“We Don’t Know What We Don’t Know”: Improving the Quality of STEM Teaching in a British International School by Developing Teachers’ STEM Pedagogical Knowledge and STEM Instructional Practices

This research aimed at improving the quality of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teaching at a British international school in Brunei Darussalam. Evidence from a range of sources suggested that teachers at the school were not employing common STEM instructional practices when giving their pupils STEM problems to solve. The purpose of the two research questions was to identify how STEM lessons were being taught in Grades 2 to 7 in the school, and to measure the influence of STEM-related professional development sessions on teachers’ STEM pedagogical knowledge and STEM instructional practices. The researcher followed an eight-stage action-research cycle by identifying how STEM lessons were being taught by colleagues, implementing an intervention, and assessing the influence of the intervention on teachers’ STEM instructional practices. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected for both research questions. These data included an online survey, pre- and post-professional development interviews, pre- and post-professional development STEM lesson observations, and a pre- and post-professional development questionnaire. Findings from the first research questions included engineering being the least understood STEM subject, a lack of employment of several common STEM instructional practices, and a positive teacher disposition towards developing their understanding of STEM teaching. The findings from the second research question suggested the intervention had influenced teachers’ STEM pedagogical knowledge in three areas, which were the role of the teacher in STEM lessons, the teachers’ engineering pedagogical content knowledge, and the teachers’ use of common STEM instructional practices. As international schools may need to rely on in-house professional development for geographical, cost, or security reasons, these findings suggest teachers’ STEM pedagogical knowledge and STEM instructional practices may be enhanced through internal professional development.