• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.39 no.6
• /
• pp.755-765
• /
• 2019

This study aims to develop the scales to measure the innovation configurations of Science. Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics (STEAM) from the perspective of elementary school teachers and investigates the effect of the innovation configurations and related environmental factors on the usage levels of STEAM based on the newly developed scales for the innovation configurations of STEAM. The scales for the innovation configurations of STEAM are based on analyzing the various previous studies and in-depth interviews and consist of four sub-configurations: The 'Preparation,' 'Design,' 'Implementation,' and 'Evaluation.' The innovation configurations of STEAM was investigated with the developed scales through 266 teachers who are leading STEAM school teachers, are involved in STEAM research group, or are implementing STEAM in general schools. The final 19 questionnaires for the scale of the innovation configuration of STEAM are confirmed with exploratory factor analysis and reliability analysis. In order to examine the relationship between the innovation configurations and levels of use, the direct relationship between four sub-configurations and the usage levels of STEAM and the effect of environmental factors on the innovation configuration and the usage levels of STEAM have been conducted and their interactions are considered. The results show that 'Implementation' in the innovation configurations of STEAM and 'STEAM training experience' are most important factors to improve the usage levels of STEAM for elementary school teachers. It implies that the scales are very helpful in improving as well as figuring out the current innovation configurations of STEAM.