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Abstract
Background / Objectives: Evaluate the current sta-
tus of STEAM education at various levels of schooling in
relation to teachers experience of STEAM teacher training.
Methods / Statistical analysis: Through online sur-
veys, 9970 teachers in Korea were surveyed concerning STEAM
education. The survey investigated the progress of STEAM
classes, frequency of classes, methods used, types of conver-
gence, subject matter and competency objectives of STEAM
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1 Introduction
According to the World Economic Forum in 2016, technology will
converge in many areas as it evolves. As a result, new disciplines are
expected to emerge and social, economic, and industrial worlds as
well as our everyday lives will take on new forms that the world has
not experienced before 1 . The problems that arise in this process of
change cannot be solved using existing knowledge alone, but solu-
tions can be approached through a fusion of knowledge in a complex
problem-solving process 2 . Therefore, education now aims to foster
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2 Methods
2.1 Procedure
In this study, the current status of the teacher’s training for STEAM
education was investigated. In addition, the difference of STEAM
teaching status according to the participation of the school level
or teacher ’s STEAM teacher training was analyzed, to derive a
plan for activation of STEAM education. For this study, an in-
strument was developed to investigate teachers’ experience with
STEAM education through a process of consultation between re-
searchers and subject-matter experts. The data were collected us-
ing this instrument and analyzed according to academic level of
schools and STEAM training experience of teachers, while also in-
vestigating STEAM education practices at schools.
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2.3 Participants
A total of 9,990 teachers participated in the survey. Four teach-
ers did not participate in all questionnaire modules, leaving 9,986
completed surveys. The characteristics of the teachers participat-
ing in the questionnaire are as follows: for gender, more women
(64.9%) than men (35.1%) were represented. The career experi-
ence of teachers was extremely varied, with the largest numbers of
respondents reporting the ends of the spectrum: either less than 5
years (25.7%), or more than 21 years (20.7%), with the remaining
teachers reporting either 1620 years (18.2%), 1115 years (18.1%), or
610 years (17.3%). In terms of the educational level of the teach-
ers, the overwhelming majority (64.7%) reported a bachelors de-
gree as the highest level obtained. A substantial minority (34.0%)
reported a masters degree, while the representation of doctoral de-
grees was negligible (1.3%). For the geographic variable, teach-
ers worked most often in the Gyeonggi area (28.6%), followed by
Gyeongnam (16.1 %), Daegu (12.2%), Jeonnam (11.4%) and Busan
(7.1%). Chungbuk (0.1%), Jeonbuk (0.1%), Jeju (0.1%), Gyeong-
buk (0.3%), and Seoul (0.9%) showed lower participation than other
regions, particularly Seoul which contains 40% of the national pop-
ulation.
Looking at the level of education taught, 55.4% of respondents
taught in elementary schools, more than middle schools (26.5%)
and high schools (18.0%) combined. For this variable, however, 16
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4 Conclusion
This study investigated the current status of STEAM education
in schools in Korea by measuring teacher participation in STEAM
training and their involvement in STEAM class offerings. The con-
clusions of this study are as follows. First, many STEAM teachers
had not received STEAM teacher training. In addition, a significant
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Therefore, the higher the level of schooling, the more forms of con-
vergence were employed that did not break down the boundaries
between the subjects.
Sixth, the themes pursued in STEAM classes differed according
to the level of schooling. Due to the Korean curriculum and dif-
ficulties with problem-solving in engineering and STEAM classes,
the themes of convergence changed from “community” in elemen-
tary schools to “global” in middle and high schools. Also, as the
academic level increased, “advanced science and technology” be-
came more prominent as a theme in STEAM education. The core
competencies sought showed a related pattern: community-related
competencies decreased at higher levels of schooling, while the pro-
portion of competences related to advanced science and technology
increased.
This study has shown that STEAM education differed in its op-
eration at different levels of schooling. In addition, teachers with-
out STEAM training tended to employ a more limited concept of
STEAM education than teachers with this experience. Therefore,
STEAM teacher training is needed to improve the understanding
and teaching expertise of STEAM education at every academic
level. In previous studies, teachers who received advanced STEAM
training also lacked an understanding of and had a negative percep-
tion of STEAM education. To improve STEAM teacher training, it
is necessary to analyze the needs of teachers in relation to the prac-
tical challenges they encounter. STEAM training that meets the
needs of teachers can help improve their teaching expertise while
providing information about STEAM education programs to be
used at the school site, while improving the efficacy of STEAM
teaching. A follow-up study should therefore be conducted to ana-
lyze the effects of STEAM teacher training and how it can be im-
proved. This training should be developed according to the needs
of different academic levels and applied within practical school con-
texts.
According to many previous studies, training for a STEAM cur-
riculum is not necessarily organized practically for STEAM educa-
tion. This study shows some effects of these difficulties, and in spite
of pressure to include these concepts at higher levels of schooling,
it is difficult to apply STEAM education in high school contexts.
Therefore, practically-oriented STEAM training will be required,
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