UNDERSTANDING HURDLES TO STEM SUCCESS IN REGIONAL CAREER TECHNICAL CENTERS

Abstract

Despite the growing emphasis on integrated STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education in K-12 settings, little research has examined how teachers within Career and Technical Education (CTE) contexts perceive and implement integrated STEM education. This qualitative case study investigates the perceptions and experiences of five STEM pathway teachers at four metro area Regional Career Technical Centers (CareerTechs) in Oklahoma. Grounded in Dewey's theory of experiential education and Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory, this study examines how CareerTech STEM pathway teachers understand integrated STEM education, perceive their own content knowledge and instructional capacity, and identify the barriers and supports for implementation. Data was collected through a demographic survey and semi-structured interviews and analyzed using an inductive approach. Findings reveal that participants held a shared vision of integrated STEM education as rigorous, experiential, and collaboratively enacted. Participants consistently rejected superficial or standardized approaches. Teachers' confidence in STEM content knowledge was grounded primarily in technical and professional experience rather than formal preparation, and all participants demonstrated awareness of uneven confidence across STEM domains. Teachers felt capable of providing integrated STEM education when instruction emphasized inquiry-based, hands-on real-world tasks, and CareerTechs’ institutional infrastructure. Recommendations focused on sustained funding, reduced lab class sizes, expanded work-based learning access, content-rich professional development, and mechanisms to elevate teacher voice in governance.