Environmental health: a pathway to STEM-health integration for middle school teachers

We examined the impact of an environmental health-focused professional development (PD) on middle school teachers. We used a mixed-methods approach to measure teachers’ pre- and post-perceptions of environmental health, and how they conceived the integration of environmental health into their science curriculum. We identified three categories: teachers (a) found the PD and curriculum on environmental health beneficial; (b) emphasized that the material and curriculum promoted multiple scientific connections for their students; and (c) had increased confidence in teaching the topic. Environmental health PDs can help teachers develop new skills that support their students to communicate their concerns about environmental health.