Agency and authorship in project-based STEM: A cultural historical activity theory perspective

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I plan to conduct a mixed methods study to explore beliefs about and practices of STEM integration through project work among secondary school science, maths, ICT/computing and design technology teachers in England. Through a combination of cross-sectional surveys and individual case studies, I hope to identify how teachers' epistemological and pedagogical beliefs about STEM are formed and how they differ between subject specialists. I will then examine teachers' actual practices of STEM integration with particular emphasis on any mismatches between belief and practice. Using the sociocultural model of embedded belief systems as a framework, I will examine the features of the school culture and wider environment that inform these beliefs and practices. It is hoped that this research will contribute to the national and international debate around the purposes and nature of STEM education as well as inform the planning of effective CPD to enable teachers to understand and explore their own beliefs and practices. I will not be undertaking any overseas fieldwork or difficult language training.