Knowledge Assets to Support the Science Instruction of Elementary Teachers (ASSET)

本项目将解决阻碍基础科学教学的两个障碍：(1)缺乏特定内容的教学知识（例如，对有效的特定主题教学策略的研究）；(2)存在的知识往往没有组织起来供教师在课程规划和教学中使用。这个问题在小学阶段尤其严重，因为许多教师的科学背景有限，许多人以前没有教过科学。该项目将收集两个科学主题的现有实证文献，并将其与经常被忽视的资源-基于实践的知识综合起来。由此产生的知识资源将在一个网站上提供给教师。该资源将支持小学教师计划科学教学，并使他们能够有效地调整自己的科学材料，以改善学生的学习。该项目将与少数民族高中的教师合作。该项目将有助于发展集体教学内容知识（C-PCK）理论，包括研究文献、实践者文献和集体实践智慧。研究人员将试图了解如何使C-PCK对教师更有用。研究的问题是：(1)知识收集与综合方法的优缺点是什么？(2)跨科学主题应用知识收集与综合方法必须考虑哪些因素？(3)网络资源主要为教师、教师教育者和教学材料开发者提供了哪些便利和限制？(4)获取特定内容的教学知识如何影响教师的规划和教学？特定内容的教学知识将通过文献综述（经验知识）和一系列迭代的在线专家小组（收集基于实践的知识）来收集。这两种知识来源将针对每个科学主题进行综合，并组织在一个基于网络的教师资源中。一组试点教师将在他们计划和教授科学主题的教学单元时使用这些资源。项目研究人员将观察他们的教学，并采访教师，以寻找有助于他们教学的资源的证据。此外，研究人员将对教师及其学生进行评估，以评估可能归因于该资源的内容知识的变化。教师的反馈将用于修改网络资源，并最大限度地提高其可用性。

This project will address two obstacles that hinder elementary science instruction: (1) a lack of content-specific teaching knowledge (e.g., research on effective topic-specific instructional strategies); and (2) the knowledge that does exist is often not organized for use by teachers in their lesson planning and instruction. The problem is particularly acute at the elementary level, where many teachers have limited science background and many have not taught science before. The project will collect existing empirical literature for two science topics and synthesize it with an often-overlooked resource -- practice-based knowledge. The resulting knowledge resources will be made available to teachers on a website. The resource will support elementary teachers as they plan for science instruction, and to enable them to productively adapt their own science materials to improve student learning. The project will work with teachers in high minority schools. The project will contribute to a developing theory of Collective Pedagogical Content Knowledge (C-PCK) which includes the research literature, practitioner literature and collective wisdom of practice. The researchers will seek to understand how C-PCK can be made more useful for teachers. The research questions are: (1) What are the strengths and weaknesses of the knowledge collection and synthesis method? (2) What factors must be taken into account in applying the knowledge collection and synthesis method across science topics? (3) What affordances and limitations does the web-based resource present for teachers primarily, and for teacher educators and instructional materials developers? (4) How does access to content-specific teaching knowledge affect teachers' planning and instruction? Content-specific teaching knowledge will be collected through literature reviews (for empirical knowledge) and a series of iterative, on-line expert panels (to gather practice-based knowledge). The two sources of knowledge will be synthesized for each of the science topics and organized in a web-based resource for teachers. A group of pilot teachers will use the resource as they plan for and teach a unit of instruction on the science topics. Project researchers will observe their instruction and interview the teachers to look for evidence of the resource facilitating their instruction. In addition, researchers will administer assessments to teachers and their students to gauge changes on content knowledge that might be attributable to the resource. Teacher feedback will be used to modify the web-based resource and maximize its usability.