Rationale
Integrated STEM education is widely recognised as an effective approach for developing students’ problem-solving, critical thinking, and innovation skills required for the twenty-first century (Honey, Pearson and Schweingruber, 2014; Bybee, 2013). In Jamaica, the National Standards Curriculum (NSC) promotes interdisciplinary and inquiry-based learning through an integrated STEM approach (Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, 2016). However, research indicates that many primary and secondary teachers experience difficulties implementing STEM instruction due to limited pedagogical knowledge and insufficient access to sustained professional development opportunities (Bramwell-Lalor, 2019; Hylton, 2022; Sweeney and George, 2024).
Although blended MOOCs have emerged as models for teacher professional development, limited empirical evidence exists regarding their effectiveness in enhancing teachers’ demonstrated competency in implementing integrated STEM teaching within the Jamaican primary education context (Margaryan, Bianco and Littlejohn, 2015).
This research proposes to design, implement, and evaluate a blended MOOC professional development programme intended to strengthen Jamaican primary school teachers’ competency in designing and implementing integrated STEM instruction aligned with the National Standards Curriculum. The study addresses three research questions:
- To what extent does participation in a blended STEM MOOC influence teachers’ competency in designing and implementing integrated STEM instruction?
- How does the design of the blended MOOC support teachers’ competency development?
- What challenges do teachers encounter when implementing integrated STEM instruction in their classrooms?
Methods
The study will employ a Design-Based Research (DBR) methodology within a mixed-methods research design to iteratively design, implement, and evaluate the intervention. Approximately 40–50 Jamaican primary school teachers teaching Grades 4–6 will be recruited using criterion-based purposive sampling through collaboration with the Ministry of Education and school principals. The study will be conducted over 12–15 months.
The intervention will be implemented in two complementary phases. The first phase will involve a six-month asynchronous MOOC focusing on inquiry-based STEM pedagogy and the engineering design process. During this phase, teachers will engage with course materials, discussion forums, and learning activities while applying integrated STEM strategies within their classrooms.
The second phase will involve a subgroup of teachers participating in direct classroom observations and semi-structured interviews to examine how they enact integrated STEM teaching in practice and to explore their experiences and challenges during implementation.
Quantitative data will be collected through pre- and post-intervention classroom observations using the Demonstrated Integrated STEM Competency Scale (DISC) and analysed using descriptive statistics and paired-samples t-tests to determine whether teachers’ competency scores significantly improve following the intervention. Qualitative interview data will be analysed using Braun and Clarke’s (2006) reflexive thematic analysis, while MOOC participation analytics and classroom observation data will be triangulated to enhance credibility and validity of the findings.
Expected Results
The study is expected to demonstrate that participation in a blended MOOC professional development programme can improve teachers’ competency in designing and implementing integrated STEM instruction. The findings are anticipated to show how asynchronous online learning combined with classroom practice and feedback can support meaningful teacher professional development. The research is also expected to identify contextual challenges teachers encounter when implementing integrated STEM approaches and highlight key design features that support competency development.
Dissemination
Findings will be disseminated through conference presentations, including professional development forums hosted by the Jamaica Teachers’ Association, as well as presentations to the Ministry of Education and academic publications.
Conclusions
This research is expected to contribute to the growing body of knowledge on blended MOOC-based teacher professional development by providing empirical evidence from the Jamaican primary education context. It will also generate design principles for scalable and sustainable STEM teacher professional development programmes, supporting national curriculum reform and strengthening teachers’ capacity to implement integrated STEM instruction
References
Braun, V. and Clarke, V. (2006) ‘Using thematic analysis in psychology’, Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), pp. 77–101. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa.
Bybee, R.W. (2013). The case for STEM education: challenges and opportunities. Arlington, VA: NSTA Press.
Honey, M., Pearson, G., and Schweingruber, H. (eds.) (2014) STEM integration in K-12 education: status, prospects, and an agenda for research. Washington, DC: National Academies Press. Available at: https://doi.org/10.17226/18612.
Hylton, K. (2022) ‘STEM education in Jamaica: a case of practitioners’, International Studies in Educational Administration, 50(2), pp. 46–59.
Margaryan, A., Bianco, M. and Littlejohn, A. (2015) ‘Instructional quality of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)’, Computers & Education, 80, pp. 77–83.
Ministry of Education, Youth and Information (no date) National Standards Curriculum (NSC). Available at: Ministry of Education and Youth website. Accessed: 16 March 2026.
Sweeney, A.E. and George, L. (2024) ‘STEM education in the Caribbean: challenges, goals, and possibilities’, Caribbean Journal of Education and Development, 1(1), pp. 103–110. Available at: https://doi.org/10.46425/cjed110101919