Browsing by Author "Milbourne, Jeffrey D."
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Item Divining the professional development experiences of K-12 STEM master teacher leaders in the United States(2022) Hite, Rebecca L. (TTU); Milbourne, Jeffrey D.Despite a need for strong K-12 STEM education globally, professional development systems for STEM teachers in the United States lack coherence or sequenced experiences to recruit, develop, and retain master teachers and teacher leaders in STEM. Still, the United States produces erudite STEM master teachers and effective STEM teacher leaders, which asks the question to how, where, and when these teachers sought out opportunities to develop their teaching competencies and hone their leadership skills to become STEM master teacher leaders. Using an interpretive phenomenological approach, framed by master teacher leadership development, this study examined the lived experience of 10 nationally recognised STEM teacher leaders: Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching awardees and/or alumni of the Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellowship Program. Participants provided detailed accounts, identifying and scrutinising key experiences in their teaching career that led them to national recognition as an STEM master teacher leader. Five themes emerged from the interpretive phenomenological analysis: the importance of school culture and STEM community, access to professional networks/opportunities, motivation, luck, and reinforcing beliefs. These themes, aligned with international exemplars of teacher professional development pathways, suggest areas of improvement for STEM master teacher leadership within the United States.Item Stand out and speak up: exploring empowerment perspectives among advocacy activities of STEM teachers in the US(2023) Velasco, Richard Carlos L.; Hite, Rebecca L. (TTU); Milbourne, Jeffrey D.; Gottlieb, Jessica J. (TTU)Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teachers need sources of empowerment to effectively guide education policy and continue to participate in advocacy-based activities. This study surveyed 208 STEM teachers on their acts of advocacy to advance STEM education. The question that guided this research was as follows: What are the underlying factors that contribute to STEM teachers’ advocacy activities in effecting change to STEM education policies? An exploratory factor analysis was conducted to determine underlying factors contributing to STEM teachers’ engagement in advocacy activities via the theoretical lens of empowerment. The findings revealed four factors that empowered their advocacy work: critical confrontations, political awareness, communicative voice, and policymaker influence. The data suggest that as sampled STEM teachers developed a critical consciousness, they were empowered to engage in critical conversations on issues of social justice, such as galvanizing efforts to make STEM education accessible to all students and equitable for diverse learners.