Preparation of stem teachers in the USA and Ukraine: comparative study of teachers training programs

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.35433/pedagogy.3(98).2019.60-68

Keywords:

STEM education, STEM teachers, STEM teachers training, STEM teachers training programs, STEM courses, STEM disciplines, STEM curriculum, higher education institution, USA, Ukraine.

Abstract

In the article a comparative analysis of STEM teachers training programs is conducted. In order to identify similarities and differences in the provision of educational services to future teachers of STEM disciplines in American and Ukrainian higher education institutions, an analysis of educational-professional programs of US and Ukrainian universities, hosted on the sites of designated education institutions is conducted. The results of a comparative analysis of STEM teachers training programs in the United States and Ukraine have shown that this area is a priority direction of the national educational policy in both countries. At the same time, significant differences were found in the provision of educational services to future STEM teachers, the main one being the absence of special teachers training programs in Ukrainian higher education institutions that would teach STEM disciplines in an integrated way, while in the United States for this purpose was created UTeach program, which allows students to gain knowledge on an integrated STEM course teaching methodology and to develop relevant competences. In Ukraine, future teachers may teach STEM subjects after obtaining a bachelor's/master's degree in one of STEM specialties (mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, etc.), while in the USA, a special STEM teachers training program provides only a bachelor's degree. Significant differences were found in the content of STEM teachers training programs, which lie, first and foremost, in the in-depth study of STEM courses and teaching methods in US higher education institutions as opposed to Ukrainian universities, where scientific-subject training takes up less than a third of time planned in the framework of the educational-professional program. Taking into account the above mentioned, the prospects for further research are seen in developing guidelines for modernization of the content of STEM teachers training programs based on an integrated approach, taking into account positive conceptual ideas of the American experience.

References

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