{"id":{"repo_id":"brock","oai_identifier":"oai:brocku.scholaris.ca:10464/18380"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/brock/oai:brocku.scholaris.ca:10464/18380","repository":{"repo_id":"brock","name":"Brock University","base_url":"https://brocku.scholaris.ca/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Understanding Grade 4-8 Teachers’ Instructional Practices and Beliefs as a Function of Transdisciplinary Coaching in STEM-Language Literacy","abstract":"Changes in STEM education in Ontario have resulted in the need for teachers to have professional development and coaching support to introduce a cross-curricular, transdisciplinary instructional approach while honouring teachers’ knowledge, attitudes, and instructional methods. This study sought to introduce Grade 48 teachers to transdisciplinary STEM and language literacy through a five-session coaching partnership with the Principal Student Investigator. Participating teachers and students solved real-world problems using a transdisciplinary rather than typical single-subject instructional delivery. The study adopted a generic descriptive qualitative approach (Elliot & Timulak, 2021) to investigate Grade 48 teachers’ practices and beliefs. Four types of data—pre-questionnaires, interviews, researcher reflections, and fieldnotes—were coded to highlight recurring concepts and descriptive words and expressions. Three meaningful themes and sub-themes were identified to respond to the research question. Findings indicated that changes to teacher instructional practices were possible from starting with structured practices, shifting to inquiry-based, student-driven learning, seeing increasing student motivation and problem-solving and identifying the need for more coaching time. Teachers also saw the benefits of learning coding alongside students and how to implement cross-curricular assessment. Teacher beliefs varied with regards to conceptions of teaching language literacy in STEM; their initial apprehensions shifted to realizations, reservations about accountability related to transdisciplinary learning were expressed, and the positive outcomes of transdisciplinary learning impact on students was witnessed. A productive working relationship was established between the coach and teachers. The teachers expressed that the coach was flexible and open, met the teachers where they were at, listened to their needs, and adhered to the gradual release of responsibility to extend the teachers to their next level of instructional acumen. The study identified how teachers’ practices and beliefs might change when provided with coaching support through professional learning (PL) sessions focused on transdisciplinary approaches to STEM-Language Literacy education. Implications for practice include coaching support for teachers to evolve from single-subject teaching to adopting STEM-Language Literacy with the transdisciplinary approach. Implications for theory suggest that scaffolding teachers through the PL experience with STEM-Language Literacy is consistent with the experiential learning theory (Dewey, 1938).","abstract_html":"Changes in STEM education in Ontario have resulted in the need for teachers to have professional development and coaching support to introduce a cross-curricular, transdisciplinary instructional approach while honouring teachers’ knowledge, attitudes, and instructional methods. This study sought to introduce Grade 48 teachers to transdisciplinary STEM and language literacy through a five-session coaching partnership with the Principal Student Investigator. Participating teachers and students solved real-world problems using a transdisciplinary rather than typical single-subject instructional delivery. The study adopted a generic descriptive qualitative approach (Elliot & Timulak, 2021) to investigate Grade 48 teachers’ practices and beliefs. Four types of data—pre-questionnaires, interviews, researcher reflections, and fieldnotes—were coded to highlight recurring concepts and descriptive words and expressions. Three meaningful themes and sub-themes were identified to respond to the research question. Findings indicated that changes to teacher instructional practices were possible from starting with structured practices, shifting to inquiry-based, student-driven learning, seeing increasing student motivation and problem-solving and identifying the need for more coaching time. Teachers also saw the benefits of learning coding alongside students and how to implement cross-curricular assessment. Teacher beliefs varied with regards to conceptions of teaching language literacy in STEM; their initial apprehensions shifted to realizations, reservations about accountability related to transdisciplinary learning were expressed, and the positive outcomes of transdisciplinary learning impact on students was witnessed. A productive working relationship was established between the coach and teachers. The teachers expressed that the coach was flexible and open, met the teachers where they were at, listened to their needs, and adhered to the gradual release of responsibility to extend the teachers to their next level of instructional acumen. The study identified how teachers’ practices and beliefs might change when provided with coaching support through professional learning (PL) sessions focused on transdisciplinary approaches to STEM-Language Literacy education. Implications for practice include coaching support for teachers to evolve from single-subject teaching to adopting STEM-Language Literacy with the transdisciplinary approach. Implications for theory suggest that scaffolding teachers through the PL experience with STEM-Language Literacy is consistent with the experiential learning theory (Dewey, 1938).","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Poltl, Heidi-Ann"],"institution":"Brock University","degree_name":"Master of Education","degree_level":"Masters","degree_discipline":"Faculty of Education","degree_department":"Department of Graduate and Undergraduate Studies in Education","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2024,"date_issued":"2024-05-10T13:31:48Z","date_published":"2024-05-10T13:31:48Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:22:56Z","subjects":["STEM","transdisciplanary","teaching practices","teaching beliefs","language"],"languages":["eng"],"rights":["Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International"],"rights_urls":["http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/"],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/10464/18380","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Department of Graduate and Undergraduate Studies in Education"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Poltl, Heidi-Ann"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2024-05-10T13:31:48Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2024-05-10T13:31:48Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2024-05-10T13:31:48Z"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Electronic Thesis or Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Faculty of