An Approach to Designing Professional Learning for Early Childhood STEM Educators: Integrating Frameworks to Support Teacher Self-Efficacy and Motivation

Teacher professional learning (PL) is essential to ensure that teachers have the necessary expertise to address student learning needs and navigate the complexities of increasingly demanding educational landscapes. However, research on PL has a diminutive focus on factors that support PL and the process of how teachers learn and develop their skills related to teaching and implementation of their PL. Among early childhood teachers, implementation of scripted lessons stifles opportunities for STEM integration. To address these gaps, we developed InTERSECT which is a fully-online program with a PL design that integrates Desimone’s design characteristics, Sims and Fletcher-Wood’s IGTP Framework, and the Model of Domain Le\ to develop teacher expertise in early childhood STEM. PK-2 in-service teachers (n = 98) in the southeastern United States engaged in content, methods, and inquiry-driven learning experiences to support their expertise in STEM instruction. This quantitative, quasi-experimental designed study investigates in-service teachers’ perceptions of, and motivation to implement, their PL, as well as engagement predicting their self-efficacy for teaching. Findings from teacher surveys contribute to understanding PL design and its implications for teacher learning and development that is based on contextual relevance, intentionally embedding experiences, and expansion of resources.