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BackgroundThis study focuses on probing preservice technology teachers’ cognitive structures and how they construct engineering design in technology-learning activities and explores the effects of infusing an engineering design process into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) project-based learning to develop preservice technology teachers’ cognitive structures for engineering design thinking.ResultsThe study employed a quasi-experimental design, and twenty-eight preservice technology teachers participated in the teaching experiment. The flow-map method and metalistening technique were utilized to enable preservice technology teachers to create flow maps of engineering design, and a chi-square test was employed to analyze the data. The results suggest that (1) applying the engineering design process to STEM project-based learning is beneficial for developing preservice technology teachers’ schema of design thinking, especially with respect to clarifying the problem, generating ideas, modeling, and feasibility analysis, and (2) it is important to encourage teachers to further explore the systematic concepts of engineering design thinking and expand their abilities by merging the engineering design process into STEM project-based learning.ConclusionsThe findings of this study provide initial evidence on the effects of infusing the engineering design process into STEM project-based learning to develop preservice technology teachers’ engineering design thinking. However, further work should focus on exploring how to overcome the weaknesses of preservice technology teachers’ engineering design thinking by adding a few elements of engineering design thinking pedagogy, e.g., designing learning activities that are relevant to real life.

Integrated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) curricula have taken center stage in the recent education reforms. However, the challenge in teaching STEM curricula lies in finding ways to develop students’ content knowledge and plan suitable learning activities and instructional strategies. This paper is focused on the implementation of STEM curricula by secondary technology and engineering teachers and presents a framework for implementing a STEM curriculum centered on engineering design while illuminating its components, such as curriculum theme, content knowledge, learning activities, and teaching strategies. As an effective STEM teaching strategy relies on content integration, the focal point of this framework is the use of learning activities, such as “inquiry and experiment” and “design and making,” to integrate STEM content into lessons and help students develop core competencies through engineering design processes. This paper is meant to serve as a reference for technology and engineering educators to use when designing and implementing engineering-oriented STEM curricula, thereby providing a deeper learning experience of engineering design and STEM integration in secondary-school classrooms.

Collaborative problem-solving skills are one of the key competencies required in the twenty-first century. In this study, researchers attempted to compare the effectiveness of web-based collaborative problem-solving systems (wCPSS) and classroom-based collaborative hands-on learning activities (cCHLA) in the development of collaborative problem-solving skills in junior high school students who were learning science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)-related subjects. A quasi-experimental, nonequivalent pretest–post-test control group design was employed, and 241 junior high school students were invited to participate in the study. According to the results, a wCPSS-supported environment with teacher guidance was found to be more effective than either a wCPSS-supported environment without teacher guidance or a cCHLA-facilitated environment in developing students’ collaborative problem-solving skills in STEM fields. The study suggested that a web-based collaborative problem-solving system with teacher guidance can be used in developing junior high students’ collaborative problem-solving skills in STEM education.

Project-based learning (PBL) plays a critical role in fostering interdisciplinary integration within science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. However, its complexity often hinders students’ ability to apply knowledge and solve problems, particularly in environments that lack psychological and cognitive support. This study aims to address these challenges by constructing a STEM education model centered on PBL and examining the interactions among STEM psychological capital (SPC), problem-solving skills (PS), STEM cognition (SC), and STEM project-based learning performance (SP). In total, 230 seventh-grade students participated in a STEM project-based activity themed \"Internet of Things (IoT) Smart Energy-Saving House.\" Data were collected through questionnaires and performance assessments. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyze the interactions. By validating the interplay among psychological capital, cognition, and problem-solving abilities in STEM-PBL contexts, this study identifies the critical role of SPC, PS, and SC in enhancing students' SP outcomes and underscores the necessity of integrating psychological support and cognitive development into STEM curricula. Furthermore, the findings provide a novel framework for bridging the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application, offering valuable insights for future research and educational design.

BackgroundResearch on teaching and learning for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects has increased, and has demonstrated the importance of integrating interdisciplinary knowledge and skills. Our research model was based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the data were analyzed by partial least squares-structural equation modeling. The present study aims to identify factors that play an important role in students’ ability to integrate STEM knowledge and skills.ResultsData were collected from participants who had won awards in local contests and represented their regions in a national technology competition. The reliability and validity of our instrument, the Students’ STEM Integration Scale, were verified. The findings demonstrated that students’ intentions to integrate STEM knowledge and skills to solve complex problems can be predicted by their attitude and perceived behavioral control.ConclusionsThis work highlights factors which are associated with students’ intentions to integrate interdisciplinary knowledge and skills, and serves as a reference for research on the gap between intentions and actual behavior. The findings could help teachers and instructors design STEM-based activities to enhance students’ attitudes, perceived behavioral control, and intentions, to improve their ability to integrate STEM knowledge and skills.

This study used a person-centered approach to examine secondary STEM teachers’ beliefs and experiences in integrated STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education. It aimed to identify distinct profiles of teachers based on their self-efficacy and commitment as designers, implementers, and disseminators of STEM activities and explore how these profiles relate to teaching subjects and experience. A survey of 629 Taiwanese teachers was analyzed using latent profile analysis and multinomial logistic regression. Three groups emerged, representing low, moderate, and high self-efficacy and commitment. For the three identities, different trends in self-efficacy and commitment of the low- and high-level groups were found. Additionally, mathematics teachers were more likely to fall into the low self-efficacy group, and teachers without integrated STEM experience tended to have lower self-efficacy and commitment. The results highlight variations in STEM teachers’ identities and suggest the need for targeted professional development, particularly for mathematics educators.

