Empowering educators: A training for pre-service and in-service teachers on gender-sensitive STEM instruction
Sabine Hasenhütl 1 , Silke Luttenberger 2 , Daniel Macher 1 , Lars Eichen 3 , Marina Tanja Waltraud Eglmaier 4 , Manuela Paechter 1 *
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1 Department of Psychology, University of Graz, Graz, AUSTRIA2 Institute of Practical Education and Action Research, University College of Teacher Education Styria, Graz, AUSTRIA3 Department of Education Research and Teacher Education, University of Graz, Graz, AUSTRIA4 Division of Physiology, Otto Loewi Research Center, Medical University of Graz, Graz, AUSTRIA* Corresponding Author

Abstract

Starting early in life, children, especially girls, experience obstacles when it comes to developing interest in STEM. Although teachers face an important task in promoting girls (and boys) in STEM, they often encounter hurdles in doing so. A three-month-long training for pre- and in-service teachers in elementary education was developed to counter this phenomenon. An important training feature was teaching ideas for STEM classrooms. Teachers’ evaluation of the training and teaching ideas, changes in their self-concept, and elementary students’ assessment of the teaching ideas were investigated. Students rated the teaching ideas favorably, with no gender differences. Even though each idea incorporated relevant didactic features for gender-sensitive STEM instruction, the teachers rated certain ideas and contents more critically than others. Nevertheless, their assessments speak in favor of the training intervention, while also indicating gaps in teachers’ professional knowledge regarding gender-sensitive didactics. Implications for the design of STEM teacher education are outlined.

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed, 2024, Volume 20, Issue 6, Article No: em2452

https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/14590

Publication date: 01 Jun 2024

Online publication date: 07 May 2024

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