Impact of Digitalization-related STEM In-Service Teacher Trainings in Cooperation with Out-of-School Student Labs on Teachers' Professional Knowledge, Self-Efficacy and Technology Commitment

Anna Reher^1*Mathias Ziegler^2*Eva Blumberg³Mahdi El Tegani⁴Tim Kirchhoff⁵Colin Peperkorn⁴Kerstin Röllke⁵Stefanie Schwedler⁶Lisa Stinken-Rösner²Janne Lene Wassing⁷

• ¹Faculty of Mathematics, Institute for Didactics of Mathematics (IDM), Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
• ²Faculty of Physics, Physics Education, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
• ³Faculty of Science, Department of Physics, Paderborn University, Paderborn, Germany
• ⁴Faculty of Biology, Biology Didactics - Giftedness and Talent Research, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
• ⁵Faculty of Biology, Didactics of Biology, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
• ⁶Faculty of Chemistry, Chemistry Education, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
• ⁷Faculty of Biology, Primary Science Education, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany

Increasing digitalization in school expands teachers' options to design learning arrangements, but also creates demand to promote digitalization-related skills in STEM disciplines. Given this growing demand, universities are being asked to participate in the design and evaluation of evidence-based in-service teacher trainings. University-based out-of-school student labs have already demonstrated capacity to develop innovative offerings related to domain-specific digital technologies. Their incorporation into pre-service teacher trainings has yielded favorable outcomes. Consequently, there is potential to incorporate them into in-service teacher training. Research is needed regarding the impact of such trainings at different levels, particularly with respect to teachers' professional knowledge and beliefs. In this study, eight different in-service teacher trainings covering various STEM disciplines were designed in cooperation with out-of-school student labs to promote the use of subject-specific media in the classroom. We examined the overall effects of these trainings on teachers' beliefs regarding their professional knowledge, self-efficacy and technology commitment. One hundred and five STEM-teachers (Mage = 41.74, SDage = 9.45 years, 33% female) participated in eight distinct and discipline-specific in-service teacher trainings. Participants' self-assessed professional knowledge (Stinken-Rösner, 2021; Stinken-Rösner et al., 2023), self-efficacy (Beierlein et al., 2012) and technology commitment (Neyer et al., 2012) were evaluated in a pre-posttest-design, using questionnaires with a 6-point Likert scale. Furthermore, outcomes and initial values of the intervention group of teachers were compared to those of a comparison group (n = 569; Mage = 40.92, SDage = 11.46 years, 67 % female). The results of the pre-post comparison indicate a positive effect on all analyzed dimensions of self-assessed professional knowledge. No significant differences were found regarding participants' self-efficacy and technology commitment. Additionally, participants' prior technology commitment was already high and remained consistently high after intervention. This is confirmed by the results observed in the comparison group. The pre-test values of the intervention group were significantly higher than those of the comparison group in the dimensions of self-assessed professional knowledge, technology commitment and self-efficacy. Similar results were observed when post-test data of the intervention group were compared with those of the comparison subgroup comprising participants who had previously participated in other digitalization-related teacher trainings.