Abstract:

Technology and engineering fields have exploded in recent years, with job projections in industries such as machine learning, quantum computing, and robotics outnumbering the future potential workforce. Students in the United States are largely unprepared to meet the needs of this skyrocketing labor market, especially as the education system struggles to keep up with technological innovation and skills. Even as national priorities in the U.S. place emphasis on research and development in computer science and engineering, pre-college teachers and teacher educators are lacking the materials, resources, and support necessary to align their instruction with these. Even so, several individual statewide initiatives include funding for teacher professional learning, resources, and credentials that improve pre-college teachers' knowledge of and pedagogical content knowledge in computing and technology education. For instance, New York State, where this study is situated, allocated $6 million for teacher professional learning in computer science and engineering education from 2021-2025.

Our research team led professional learning for more than 200 educators in a14-session computer science and engineering education program, the STEM Ambassadorship. The STEM Ambassadorship engaged educators in collaborative, vertically articulated activities that pushed them to integrate computer science and engineering into their areas of expertise, including elementary general education, specific content areas (e.g., math or music), special education, speech and language services, multilingual classrooms, and psychological services. Our participation as facilitators of the STEM Ambassadorship gained us insight into educators’ experiences in the program and some of their activities after completing the program. As a result, we analyzed interview, survey, and lesson plan artifact data to explore 23 educators’ perspectives during and after the STEM Ambassadorship.

In a comparative case study, we borrowed from distributed leadership, self and collective efficacy, and school improvement conceptual framing to ask:
1) How did K-8th-grade (students aged 5-14 years old) teachers perceive STEM leadership after completing a 14-session STEM Ambassadorship?
2) How did they perceive school improvement in terms of access to computer science and engineering education during and after completion of the program?

Preliminary findings suggest that:
1) The STEM Ambassadorship afforded educators a network of support in computer science and engineering education. The vertically articulated, cohort model was reinforced after program completion through educators’ collective efficacy;
2) Similarly, educators leveraged the STEM Ambassadorship network to justify or initiate school improvement toward increased computer science and engineering education access and resources;
3) Prolonged engagement in the STEM Ambassadorship program supported educators’ identities as STEM leaders in their districts.

However, their perceived leadership identities were challenged as technology and engineering quickly evolved. These findings have implications for teacher educators and professional learning providers, state-level policy makers, school leaders, and classroom educators interested in computer science and engineering education and workforce development.

Keywords:

STEM teacher leadership, school change, computer science, engineering.