New Perspectives in Science Education

The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) in Ireland is currently in the process of working with teachers and early childhood practitioners, school leaders, parents and children, to redevelop the Primary Curriculum. Amongst the objectives of the redevelopment is for Ireland to become internationally recognised as providing the highest quality STEM education for all learners across all levels of education. Despite challenges in enacting the existing mathematics and science curricula effectively in classrooms, this redevelopment poses further challenges to primary teachers who are now expected to take an increasingly integrated approach to teaching and learning with the knowledge and skills needed not always being evident. This paper reports on a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme the aim of which was the development of primary teachers’ pedagogical and content knowledge needed to carry out the work of teaching STEM and building STEM capital – i.e., the STEM-related background, including, but not limited to, knowledge, attitudes, perceptions and experiences that students builds up through their schooling – in the primary classroom. The CPD programme was based on the distinctive signature pedagogies approach, involving critical dialogue, public sharing of work and communities of learners, each of which aims to enable teachers to engage in specific ways of thinking about their own practice in STEM, with the aim of enhancing their pupils educational experiences and outcomes in STEM. Three groups of Irish primary teachers (N=12), each within their own unique school context, took part in the CPD programme over the course of six months. A self-reflection of the researcher, and deliverer of the CPD, on their ongoing professional experience as a teacher educator is reported here in terms of the participating primary teachers’ development of STEM Knowledge for Teaching. The findings showed that while teachers participating in the CPD programme enhanced aspects of their STEM Knowledge for Teaching, it was noted that further opportunities to extend and consolidate this learning would be beneficial.

Keywords: STEM Education, Science Capital, Teacher Continuous Professional Development, STEM Knowledge for Teaching.

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