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RESEARCH PAPER
The effects of an early childhood-elementary teacher preparation program in STEM on pre-service teachers
1
Department of Early Childhood Education, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, USA
2
Department of Curriculum and Instruction, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, USA
3
Department of Education, Mercyhurst University, Erie, PA, USA
Publication date: 2022-12-09
EURASIA J. Math., Sci Tech. Ed 2022;18(12):em2197
KEYWORDS
STEM educationearly and elementary pre-service teacher preparationself-efficacypedagogical content knowledge
ABSTRACT
The increasing interest in early and elementary STEM education comes with a need to increase
training and support for teachers of children in the early grades. Early and elementary pre-service
teacher preparation in science, math, and integrated STEM can play a critical role in enhancing
teachers’ self-efficacy and pedagogical content knowledge in these areas. However, few
quantitative research studies have been published on this topic, especially involving early
childhood and elementary programs. Because few STEM courses are typically offered in these
programs, we need courses and experiences that can be transformational. This study evaluates
the short- and long-term impacts on pre-service teachers who participated in our STEM
Collaboration approach (n=164), which was created to meet this goal through an innovative early
childhood and elementary collaboration. Analyses of mixed methods data collected from surveys,
tests, open-ended feedback, and a focus group revealed immediate, long-term, and positive
impacts on science, math, and integrated STEM self-efficacy and pedagogical content knowledge.
Participation in STEM education experiences in pre-service programs that include innovations
such as collaboration across colleges and professionalization opportunities made a difference,
and one that persisted.
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