Background A key research gap in current STEM education lies in the need for a more in-depth exploration of STEM teachers as curriculum designers, particularly in how they collaborate in designing STEM curricula and their roles within that process. This study selected two high-performing STEM teaching teams for investigation and employed a naturalistic approach along with a case study methodology to examine how STEM teachers collaborate to develop and implement STEM curricula in real teaching contexts. Results After 8 months of data collection and analysis, the main findings are as follows: (1) there are discrepancies between the tasks emphasized at each stage of the collaborative STEM curriculum model by high-performing STEM teaching teams and those outlined in theoretical models. In addition, the resources and drivers valued by these teams are not accounted for in the theoretical models. (2) Both high-performing STEM teaching teams faced several challenges during collaborative curriculum design and implementation, including difficulties with scheduling, limited time for lesson preparation, challenges in assessing higher-order thinking, and integrating team members. The main challenge faced by both schools was the absence of common meeting times for interdisciplinary collaboration. This highlights the need for strategic scheduling and institutional support to enable teacher collaboration in STEM education. (3) The three main roles within STEM teaching teams are leaders, core teachers, and participating teachers. However, in practice, core teachers and participating teachers often do not fulfill the responsibilities they are expected to undertake. This study also discusses potential research limitations and offers relevant suggestions for future research. Conclusions The study also identified a significant discrepancy between theory and practice. While the PADPIE model outlines a structured six-stage design stages, schools frequently skip or merge stages due to time and resource limitations. An inconsistency was noted in the enactment of teacher roles. While formal assignments such as leaders, core teachers, and participating teachers were established, many core and participating teachers often lacked clarity and initiative in their responsibilities. These findings highlight the need to bridge the gap between theoretical models and real-world implementation.

Both evaluating students’ design works and also understanding their cognition in the industrial design process are equally important for students’ learning. This study used the design activities and design competencies required by the industrial design process as items to develop an “Industrial Design Self-Efficacy and Anxiety Scale” that can be used to help teachers better understand students’ learning from a psychological perspective. In this study, 285 industrial-design college students were recruited and item analysis, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and reliability analysis were used to construct a scale with good reliability and validity. Analyses of the background variables revealed that (1) the self-efficacy of male students in model prototyping was significantly better than that of female students; (2) the level of anxiety regarding model prototyping was significantly higher among senior students than among freshmen students; (3) students scoring higher for self-evaluation also scored higher for self-efficacy in problem solving, information collecting, and model prototyping; and (4) students with abundant maker-space experience scored significantly higher for self-efficacy in problem solving, information collecting, and model prototyping than those with less experience. Finally, the practical use of the proposed scale is discussed.

BackgroundTeaching engineering at a high school level has been a subject of substantial concern during recent curriculum reforms. Many countries are increasingly including engineering-focused subjects in their technology curriculum guidelines. However, technology teachers face challenges regarding the optimal implementation of an engineering-focused curriculum. It is essential to understand technology teachers’ perceptions of and behavior in classroom practices when teaching an engineering-focused curriculum. To explore the factors influencing the effective implementation of the curriculum, this study aimed to explore the association between technology teachers’ perceptions regarding curriculum guidelines (i.e., perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and beliefs) and their behavioral intentions. In addition, this study explored how these perceptions change for teachers who participated in a professional development program (PDP) for teaching an engineering-focused curriculum compared with those who did not participate in the program (NoPDP).ResultsIn this study, structural equation modeling was used to investigate factors potentially influencing teachers’ behavioral intentions, including subjective norms and perceived behavioral control. The results showed that technology teachers’ behavioral intentions were influenced by their perceptions of the curriculum's usefulness. Subjective norms and perceived behavioral control were also significant determinants of behavioral intentions. Moreover, the results differed between the two groups. Perceived usefulness had direct and indirect effects on the behavioral intentions of the PDP and NoPDP groups, respectively.ConclusionsWe constructed a model of technology teachers’ behavioral intentions to implement an engineering-focused curriculum and identified factors influencing technology teachers’ behavioral intentions to implement an engineering-focused curriculum. Our conclusions are as follows: (1) the model was adequate for determining the factors influencing technology teachers’ behavioral intentions; (2) in the PDP group, perceived usefulness, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control were significantly associated with behavioral intentions; and (3) in the NoPDP group, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use were associated with behavioral intentions and self-reported behavior only via the mediating factor of beliefs. The above influencing factors should be taken into account when planning professional development programs for pre- and in-service teachers, as these programs will have implications regarding the successful implementation of an engineering-focused curriculum.

This study utilized the Theory of Planned Behavior as our basis, while considering important demographic variables such as gender and age, we constructed a comprehensive model of elementary school teachers’ behavioral intentions regarding web-based professional development. A survey was conducted among 359 elementary school teachers, and path analysis was used to construct a model of elementary school teachers’ behavioral intentions regarding web-based professional development. The following conclusions are made: (1) demographic variables (gender and age) had only indirect effects on teachers’ behavioral intentions regarding web-based professional development; age in particular had a negative impact on perceived behavioral control, which in turn negatively influenced such behavioral intentions; (2) the primary factor influencing elementary school teachers’ behavioral intentions in this regard was attitude, followed by perceived behavioral control. Based on the above conclusions, we propose specific suggestions for researchers, practitioners, administrators, and professional development specialists.