STEM Educators: What Do They Believe about Teaching Their Students?

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) is a frequently discussed subject, as are the students who study it. Not so frequently discussed are the educators that teach and interact with students daily. A great deal of research has been done on the characteristics of STEM students, including who they are, how they learn, and the need to increase the numbers of underrepresented populations. Literature on STEM educators, either by discipline or in general, is not widely available. This is an issue as evidence exists that there is a relationship between an educator's personal beliefs and instructional strategies, which has a direct effect on students. A thorough understanding of STEM educators' beliefs will lead to a better picture of how STEM students around the country are taught. A survey was developed that includes several open-ended questions intended to further our understanding regarding individual STEM educators' thoughts and beliefs about their students. The survey reached predominantly male educators nearing retirement age who were teaching technology or engineering undergraduates. Of all respondents, educators surveyed received their terminal degree evenly over a time span of 35 years. Word frequency methods often found in a content analysis were used to bring clarity to survey responses. The result of these analyses indicated that many STEM educators believe their students are unique with respect to STEM overall. About half of these educators believe that different STEM majors can be taught similarly, while the other half did not agree or did not respond. This work presents information concerning respondents' thoughts about STEM students and teaching STEM disciplines.