Agriscience teachers’ perceptions of integrating science within plant science curricula after an immersive professional development program

Abstract Secondary education focused on building students' science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) literacy is crucial for maintaining the United States' innovation workforce. However, few studies have examined how immersive, content‐specific professional development (PD) has influenced STEM integration over time within School‐based agricultural education (SBAE). The purpose of this study was to examine how an immersive PD program contributed to changes in 15 agriscience teachers' intentions and instructional practices related to integrating science into the SBAE program over time. Guided by the Theory of Planned Behavior and a multiple‐time‐series design, this study utilized a modified version of the Integrating Agriscience Instrument to measure teachers' perceptions of illuminating science in their SBAE programs, including attitudes, preparation, support, recruitment impact, and barriers, as indicators of their behavioral intentions before, immediately after, and 1 year following participation in an immersive PD experience. Descriptive statistics revealed that immersive PD yielded immediate, positive changes in attitudes, preparation, support, recruitment impact, and barriers; however, many of these initial gains faded over time, as most constructs returned to pre‐experience levels 1 year post‐experience. Science teaching intentions and preparation to integrate science were notable exceptions, remaining elevated 1 year after the experience, with teachers also reporting greater science integration across their curricula. These findings support prior research suggesting that immersive PD experiences hold strong potential for advancing science integration in SBAE, and that pairing such experiences with sustained instructional coaching may be essential to translating immersive gains into lasting changes in classroom practice.