Teacher competencies for digital transformation in STEM teaching

Explainer videos and augmented reality (AR) applications are already available for the teaching of STEM subjects. But do they conform to the tried and tested principles of subject-specific education? To answer this question, we will ask independent experts to evaluate digital teaching materials according to criteria established by research. On this basis, we will examine the professional skills of prospective and experienced secondary school teachers in dealing with these digital resources. In doing so, we wish to assess whether teachers are able to recognize, assimilate and take into consideration the potential and challenges of these media.

If students are to benefit from digital transformation, teachers must use digital media in their lessons in such a way as to optimally support the learning process. How this can be achieved is explained by the so-called TPACK model, according to which the education of teachers must go beyond general skills, such as the ability to handle technology. We will use this model as well as the professional vision concept, which includes noticing and knowledge-based reasoning, to investigate the use of videos and AR.

We hope to gain insights into the quality of digital learning resources, especially those that are publicly available. In addition, we plan to identify the digital media skills of experienced and prospective teachers. How do these skills depend on prior knowledge of the subject matter and subject-specific education, on the attitude towards the use of technology, and learning opportunities in teacher training? And finally, we want to find out how the various sub-skills are interrelated.

The findings of our project should contribute to the future development of teacher training curricula in the area of STEM subjects for the digital transformation. We hope to identify the challenges related to the use of digital educational resources and to develop concrete suggestions for the improvement of teacher training. We intend to determine which skills call for special training and how to adapt learning programmes to the characteristics of specific groups of students.

Teacher competencies for digital transformation in STEM teaching: Technological pedagogical content knowledge for the use of digital learning resources such as educational YouTube videos and augmented reality applications