The teachers’ comfort level was also affected by whether
or not teachers felt a passion to continue to develop a career
as a PLTW teacher and by their uncertainty about the future
of PLTW classes. Since the teachers had been trained to
teach subjects other than PLTW classes, all of them
appeared to have been unsure if they wanted to keep
teaching PLTW long term. One teacher made several
comments throughout the year that she just wanted to teach
a mathematics class because she did not go to school to
teach STEM. All of the teachers at several times noted
being uncomfortable teaching the curriculum. If the PLTW
teaching job is just a short-term job until a math or science
teaching job becomes available, then it may affect the
amount of investment and work that teachers are going to
put into developing the PLTW classes. STEM specific
classes are still relatively new and with any new curricular
implementation, there can be uncertainty regarding its
longevity. This can affect both the amount of time teachers
are willing to invest and retention of PLTW teachers.