E. J. Bahng

This chapter presents a case study of the redesign of Toying with Technology, an interdisciplinary course integrating computational thinking, engineering design, and community-responsive STEAM learning for elementary teacher candidates. Guided by culturally relevant and sustaining pedagogy, Communities of Practice, and Critical Friends, the course positioned community partners as co-contributors of knowledge. Data included candidate reflections and artifacts, course materials, observations, and partner documentation. Findings show a shift from learning about technology to designing with technology in community settings. Coding and robotics were more readily integrated than math or science concepts in hands-on activities. Candidate-created lessons and resources were later adapted and reused by community partners. The case demonstrates how community partnerships and collaborative design can support community-responsive STEAM learning and potentially contribute to early foundations for STEM workforce pathways.

Despite growing curricular emphasis on computational thinking (CT) and engineering design practice (EDP), preparing elementary teacher candidates (ETCs) for integrated, practice-based instruction remains challenging. Grounded in Communities of Practice (CoP) and design-based implementation research (DBIR) frameworks, this study examines how ETCs (pre-survey: n = 23, post-survey: n = 13) develop learning-to-teach practices for integrating coding and robotics into PreK–5 STEAM learning (STEM with Arts integration) to foster these competencies. The study is situated within an interdisciplinary, community-partnered course, Toying with Technology (TwT), where ETCs collaborate in Critical Friends teams to design, facilitate, and reflect on community partners’ need-oriented, empathy-centered STEAM experiences. Utilizing PreK–5 learning technologies and field-based insights from STEM/STEAM professionals, ETCs developed 5E lesson plans integrating science, literacy, mathematics, and robotics, culminating in both an in-person and a virtual STEAM Family Night. Data sources include pre- and post-surveys measuring ETCs’ technology integration perceptions, post-field exit tickets, family feedback, community partner reflections, and course artifacts. Pre-survey results indicated limited prior experience and neutral confidence regarding technology integration. In contrary, post-survey findings demonstrated significant increases in self-reported confidence, conceptual understanding of CT and EDP, and readiness to facilitate empathy-centered, technology-rich learning. Qualitative analysis further revealed growth in collaboration, problem-solving, and pedagogical reasoning, while parent and partner feedback highlighted high levels of engagement and increased STEAM interest. Overall, this study provides initial empirical evidence, within a community-partnered, empathy-oriented course design, showing how community-engaged teacher education, informed by CoP and DBIR frameworks, prepares ETCs to teach CT, EDP, and critical problem-solving through integrated, authentic STEAM integration.

One potential application for increasingly capable virtual reality and humanoid robots is enhancing classroom engagement, problem-solving, and social-emotional learning. To evaluate future educators’ readiness to implement these technologies, 25 future elementary teachers were surveyed on their attitudes towards robots, generalized self-efficacy, social and emotional learning competencies, and attitudes towards virtual reality and robots in education. Results indicate ambivalent personal level attitudes towards robots and negative societal level attitudes toward robots. Respondents rated their competencies highly, but their attitudes towards VR and robots in the classroom suggest that while they see potential in these technologies, they do not feel adequately informed or prepared to implement them or see robots as empathetic. Future teachers do not feel an immediate need for these technologies and would require appropriate training and support. Future work should explore specific uses of these technologies, their effects on classrooms, and the nature of support teachers would need.

Assessment is a foundational element of effective teaching and learning, serving as both a tool for instructional improvement and a measure of educational quality (Harlen, 2010; Scriven, 1991). Amo...

Science, especially physics, is considered pivotal in strengthening the future STEM workforce and economic growth. The critical roles that physics plays within

This chapter presents a science methods course project, “Authoring Children's Science Stories,” in a K-5 teacher preparation program. The project integrates Western scientific knowledge with Indigenous ecological wisdom to address environmental challenges. Teacher candidates read The Three Sisters from Robin Wall Kimmerer's Braiding Sweetgrass and create original children's science books inspired by its themes. These books, published as Open Educational Resources (OER), reflect candidates' growing ecological awareness and storytelling skills. The chapter highlights how this creative process helps future teachers unpack personal worldviews, craft compelling narratives, and develop communication skills, ultimately fostering an ecological worldview centered on sustainability and interconnectedness.

This study explores the navigation behaviors and learning experiences of six undergraduate and graduate students interacting with a 360-degree cued virtual classroom embedded within the learning management system canvas. Grounded in the cognitive theory of multimedia learning and signaling principles, the study employed a case study design. Data were collected through screen recordings, post-navigation surveys, and interviews. Findings revealed that learners predominantly engaged with front-facing cues, often missing those located in peripheral directions due to a lack of spatial navigation awareness. Prior experience with virtual reality (VR) and the type of instructional guidance influenced navigation effectiveness. While participants responded positively to the immersive format, several required additional training to fully explore the virtual environment. The study contributes to research on desktopbased VR integration in authentic online classroom contexts and offers practical insights for instructional designers developing 360-degree learning tools.

This study explored online mentoring dialogues of first-year science teachers (FYSTs) to construct a model that was informed by metaphors in teaching dilemmas. Nine teachers’ yearlong threaded dialogues were archived and first analyzed by Windschitl’s (2002) four dilemma categories, and later by Lakoff and Johnson’s (2003) conceptual metaphor theory. Particularly, we charted conceptual metaphor systems and schematic elements of FYSTs’ teaching practices in conceptual, pedagogical, cultural, and political dilemma categories using computer-mediated discourse analysis. Findings indicated that the FYSTs’ mentoring dialogues were predominantly pedagogical dilemmas (64.34%), mostly related to mastering the art of facilitation. The conceptual metaphors and schematic elements include a) “Teaching is a trip” within a path schema, b) “Teaching is a race” within an up-down and more-less visual field schema, c) “Teaching is policing” within a sanctioned land schema, and d) “Teaching is building a house” within a construction site schema. This study contributes to the understanding of challenging factors that FYSTs encounter and also illustrates the functionality of the conceptual metaphors for teacher effectiveness.

Mobile tools are integrated into teacher education settings to provide contextualized, connected, and collaborative teacher learning practices. In this case study, the video-enhanced observation (VEO) app was used in a science methods course to facilitate preservice teachers’ reciprocal peer-teaching of inquiry-based lesson study. This research examined preservice teachers’ perceptions on the challenges and affordances of using video enhanced mobile observation with peer-teaching feedback. Results from the technology acceptance model (TAM) revealed moderate levels of perceived ease of use, usefulness, and intention to use the VEO app. Further analysis of the open-ended questions and semi-structured interviews revealed self-reflection, feedback, and inquiry-based teaching support as emerging themes for the app integration. This research offers recommendations for implementing video enhanced mobile observation as a promising formative and performative-based assessment strategy within peer-feedback contexts in teacher education programs.