Moving Next Generation Science Standards into Practice: A Middle School Ecology Unit and Teacher Professional Development Model

学校和教师在实现新标准所描述的将核心跨学科科学思想与科学和工程实践相结合的宏伟目标方面面临着前所未有的挑战。美国自然历史博物馆（AMNH）将与康涅狄格大学（UConn）和劳伦斯科学馆（The Hall）合作，开发一个中学生态单元和相关的教师专业发展，帮助包括英语学习者在内的高需求和城市中学生理解这些思想和相关实践。教师将通过与课程直接相关的专业发展得到支持，旨在发展他们的科学内容知识以及如何教授课程的知识。该项目以现有的AMNH资源为基础，包括配有扫盲策略的视频和文本段落、用于规划和开展调查的在线交互式数据工具，以及对教师在专业发展中使用的这些资源和学生在课堂上使用的这些资源进行的事先研究。除了为直接参与的学校、教师和学生提供服务外，该项目的可交付成果还包括生态单元、教师专业发展、评估工具以及设计与NGSS相关的综合科学项目的模型。课程单元将模仿生物科学课程研究（BSCS） 5E模型，该模型将使用5个阶段（参与，探索，解释，阐述和评估）让学生完成五个主题中的每一个：生态群落，食物网，河流生态系统，斑马贻贝入侵和监测人类影响。教师将参加为期12天的专业发展，介绍项目的教学方法（5E模型）及其如何反映NGSS，教师有大量时间学习科学，尝试活动，学习如何促进项目，在评估中提供对项目的反馈，并反思他们的实践。课程和教师专业发展的初步方法将在一年级设计，然后在2-4年级通过关注课程PD的形成性评估以及学生和教师成果的衡量来反复修订和评估。评估将评估教师科学和教学知识对学生知识增长的贡献。该项目的评估结果和评估工具将为今后的疗效研究提供基础。该项目是由NSF的DRK-12项目资助的相对较少的项目之一，该项目直接解决了对ngss相关学习资源的需求。该项目的学习资源、评估工具和设计NGSS相关综合科学项目的模型将通过专业出版物、会议和研讨会报告，以及与积极开发新资源的组织的联系进行分享，以使NGSS付诸实践。

Schools and teachers face unprecedented challenges in meeting the ambitious goals of integrating core interdisciplinary science ideas with science and engineering practices as described in new standards. The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), in collaboration with the University of Connecticut (UConn), and the Lawrence Hall of Science (the Hall), will develop a middle school ecology unit and related teacher professional development that will help high-need and urban middle school students, including English Language Learners, understand these ideas and related practices. Teachers will be supported through professional development that is directly linked to the curriculum and is designed to develop their science content knowledge as well as their knowledge of how to teach the curriculum. The project builds on existing AMNH resources that include video and text passages supported with literacy strategies, online interactive data tools to plan and carry out investigations, and prior research on these resources used with teachers in professional development and with students in classrooms. In addition to serving the schools, teachers and students who directly participate, the project's deliverables include the ecology unit, teacher professional development, assessment tools, and a model for designing such comprehensives science programs that relate to NGSS. The curriculum unit will be modeled after the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) 5E model that will use the 5 Phases (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate) for students to work through with each of five themes: Ecological Communities, Food Webs, A River Ecosystem, Zebra Mussel Invasion, and Monitoring Human Impact. Teachers will participate in 12 days of professional development that will introduce the program's pedagogical approach (the 5E model) and how it reflects NGSS, with teachers having significant time to learn the science, try out the activities, learn how to facilitate the program, provide feedback on the program as part of the evaluation, and reflect on their practice. The initial approach to the curriculum and teacher professional development will be designed in Year 1 and then iteratively revised and evaluated in Years 2-4 through formative evaluation that focuses on curriculum PD, and measures of student and teacher outcomes. The evaluation will assess the contribution of teacher science and pedagogical knowledge to increases in student knowledge. The evaluation findings and assessment tools developed for the project will provide the foundation for a future efficacy study. The project is one of a relatively small number of projects funded through NSF's DRK-12 program that directly addresses the need for NGSS-related learning resources. The project's learning resources, assessment tools, and model for designing NGSS-related and comprehensive science programs will be shared through professional publications, conference and workshop presentations, and liaison with organizations active in developing new resources bring NGSS into practice.