ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHERS' PERCEPTIONS OF STEAM EDUCATION: A QUALITATIVE CASE STUDY OF SUKKUR, PAKISTAN

Abstract

STEAM is a transformative pedagogical approach that fosters students’ higher-order thinking skills to meet the demands of the 21st-century and global workforce. However, limited research has explored the teachers' perceptions of STEAM in low-resource contexts. This qualitative exploratory case study examined elementary teachers’ perceptions of the STEAM integration. Seven elementary teachers were purposively selected, and semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect personal, in-depth, and context-rich data. Results revealed that teachers have positive perceptions of STEAM and that it improves students' conceptual understanding, PBL, critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration skills. However, barriers like a lack of resources, proper context, and subject-specific PD, as well as structural barriers, hinder STEAM integration. To overcome those challenges, teachers revealed strategies that include STEAM PD, provision of resources, structural transformation, i.e., allocating proper STEAM classes, and teachers’ collaboration on STEAM activities. This study contributes to research on context-specific STEAM and highlights the need for contextual PD and structural transformation in low-resource settings. This study is recommended to stakeholders for funds allocation to schools, policymakers to transform the curriculum with project-based assessment and integrate activities in the curriculum, and teachers to collaborate on projects and cross-subject topics.