STEAMTEACH Austria: Towards a STEAM Professional Development Program

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.46328/ijres.2747

Keywords:

STEAM, Professional development, Integrated, Collaborative,

Abstract

The STEAMTEACH (STEAM Education for Teaching Professionalism) project works with teacher trainers to develop a program of Transcultural STEAM Professional Development for in- and pre-service teachers. Following a literature review, a semi-structured questionnaire then interviews approach was used to elicit current practice, challenges for teachers and recommendations from Austrian teacher trainers. These recommendations were then compared with and supported by STEAM academic literature. It was found that none of the institutions offered a STEAM approach and it does not appear in the curriculum. Indeed, this fact is the primary challenge to overcome. Recommendations were that teachers should work in multidisciplinary, supportive, collaborative groups and networks. Problem and project-based learning were identified as key learning methodologies. A mix of physical and on-line working synchronously and asynchronously was recommended for online professional development because teachers can participate irrespective of time and place. Educational technology can support collaboration, and also ‘plug and play’ technologies including game-based learning can be inserted into an overall STEAM approach. The affective factor was judged essential for students and teachers.

Author Biographies

Zsolt Lavicza, Johannes Kepler University-Linz

Zsolt Lavicza https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3701-5068Johannes Kepler University LinzLinz, AustriaContact e-mail: lavicza@gmail.com

Imam Fitri Rahmadi, Johannes Kepler University-Linz

Imam Rahmadi https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5175-1187Johannes Kepler University LinzLinz, AustriaContact e-mail: imamrahmadi@unpam.ac.id

Jose-Manuel Diego-Mantecón, Universidad de Cantabria

Jose Diego https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4427-2724Universidad de CantabriaSantander, SpainContact e-mail: josemanuel.diego@unican.es

Kristof Fenyvesi, University of Jyväskylä

Kristof Fenyvesi https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5416-376XUniversity of JyväskyläJyväskylä, FinlandContact e-mail: fenyvesi.kristof@gmail.com

Robert Weinhandl, Johannes Kepler University-Linz

Robert Weinhandl https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5525-6404Johannes Kepler University LinzLinz, AustriaContact e-mail: robert.weinhandl@gmail.com

Zaira Ortiz-Laso, Universidad de Cantabria

Zaira Ortiz-Laso  https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9629-2279 Universidad de CantabriaAv. de los Castros, s/n, 39005 SantanderSpainContact e-mail: zaira.ortiz@unican.es

References

Houghton, T., Lavicza, Z., Rahmadi, I.F., Diego-Mantecon, J.M., Fenyvesi, K., Weinhandl, R., & Ortiz-Laso, Z. (2022). STEAMTEACH Austria: Towards a STEAM professional development program. International Journal of Research in Education and Science (IJRES), 8(3), 502-512. https://doi.org/10.46328/ijemst.2747

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Published

2022-08-26

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Abstracts