Assessing STEM thinking in elementary classrooms: Evidence from teachers’ perspectives

The assessment of STEM thinking in elementary education remains dominated by product-oriented measurement, often overlooking the lived processes through which students’ reasoning develops in classroom practice. This study employs a qualitative phenomenological approach to explore how elementary school teachers experience, interpret, and negotiate the assessment of STEM thinking within authentic learning contexts. Data were generated through in-depth semi-structured interviews with teachers experienced in implementing STEM-related activities and analyzed using phenomenological thematic procedures to reveal the essential structure of their experiences. Findings indicate that assessment is lived as (1) process-oriented yet constrained by product accountability, (2) centered on interpreting invisible, relational, and evolving student thinking, and (3) continuously negotiated between structural limitation and pedagogical possibility. These insights support a conceptual shift from viewing STEM assessment as outcome measurement toward understanding it as situated meaning-making shaped by teacher agency and classroom context. The study proposes a phenomenology of STEM assessment that contributes to global discussions on authentic evaluation, teacher professionalism, and 21st-century learning. Empirically, the findings highlight how teachers negotiate between institutional accountability and the evolving nature of students’ STEM thinking in authentic classroom contexts. Practically, the study underscores the importance of developing more process-sensitive and interpretive assessment practices in elementary STEM education