Big Sky Science Partnership

大天空科学伙伴关系(BSSP)是由萨利什·库特奈学院(SKC)领导的，这是一所位于蒙大拿州巴勃罗的部落学院。其他核心伙伴高等教育机构(IHE)是博兹曼的蒙大拿州立大学和米苏拉的蒙大拿大学。来自K-12社区的核心合作伙伴包括位于蒙大拿州西部的Flathead保留地的学校，位于蒙大拿州东南部的Crow和北部夏延保留地的学校，以及米苏拉地区的公立学区。具体地区包括米苏拉县公立学校、Lolo校区#7、莱克县校区#30、波尔森校区#23、迪克森公立学校区9、桑德斯县联合校区#8、高级学区和孤石小学#13。大天空科学伙伴关系(BSSP)的总体目标是提高合作学校3-8年级的美国印度学生的科学成就。合作伙伴IHES的地球科学、物理、天文学和教育系组成的跨学科团队，以及SKC土著数学和科学研究所、西方学习与教学中心的专业开发人员、K-8教师和管理人员将协作设计和促进全年的项目活动。共有90名3-8年级在职教师将通过两组各45名教师成为BSSP的教师带头人。多达20名职前教师候选人还将有机会参加暑期学院和其他选定的学年活动。参加者将参加为期两周的暑期研习班，在此期间，国际基础结构、水利和环境工程学院的科学和教育合作伙伴将促进具有挑战性的综合科学内容和教育学课程。三个暑假中的每一个都将分别关注不同的内容领域，天文学、地球科学和物理学，但渗透到这些不同学科的概念将被突出显示。重要的是，文化能力战略将贯穿整个课程。除了其他领导能力培养活动外，还将举办由部落顾问和科学家举办的关于文化能力的有特色的、为期数天的讲习班。学年专业学习社区活动将吸引合作伙伴参加在线科学内容课程、在线论坛、为期8天的现场工作坊和嵌入工作的指导，以进一步发展教师的专业和领导技能和知识。响应性项目评估设计将使用混合方法、准实验设计来评估对教师的教学知识、教学实践和态度以及学生的成就和态度的影响。还将评估对高等教育教师的教学实践和态度的影响。BSSP在K-8和IHE两个层面都有目标：1)通过加深K-8在职和职前教育人员对科学内容和教学方法的理解来改进科学教学；2)培养基于学校的K-8科学教师领袖；3)培养K-20教师的科学教学文化能力；4)提高IHES科学教员对K-8学校文化和大学前科学教育问题的理解；5)提高IHES科学教员与大学前教师合作的有效性；6)发展由BSSP合作伙伴组成的可持续的专业学习社区；7)制定一套为K-8教师设计的严格的研究生水平的科学课程，以及8)开发一种可行的科学教师培养模式，以培养出准备好向不同学生教授科学的K-8教师。此外，战略规划编制局确定了三个研究问题，这些问题与使用有效的课堂实践、培养领导力和专业学习社区以建立内容知识和教学技能以支持高危学生以及在线学习环境在不同文化中的有效性有关。

Abstract 0634587The Big Sky Science Partnership (BSSP) is led by the Salish Kootenai College (SKC), a tribal college located in Pablo, Montana. Additional core partner institutions of higher education (IHE) are Montana State University, in Bozeman, and the University of Montana, in Missoula. Core partners from the K-12 community include the schools of the Flathead Reservation, located in western Montana, and the schools of the Crow and Northern Cheyenne Reservations, located in southeastern Montana, as well as Missoula area public school districts. Specific districts include Missoula County Public Schools, Lolo School District #7, School District #30 Lake County, Polson Schools District #23, Dixon Public Schools District No. 9 Sanders County, Joint School District #8, Superior School District, and Lone Rock Elementary District #13.The overarching goal of the Big Sky Science Partnership (BSSP) is to increase science achievement of American Indian students in grades 3-8 of partner schools. A cross-disciplinary team of the partner IHEs' Geoscience, Physics, Astronomy and Education faculty, along with professional developers from the SKC Indigenous Math and Science Institute, and the Center for Learning and Teaching in the West, K-8 teachers, and administrators will collaboratively design and facilitate year-round project activities. A total of ninety grade 3-8 inservice teachers will become Teacher Leaders in the BSSP, through two cohorts of 45 teachers each. Up to twenty preservice teacher candidates will also have the opportunity to participate in the summer institute and other selected academic year activities. Participants will be involved in two-week summer institutes during which IHE science and education partners will facilitate challenging integrated science content and pedagogy courses. Each of the three summers will focus on a different content area, astronomy, geoscience, and physics, respectively, but concepts that permeate these different disciplines will be highlighted. Importantly, cultural competency strategies will be woven throughout the courses. There will also be distinctive and multi-day workshops on cultural competency delivered by tribal consultants and scientists, in addition to other leadership development activities. School year professional learning community activities will engage partners in online science content courses, online discussion forums, eight days of on site workshops, and job embedded coaching to further develop teachers' professional and leadership skills and knowledge.A responsive project evaluation design will be employed to assess impacts on teachers' content knowledge, instructional practices and attitudes, and students' achievement and attitudes using a mixed-methods, quasi experimental design. Impacts on higher education faculty's instructional practice and attitudes will also be assessed. The BSSP has objectives at both the K-8 and IHE level, to: 1) improve science instruction by deepening K-8 inservice and preservice educators' understanding of science content and pedagogy; 2) generate school based K-8 science Teacher Leaders; 3) develop cultural competency in science instruction in K-20 instructors; 4) improve IHEs science faculty members' understanding of K-8 school culture and issues in precollege science education; 5) improve IHEs science faculty member's effectiveness in working with precollege teachers; 6) develop a sustainable professional learning community made up of the BSSP partners; 7) generate a set of rigorous graduate level science courses designed for K-8 teachers, and 8) develop a viable model of science teacher preparation that will produce K-8 teachers well prepared to teach science to diverse students. In addition, the BSSP has identified three research questions associated with barriers to using effective classroom practices, fostering leadership and professional learning communities for building content knowledge and pedagogical skills in support of at-risk students, and the efficacy of online learning environments in diverse cultures.