Perceptions of STEM by Secondary Agricultural Education Teachers in Pennsylvania
Open Access
- Author:
- Guise, Nicole R
- Area of Honors:
- Agricultural and Extension Education
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Daniel Douglas Foster, Thesis Supervisor
Daniel Douglas Foster, Thesis Honors Advisor
John Ewing, Faculty Reader - Keywords:
- STEM
self-efficacy
professional development
Agricultural Education - Abstract:
- Our education system has emphasized Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education as an important element of systematic educational outcomes. The purpose of the study was to determine what, if any, areas of STEM education were perceived by current Pennsylvania secondary Agricultural Education teachers as areas of shortcomings and identify professional development experience needs. A research study was conducted using an established survey instrument with the T-STEM survey from the Friday’s Institute for Education Innovation. The questionnaire was distributed to a census of Agricultural Education teachers in Pennsylvania (n=247) using the online survey platform, Qualtrics. Data was collected from 125 respondents. Data analysis revealed differences in confidence between educators based on age, gender, and years of teaching experience. Areas of perceived shortcomings in the STEM content areas by the respondents were science teaching and 21st century learning attitudes. It is recommended that professional development opportunities addressing the needs of science instruction and 21st century learning attitudes be developed for Pennsylvania Agricultural Education teachers with opportunity for continual assessment of perceived needs to be responsive in educator engagement in STEM areas.