Supporting Teachers’ Understanding of Integrated STEM Through the Evaluation of a Teaching–Learning Sequence

The effective transfer of research-based instructional innovations into classroom practice requires assessment tools that allow teachers to critically examine the quality and applicability of STEM learning designs. This study employs the RubeSTEM rubric to analyze a STEM teaching–learning sequence on fire ecology, focusing on how preservice and in-service teachers evaluate disciplinary integration, structural coherence, and classroom feasibility. By involving teachers at different stages of professional experience, the study examines patterns in teachers’ evaluative judgments and explores differences according to teaching experience and specialization. The findings indicate a high level of perceived disciplinary integration, particularly in the dimensions of argumentation and authenticity, highlighting strengths in the design of the sequence. At the same time, limitations were identified in relation to engineering design and the evaluation of the learning process, pointing to areas for improvement in STEM instructional planning. Statistically significant differences in evaluations were found according to teaching experience, especially in the assessment of the theoretical dimension, with higher ratings from teachers with intermediate experience. Overall, the results illustrate how a structured evaluation rubric can be used to examine the quality of integrated STEM teaching–learning sequences from a teacher perspective, providing empirical evidence on design coherence, disciplinary integration, and classroom applicability.