Developing student agency through authentic application of socioscientific issues in STEM classrooms

This study explores the experiences of STEM teachers who participated in professional development (PD) workshops focused on supporting the use of a socioscientific issues (SSI)/socioTransformative constructivism (sTc) framework as an avenue to incorporate SSI into lessons and empower students to become agents of change outside the classroom. The following research question guided this study: In what ways, if any, do participant teachers foster authentic, active engagement and student agency in their STEM classroom following participation in an SSI focused professional development program? Thematic analysis was used to identify, analyze, and interpret the data. The findings demonstrate that teachers were successful in providing students with authentic learning opportunities in which students developed a sense of agency by moving beyond traditional STEM content, moving beyond the classroom walls, and moving inward within the school. Understanding the ways in which teachers engage students in authentic learning and foster student agency within an SSI unit of study has implications for scholars and researchers who provide PD to teachers.