<p dir="ltr">An understanding of the complex interplay between student learning and teacher aptitude with novel instructional approaches is vital to effective application of instructional design principles, practices, and application. This dissertation uses three separate research articles to triangulate integrated STEM instructional design promising practices. The guiding questions behind this effort are 1) what instructional design constraints are associated with creation/implementation of integrated STEM instructional approaches, and 2) how can integrated STEM educative technology be leveraged to address technology literacy issues within siloed STEM education and career fields. Exploration into these questions included conducting research into the impact of incorporating novel technology learning activities to enhance pre-service elementary teacher competence and self-efficacy while reducing science activity facilitation anxiety. This mixed-methods study indicates that novel learning activities have a limited effect on improving pre-service teacher self-efficacy, confidence, and competence. However, they do provide important commentary on the likelihood of adoption into future classrooms. When combining all four STEM subjects in a K-12 setting, a thoughtful planning process and formative instructional approach can promote successful integration of STEM disciplines and promote adoption by in-service K-12 teachers. A mixed-methods case study found that application of an instructional approach usability scale provides a standard of instructional design (ID) promising practice regarding curriculum design, development, and implementation for integrated STEM ID projects. Finally, perceptions and experiences with curriculum integrating all four STEM disciplines over 16 weeks were used to inform integrated STEM design decisions promoting teacher/student competency. Here, research found purposeful integration of math and engineering objectives with science content assisted students in making connections across STEM disciplines. The research described in this thesis demonstrates that all students undergo uniquely personal learning experiences. Moreover, it was discovered that teacher perceptions of instruction approach usability provides an instructional designer with critical information about accessibility of instructional approach, curriculum content, and organization as well as proposed teacher’s role in the learning process. Furthermore, instructional designers working on integrated STEM ID projects should be cognizant of STEM practices, thinking, communication, technology, and tools. Thus, a framework is proposed for monitoring STEM practices, thinking, and communication across resulting integrated STEM curriculum.</p>

<p>The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS Lead States, 2013) promote a new vision of K-12 science education that emphasizes the importance of integrating engineering practices into science education. Recent engineering studies have highlighted design approaches that focus on designers’ empathy, such as human-centered design (Hess & Fila, 2016a; Kouprie & Visser, 2009; Walther et al., 2017). Empathic engineering design approaches can help students understand how engineers understand various users’ contexts and develop effective design solutions. Furthermore, empathy is a key element in cross-cultural education (Gay, 2002; Webb et al., 2012) because it can help teachers create positive interactions with diverse students (Arghode et al., 2013; Warren, 2014). Empathy is an important attribute highlighted in both engineering and cross-cultural education. Therefore, it is necessary for teachers to comprehend and integrate the principles of Human-Centered Design (HCD) approaches to provide more authentic and holistic engineering education. </p> <p>This study explored elementary preservice teachers’ competence in planning and implementing an empathic engineering design lesson plan in cross-cultural STEM education by applying a module. The module consisted of a researcher-developed elementary science methods unit on designing empathic integrated STEM instruction. Using a convergent mixed methods design (Creswell & Clark, 2018) and 16 participants, this study investigated preservice teachers’ understanding of empathic integrated STEM instruction before and after the module. This study utilized the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (Davis, 1983) to examine preservice teachers’ levels of empathy and the Teaching Engineering Self-Efficacy Scale (Yoon et al., 2014) to measure their self-efficacy. For qualitative data, reflection papers, empathic design lesson plans, and interview transcripts were collected. Thematic analysis (Braun & Clark, 2006) was employed to identify patterns and relationships within the data.</p> <p>The analysis of a paired samples t-test and a related-samples Wilcoxon signed-rank test showed a significant difference between the means of preservice teachers’ self-efficacy scores before and after the module. However, there was no significant difference in the means of their empathy scores. According to qualitative data analysis, preservice teachers understood the role of empathy in both engineering and cross-cultural education. The module enhanced preservice teachers’ pedagogical strategies regarding empathic techniques and culturally and socially responsive pedagogies. Preservice teachers also discovered the benefits of empathic integrated STEM instruction including broadening one’s perspectives, understanding the value of inclusive designs, and enhancing students’ 21st century skills. After experiencing the module, they felt confident in integrating empathic integrated STEM instruction and recognizing potential challenges of implementation. The study findings show that empathic integrated STEM instruction can be a way to support preservice teachers’ understanding of engineering pedagogical strategies, culturally responsive pedagogy, and the features of integrated STEM instruction. </p>