SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Educational Psychology
This article is part of the Research TopicEducating the Educators in Digital STEM-Education - the Impact of Teacher Training and their Further EducationView all 8 articles
Mapping the Landscape of Professional Learning Communities for Digitalization and STEM: A Scoping Review of Evidence on Composition and Efficacy
Provisionally accepted
- 1Ludwigsburg University of Education, Ludwigsburg, Germany
- 2Independent Researcher, Stuttgart, Germany
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The integration of advanced digital applications within the educational sector remains a significant challenge. It has been determined that extracurricular educational settings possess a considerable capacity to enhance and differentiate digital instruction. However, educators frequently require assistance to transition from the use of existing digital resources to the creation of their own, personalized, cus-tomized learning materials. Professional learning communities (PLCs) have been identified as a promising framework in which teachers can collaborate to develop innovative and practical concepts. While the potential of PLCs is widely recognized, research on this topic is fragmented. A multitude of defi-nitions and operationalizations have been proposed regarding the structure and functioning of PLCs. This complicates a systematic investigation of their effectiveness and makes it difficult to distinguish empirically based findings from purely anecdotal reports. Consequently, a definitive evidence base for the design of effective PLCs remains elusive. The present study posits that the afore mentioned gap is addressed by means of a scoping review. Utilizing the PRISMA-ScR framework, a systematic analysis of German and English-language literature is conducted with the objective of mapping and synthesiz-ing research on the composition, collaboration, and effectiveness of PLCs in the STEM field or in relation to digitalization. The results of the study provide a structured overview of the key characteris-tics, structure, and success factors of PLCs. The present article elucidates the findings that emerged from a comparative and harmonising analysis of diverging PLCs. The ensuing discussion pertains to the configuration, efficacious design, and execution of professional learning communities, in conjunction with their operational methodologies and investigative endeavours. This synthesis provides a foundation for the conceptualisation of future cooperative initiatives aimed at the development of STEM-or digital educational resources.
Keywords: STEM-Professional learning community, Scoping review, digitalization, Teachers' collaboration, Teaching development
Received: 01 Sep 2025; Accepted: 04 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Hartmann, Bardakcioglu and Schaal. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Stefanie Hartmann, stefanie.hartmann@ph-ludwigsburg.de
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