Defining moments: The link between definitions of teaching and the desire to teach

In response to the well documented lack of highly qualified STEM educators in the United States, this work seeks to understand how to increase interest in K-12 STEM teaching among engineering students. This paper presents a preliminary framework and findings exploring factors that motivate the choice of a teaching career among the alumni of a small engineering college. In particular, it focuses on the relationship between the ways in which study participants defined “teaching” and “teacher” and their post-graduate interests and pursuits. Fourteen subjects participated in semi-structured, open-ended interviews designed to elicit an understanding of their definitions of teaching as well as the experiences and influences that shaped those definitions. Preliminary analysis suggests that participants with very narrow views of teaching and learning are averse to teaching, while those with broader definitions are likelier to engage in teaching, teaching-related careers, or consider them in the future.