Examining the Impact of School Culture, Teacher Professional Learning, and Instructional Practices on Middle Grades Students' STEM Outcomes

Abstract

This dissertation examined effective STEM instructional strategies as well as the ways in which the four aspects of middle grades students’ STEM pipeline experiences are impacted by malleable school and classroom factors. Specifically, the dissertation included three studies that focused on determining: (a) STEM instructional interventions shown to be effective for middle grades students, (b) the impact of school factors on middle grades STEM teachers’ use of effective STEM practices, and (c) the impact of teachers’ perceptions on their use of effective STEM practices. Study predictors were mainly derived from the Contexts for Teachers’ Learning framework. Study one found that, on average, students involved in STEM interventions performed 0.424 standard deviations higher than students in the control group in experimental studies or prior to the intervention in pre/post studies. Study two found that building teachers’ professional capacity, as well as providing coherent instructional guidance, leadership opportunities, and adequate time and funding had statistically significant and positive impacts on teaching practice. Study three found that building teachers’ professional capacity and providing adequate time and/or funding resulted in statistically significant positive impacts on instructional practices. Finally, qualitative analysis of teachers’ responses in study three highlighted the importance of the availability of instructional technology, the importance of developing teachers’ professional capacity, and a potential need to differentiate professional learning efforts by years of teaching experience and STEM subject area.