (a) What were the relationships between the elements of in-service teachers’ STEM literacy? (b) What differences, if any, were there in in-service teacher’ STEM literacy in terms of their subject background and gender? A pilot study confirmed the validation and reliability of the research tool. A series of t-tests and analyses of variance were performed to identify the status quo and any significant differences in teachers’ STEM literacy. Pearson Correlation analysis was conducted to measure the strength of the relationships between each two variables.Conclusions The results suggested that the Teachers’ STEM Literacy Survey was valid and reliable for examining teachers’ STEM literacy and indicated (a) teachers performed well in the discipline knowledge (especially in scientific knowledge), but problem-solving ability (PSA) and STEM career interest (CI) were limited; (b) gender differences existed in teachers’ self-efficacy to PSA. Mathematics teachers had relatively lower confidence in PSA and (c) CI might have no correlation with teachers’ understanding of STEM knowledge and STEM ability.