STEAM-focused Professional Development for Life Sciences Teachers: Shifts in Understanding and Uptake of Arts-based Pedagogies

Teacher-centred approaches continue to dominate Life Sciences education in South Africa, often limiting opportunities for affective engagement and participatory learning. In response, a 6 month online professional development intervention was designed to support in-service high school Life Sciences teachers in incorporating Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM)-informed arts-based pedagogies into the Environmental Studies strand of the curriculum. Delivered via Microsoft Teams, the intervention consisted of 13 sessions, including a dedicated 3 hour STEAM session during which participating teachers engaged in arts-based activities and collaboratively designed lessons for classroom implementation. Teachers subsequently implemented arts-based lessons in their classrooms and reflected on the experience through written portfolio submissions. This paper reports specifically on the STEAM component of the intervention and examines how participation shaped teachers’ understandings of STEAM, their attitudes towards arts-based pedagogies, and their early classroom uptake of such approaches in Life Sciences. Drawing on qualitative data generated through questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and teacher-generated artefacts, the paper explores shifts in teachers’ conceptualisations and enactment of arts-based pedagogies informed by STEAM principles. Findings suggest that participation broadened teachers’ conceptualisations of STEAM, fostered more positive attitudes towards arts-based pedagogies and encouraged early classroom uptake of creative approaches. Evidence from teacher-generated artefacts indicates that implementation remained shaped by contextual constraints. The paper highlights the potential of scaffolded professional development to support meaningful use of arts-based pedagogies in Life Sciences teaching.