Advocacy of STEM curricular approaches is based on a concern to engage students in authentic disciplinary and interdisciplinary practices in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) disciplines, and the need to promote participation in STEM pathways. The "STEM Academy" professional learning program was developed to…

Mathematics teachers' identities profoundly influence how they interact with and position their students to learn mathematics. In this paper, we examine how a year-long teacher learning intervention supportive of student engagement in mathematics helped shift teachers' mathematics-related identities. We use an implied identity perspective as a…

The four papers presented in this symposium report on the evaluation strategies and feedback from teachers as they embarked on designing and implementing STEM approaches to learning in secondary school contexts. The STEM professional learning program was designed to provide time and expert support so that cross-disciplinary school teams of up to…

Using growth modeling, this study examined trajectories of 'switching on' (aspirations) and 'switching off' (disengagement) in mathematics across middle school and high school. In addition, guided by principles under expectancy-value theory, the study sought to determine the extent to which patterns of growth differed by motivation (self-efficacy…

We started with a classic research question ("How do teachers motivate and engage middle year students in mathematics?") that is solidly underpinned and guided by an integration of two theoretical and multidimensional models. In particular, the current study illustrates how theory is important for guiding qualitative analytical…

This study explored the beliefs about student engagement in mathematics of three Year 5 and 6 teachers, focusing on the shifts that occurred during a 10-week intervention. Data obtained from teacher surveys, interviews, video-recorded workshop observations and artefacts from teachers' classrooms reveal variations in their reactions to the…

What teachers' think about student engagement influences the teaching practices they adopt, their responses to students and the efforts they make in the classroom. Interviews were conducted with 31 mathematics teachers from ten high schools to investigate their perceptions and beliefs about student engagement in mathematics. Teachers also reported…