Education"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Masters"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Education"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["Brock University"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["STEM","transdisciplanary","teaching practices","teaching beliefs","language"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International"]},{"key":"dc:rights.uri","label":"Rights URI","values":["http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/10464/18380"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Changes in STEM education in Ontario have resulted in the need for teachers to have professional development and coaching support to introduce a cross-curricular, transdisciplinary instructional approach while honouring teachers’ knowledge, attitudes, and instructional methods. This study sought to introduce Grade 48 teachers to transdisciplinary STEM and language literacy through a five-session coaching partnership with the Principal Student Investigator. Participating teachers and students solved real-world problems using a transdisciplinary rather than typical single-subject instructional delivery. The study adopted a generic descriptive qualitative approach (Elliot & Timulak, 2021) to investigate Grade 48 teachers’ practices and beliefs. Four types of data—pre-questionnaires, interviews, researcher reflections, and fieldnotes—were coded to highlight recurring concepts and descriptive words and expressions. Three meaningful themes and sub-themes were identified to respond to the research question. Findings indicated that changes to teacher instructional practices were possible from starting with structured practices, shifting to inquiry-based, student-driven learning, seeing increasing student motivation and problem-solving and identifying the need for more coaching time. Teachers also saw the benefits of learning coding alongside students and how to implement cross-curricular assessment. Teacher beliefs varied with regards to conceptions of teaching language literacy in STEM; their initial apprehensions shifted to realizations, reservations about accountability related to transdisciplinary learning were expressed, and the positive outcomes of transdisciplinary learning impact on students was witnessed. A productive working relationship was established between the coach and teachers. The teachers expressed that the coach was flexible and open, met the teachers where they were at, listened to their needs, and adhered to the gradual release of responsibility to extend the teachers to their next level of instructional acumen. The study identified how teachers’ practices and beliefs might change when provided with coaching support through professional learning (PL) sessions focused on transdisciplinary approaches to STEM-Language Literacy education. Implications for practice include coaching support for teachers to evolve from single-subject teaching to adopting STEM-Language Literacy with the transdisciplinary approach. Implications for theory suggest that scaffolding teachers through the PL experience with STEM-Language Literacy is consistent with the experiential learning theory (Dewey, 1938)."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Understanding Grade 4-8 Teachers’ Instructional Practices and Beliefs as a Function of Transdisciplinary Coaching in STEM-Language Literacy"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.department":["Department of Graduate and Undergraduate Studies in Education"],"dc:creator":["Poltl, Heidi-Ann"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2024-05-10T13:31:48Z"],"dc:date.available":["2024-05-10T13:31:48Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2024-05-10T13:31:48Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Changes in STEM education in Ontario have resulted in the need for teachers to have professional development and coaching support to introduce a cross-curricular, transdisciplinary instructional approach while honouring teachers’ knowledge, attitudes, and instructional methods. This study sought to introduce Grade 48 teachers to transdisciplinary STEM and language literacy through a five-session coaching partnership with the Principal Student Investigator. Participating teachers and students solved real-world problems using a transdisciplinary rather than typical single-subject instructional delivery. The study adopted a generic descriptive qualitative approach (Elliot & Timulak, 2021) to investigate Grade 48 teachers’ practices and beliefs. Four types of data—pre-questionnaires, interviews, researcher reflections, and fieldnotes—were coded to highlight recurring concepts and descriptive words and expressions. Three meaningful themes and sub-themes were identified to respond to the research question. Findings indicated that changes to teacher instructional practices were possible from starting with structured practices, shifting to inquiry-based, student-driven learning, seeing increasing student motivation and problem-solving and identifying the need for more coaching time. Teachers also saw the benefits of learning coding alongside students and how to implement cross-curricular assessment. Teacher beliefs varied with regards to conceptions of teaching language literacy in STEM; their initial apprehensions shifted to realizations, reservations about accountability related to transdisciplinary learning were expressed, and the positive outcomes of transdisciplinary learning impact on students was witnessed. A productive working relationship was established between the coach and teachers. The teachers expressed that the coach was flexible and open, met the teachers where they were at, listened to their needs, and adhered to the gradual release of responsibility to extend the teachers to their next level of instructional acumen. The study identified how teachers’ practices and beliefs might change when provided with coaching support through professional learning (PL) sessions focused on transdisciplinary approaches to STEM-Language Literacy education. Implications for practice include coaching support for teachers to evolve from single-subject teaching to adopting STEM-Language Literacy with the transdisciplinary approach. Implications for theory suggest that scaffolding teachers through the PL experience with STEM-Language Literacy is consistent with the experiential learning theory (Dewey, 1938)."],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/10464/18380"],"dc:language.iso":["eng"],"dc:rights":["Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International"],"dc:rights.uri":["http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/"],"dc:subject":["STEM","transdisciplanary","teaching practices","teaching beliefs","language"],"dc:title":["Understanding Grade 4-8 Teachers’ Instructional Practices and Beliefs as a Function of Transdisciplinary Coaching in STEM-Language Literacy"],"dc:type":["Electronic Thesis or Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Faculty of Education"],"thesis:degree_level":["Masters"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Education"],"thesis:institution_name":["Brock University"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:22:56Z"}