IDENTIFYING THE PROBLEMS OF STEM AND STEAM TEACHING STRATEGIES AT THE SECONDARY SCHOOL LEVEL: A MIXED-METHODS STUDY FROM PAKISTAN

Abstract

The teaching and learning of science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) is an integral part of twenty first century education in secondary schools and it is important that this is implemented in a developing context, which is fraught with a number of challenges. The purpose of this study was to (1) determine the existing teaching strategies that secondary school teachers use to implement STEM/STEAM lessons and (2) determine the specific challenges or issues that secondary school teachers encounter in implementing the STEM/STEAM lessons. A descriptive, cross-sectional, mixed methods design was used. A proportionate stratified random sampling was used for collecting quantitative data, which comprised of 1099 teachers from seven administrative regions of Pakistan who participated in the STEAM Pakistan programme in secondary science and mathematics, and qualitative data were collected using semi-structured interviews of 43 teachers. The quantitative analysis showed that Project-Based Learning (M = 3.57) was heavily relied upon, and that there were significant gaps in Higher-Order Mental Modeling (M = 3.05). Rural–urban differences were significant for functional resource access (p < .01), with increased functional resources in the rural schools, and per-capita resource dilution due to overcrowding in urban schools. Qualitative data was analysed thematically and revealed 15 systemic barriers, most of which were related to lack of adequate funding, misaligned curricula, and lack of specialized training. The results suggest the need to close the gap between teachers' awareness and their implementation of authentic STEAM pedagogy and provide a theoretical foundation that is grounded in empirical evidence to map the barriers that obstruct the integration of STEM/STEAM in resource-poor secondary schools. This paper employs a mixed-methods approach, featuring a quantitative analysis of the quantitative survey data and a qualitative analysis of the qualitative questionnaire results.This paper adopts a mixed methods approach, which included quantitative analysis of the quantitative survey data and a qualitative analysis of the qualitative questionnaire data.