Bridging and brokering across communities of practice: A STEM coach’s role in helping teachers access expertise

Michael Giamellaro; Deborah Siegel

doi:10.29333/ejmste/12966

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Michael Giamellaro ¹ ^* , Deborah Siegel ¹

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¹ Oregon State University-Cascades, Bend, OR, USA^* Corresponding Author

Abstract

STEM education aspires toward integrated and contextualized instruction, both difficult goals for teachers. Expertise from within and outside the school are resources for helping teachers access content knowledge and practices in their classrooms. In this project, a STEM coach supported teachers to integrate and contextualize STEM instruction. Connectivity between teachers, outside experts, and other resources indicated opportunities for curricular integration and contextualization and was measured through social network analysis and analysis of teacher journals and interviews. The coach dramatically increased connectivity in the district through bridging and brokering relationships, maintaining a global vision for the district’s STEM initiative, and navigating interpersonal relationships. Teachers utilized the connectivity to expertise to enhance STEM curriculum. Having a central actor (coach) allowed for rapid and widespread advancement of the STEM initiative.

Keywords

STEM coach
social network analysis
school reform
contextualization
integrated curriculum
community of practice

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed, Volume 19, Issue 3, March 2023, Article No: em2232

https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/12966

Publication date: 01 Mar 2023

Online publication date: 17 Feb 2023

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How to cite this article

APA

Giamellaro, M., & Siegel, D. (2023). Bridging and brokering across communities of practice: A STEM coach’s role in helping teachers access expertise. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 19(3), em2232. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/12966

Vancouver

Giamellaro M, Siegel D. Bridging and brokering across communities of practice: A STEM coach’s role in helping teachers access expertise. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2023;19(3):em2232. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/12966

AMA

Giamellaro M, Siegel D. Bridging and brokering across communities of practice: A STEM coach’s role in helping teachers access expertise. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2023;19(3), em2232. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/12966

Chicago

Giamellaro, Michael, and Deborah Siegel. "Bridging and brokering across communities of practice: A STEM coach’s role in helping teachers access expertise". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education 2023 19 no. 3 (2023): em2232. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/12966

Harvard

Giamellaro, M., and Siegel, D. (2023). Bridging and brokering across communities of practice: A STEM coach’s role in helping teachers access expertise. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 19(3), em2232. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/12966

MLA

Giamellaro, Michael et al. "Bridging and brokering across communities of practice: A STEM coach’s role in helping teachers access expertise". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, vol. 19, no. 3, 2023, em2232. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/12966