Teachers' conceptions about STEM and their practical knowledge for STEM teaching in Hong Kong.

Abstract

STEM education was officially introduced in Hong Kong in 2016 and now forms a mandatory part of the science curricula for secondary schools. This curriculum reform poses a great challenge to teachers who were educated to be discipline specialists. This chapter compared an experienced and a preservice secondary science teachers’ conceptions about STEM and their practical knowledge for STEM teaching using in-depth interviews. Our findings reveal that, although both the novice and experienced secondary school teachers appeared to hold similar conceptions of STEM education, detailed analysis of the nature and content of their knowledge for teaching STEM found differences in their conceptions. The findings shed light on possible targeted support on how to better prepare STEM-competent teachers.