A Sleep Education Program to Improve STEM education in Elementary School

改善小学 STEM 教育的睡眠教育计划

• 批准号: 1433185
• 负责人: Michelle Perfect
• 金额: $ 119.93万
• 依托单位: University of Arizona
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-01-15 至 2021-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1433185&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Sleep; Education; Program; Improve; STEM

This project will advance efforts of the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program to better understand and promote practices that increase students' motivations and capacities to pursue careers in fields of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) by engaging young learners in authentic science investigations and linking them to STEM-related professions. The project will address a real-world issue, sleep insufficiency, and its health consequences, as an innovative means to foster interests and engagement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) among elementary school students. Partnering with the Catalina Foothills School District, researchers at the University of Arizona will develop, implement, and evaluate a new STEM education program that includes: a) a novel set of sleep science lessons developed in collaboration with Biological Sciences Curriculum Study; b) project-based learning experiences; and c) out-of-school exposure to STEM professionals and opportunities for students to present findings from their own investigations. The project will also develop a teacher professional development component tailored to the new program, and a strategy for increasing parental involvement in the learning process. Portable devices will enable students to track sleep patterns in their own natural environments, and all data will be routed to a new, online platform, MySleep, which will provide real-time feedback, options for communications with teachers and parents, and data analysis capabilities. Through partnerships with businesses and organizations, a set of supplemental resources will be developed for parents and caregivers, including webinars and interactive presentations. Study of all these project components will provide data about strategies caregivers and teachers can adopt to promote among young students greater understanding of STEM fields, improved proficiency in STEM skills, and greater interest in pursuing STEM education pathways and careers.This is a three-year design and development study that will employ a quasi-experimental design with a non-equivalent control group in years two and three to examine student and parent outcomes from field tests of newly developed sleep study lessons. Following the initial year of curriculum development, participants in the first cohort of field trials during year 2 will include approximately 220 students across four 4th grade classrooms and four 5th grade classrooms in one elementary school. Another set of 4th and 5th grade classrooms in a school having similar demographics in the same school district will serve as a comparison group. Following curriculum revisions based on findings of the initial field test during year 2, refined sleep study lessons will be implemented in the classrooms of approximately 440 students in the 4th and 5th grades across the same two schools in year 3. Outcomes to be measured include student interests in STEM areas and careers, student proficiency in selected STEM-related skills, and level of parental engagement with their students' STEM learning. Six features of the new set of lessons are hypothesized to increase engagement and motivation of 4th and 5th grade students in STEM-related experiences: (1) content (sleep) that is relevant to everyone's lives (students, teachers, and parents) and essential for healthy day-to-day functioning; (2) inquiry-based sleep science lessons using an evidence-based instructional model; (3) use of interactive educational software and various technologies (personalized) that allow students to actively engage by collecting, analyzing, and interpreting their own data; (4) a teacher professional development paradigm using face-to-face, online, and educative curriculum materials; (5) parental involvement/engagement strategies using a well-developed model of family-school involvement; and (6) out-of-school learning experiences including exposure and interactions with STEM professionals from diverse backgrounds. The outcomes of this project will likely have broad impacts on both classroom practices with young learners and our understanding of how to engage young students in personally relevant studies that inspire them to consider STEM-related careers and the education pathways that lead to those careers. The development of curriculum materials in both English and Spanish will assist teachers in engaging underrepresented and underserved populations in activities of high interest and personal relevance that demonstrate the importance of STEM learning to our society.

该项目将推动学生和教师创新技术体验（ITEST）计划的努力，以更好地理解和促进提高学生在科学，技术，工程或数学（STEM）领域追求职业的动机和能力的做法，让年轻学习者参与真实的科学调查并将其与STEM相关专业联系起来。 该项目将解决现实世界的问题，睡眠不足及其健康后果，作为一种创新手段，以促进小学生对科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）的兴趣和参与。与卡塔利纳山麓学区合作，亚利桑那大学的研究人员将开发，实施和评估一个新的STEM教育计划，其中包括：a）与生物科学课程研究合作开发的一套新颖的睡眠科学课程; B）基于项目的学习经验;以及c）校外接触STEM专业人员，并为学生提供展示自己调查结果的机会。该项目还将制定一个针对新方案的教师专业发展组成部分，以及一项增加家长参与学习过程的战略。 便携式设备将使学生能够在自己的自然环境中跟踪睡眠模式，所有数据都将被路由到一个新的在线平台MySleep，该平台将提供实时反馈，与教师和家长沟通的选项以及数据分析功能。通过与企业和组织的合作，将为父母和照顾者开发一套补充资源，包括网络研讨会和互动演示。对所有这些项目组成部分的研究将提供有关护理人员和教师可以采取的战略的数据，以促进年轻学生更好地了解STEM领域，提高STEM技能的熟练程度，以及对追求STEM教育途径和职业的更大兴趣。这是一项为期三年的设计和开发研究，将采用准实验设计，在第二年和第三年的同等控制组，检查学生和家长的结果，从现场测试新开发的睡眠研究课程。 在课程开发的第一年之后，第二年第一批实地试验的参与者将包括一所小学四个四年级教室和四个五年级教室的大约220名学生。 另一组四年级和五年级的教室在一所学校有类似的人口统计在同一学区将作为一个比较组。 根据第二年初步实地测试的结果对课程进行修订后，第三年将在这两所学校四年级和五年级约440名学生的教室中实施完善的睡眠研究课程。 衡量的结果包括学生对STEM领域和职业的兴趣，学生对选定STEM相关技能的熟练程度，以及家长对学生STEM学习的参与程度。 新课程的六个特点被假设为增加四年级和五年级学生在STEM相关体验中的参与度和动机：（1）与每个人的生活相关的内容（睡眠）（学生，教师和家长）和健康的日常运作所必需的;（2）使用循证教学模型的基于探究的睡眠科学课程;（3）使用互动教育软件和各种技术（个性化），让学生积极参与收集，分析和解释自己的数据;（4）教师专业发展范式，使用面对面，在线和教育课程材料;（5）采用完善的家庭-学校参与模式的家长参与/参与策略;以及（6）校外学习体验，包括与来自不同背景的STEM专业人士的接触和互动。 该项目的成果可能会对年轻学习者的课堂实践以及我们对如何让年轻学生参与个人相关研究的理解产生广泛影响，这些研究激励他们考虑STEM相关职业以及导致这些职业的教育途径。 英语和西班牙语课程材料的开发将有助于教师吸引代表性不足和服务不足的人群参与高度兴趣和个人相关性的活动，这些活动表明STEM学习对我们社会的重要性。