Reclaiming Access to Inquiry-based Science Education (RAISE) for Incarcerated Students

这个项目是针对美国教育系统中最脆弱的学习者的独特之处：被关在少年教养所的青少年。 在这些环境中，科学教育面临的三个主要问题是：（1）课程和资源不足;（2）教师准备不足，得不到充分支持;（3）学习者群体各不相同，其中许多人有残疾，不参与学习，和/或缺乏阅读和数学技能。 未能解决这些挑战和被监禁青少年更广泛的教育需求对社会产生了广泛的影响，因此这个项目是及时的，具有广泛影响的高潜力。 为了解决这些问题，项目人员将采用迭代开发过程来开发课程，旨在增加对21世纪世纪STEM劳动力职业至关重要的科学内容，概念和探究技能的获取和掌握。 然后，他们将准备教师在马萨诸塞州的少年教养所进行试点测试。具体来说，研究人员将：（1）调整和调整现有的生物课程使用共同核心国家标准和通用设计学习原则;（2）开发所有材料，数字支持和支架，虚拟学习环境和实验室，评估，以及教师专业发展材料的一个课程单元;（3）对所有材料进行可用性评估，并利用评估结果完善和确定两个课程单元;（4）为教师在少年管教教育环境中实施生物方案做好准备;（5）进行一项类似实验的研究，以探讨生物课程对学生的学科知识和探究技能、兴趣和参与程度的影响;及（6）向各界别团体发放研究结果。 最终产品将是一个通用的学习设计，基于项目的探究科学计划，包括虚拟学习环境，虚拟实验室和数字支架，并支持促进被监禁青年的科学学习。

This project is unique in targeting arguably the most vulnerable learners in the American education system: youth confined in juvenile corrections facilities. Three primary problems confronting science education in these settings are: (1) inadequate curriculum and resources; (2) inadequately prepared and supported teachers; and (3) a heterogeneous group of learners, many of whom have disabilities, are disengaged, and/or lack reading and mathematics skills. Failure to address these challenges and the broader educational needs of incarcerated juveniles has broad implications for society, so this project is timely and has high potential for broad impacts. To address these problems project personnel will employ an iterative development process to develop a curriculum designed to increase access to and mastery of science content, concepts, and inquiry skills critical for careers in the 21st Century STEM workforce. They will then prepare teachers to implement the program in pilot testing in juvenile corrections facilities in Massachusetts. Specifically, the investigators will: (1) align and adapt an existing biology curriculum using Common Core State Standards and Universal Design for Learning principles; (2) develop all materials, digital supports and scaffolds, virtual learning environments and labs, assessments, and teacher professional development materials for one curriculum unit; (3) conduct usability evaluation of all materials and use the results to refine and finalize two curriculum units; (4) prepare teachers to implement the biology program in juvenile corrections education settings; (5) conduct a quasi-experimental study to examine the impacts of the biology program on the content knowledge and inquiry skills of students, their interests, and their levels of engagement; and, (6) disseminate the findings to various constituency groups. The final product will be a Universal Design for Learning, project-based inquiry science program that includes virtual learning environments, virtual laboratories, and digital scaffolds and supports that promote scientific learning for incarcerated youth.