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

该项目将解决阻碍基础科学教学的两个障碍：(1)缺乏针对具体内容的教学知识(例如，对有效的针对特定主题的教学策略的研究)；(2)确实存在的知识往往没有被组织起来，供教师在课程计划和教学中使用。这个问题在小学阶段尤为严重，那里的许多教师只有有限的科学背景，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经验文献，并将其与一种经常被忽视的资源--基于实践的知识--结合起来。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，其中包括研究文献、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。研究问题是：(1)知识收集和综合方法的优点和缺点是什么？(2)在跨科学主题应用知识收集和综合方法时必须考虑哪些因素？(3)网络资源对主要教师、教师教育工作者和教材开发者有什么启示和限制？(4)获取具体内容的教学知识对教师的计划和教学有何影响？具体内容的教学知识将通过文献回顾(经验知识)和一系列迭代的在线专家小组(收集以实践为基础的知识)收集。这两个知识来源将针对每个科学主题进行综合，并组织成供教师使用的网络资源。一组试点教师将在计划和教授科学主题的教学单元时使用该资源。项目研究人员将观察他们的指导并采访教师，以寻找有助于他们指导的资源的证据。此外，研究人员将对教师和他们的学生进行评估，以衡量可能归因于该资源的内容知识的变化。教师反馈将被用来修改基于网络的资源，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.