A Reflecting on Practice Professional Learning Program

对实践专业学习计划的反思

• 批准号: 1612515
• 负责人: Lynn Tran
• 金额: $ 236.53万
• 依托单位: University of California-Berkeley
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-09-15 至 2021-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1612515&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Reflecting; Practice; Professional; Learning; Program

As part of its overall strategy to enhance learning in informal environments, the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program funds efforts that seek to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences, advancing innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments, and developing understandings of deeper learning by participants. This project will achieve these aims by identifying and closely evaluating critical factors and processes that are necessary to effectively broaden access and sustain professional learning (PL) for educational professionals working within informal STEM learning (ISL) settings. The context for this work builds on an evidence-based and nationally field tested professional learning model, Reflecting on Practice (RoP). This model will be refined to provide ISL educators with increased access to a proven PL curriculum via an in-person or blended approach, enhanced localized support, and cultivated regional professional learning communities. There is still little known about the effectiveness of blended PL within informal contexts. The emphasis on greater accessibility to PL is particularly important to the ISL field, given the significant number of informal STEM educators and institutions in underserved and remote locations, often facing disparate and insurmountable challenges in access to high quality STEM professional development. This modular program will not only target a broad range of informal institutions; varying in size, STEM content foci, geographic location and communities served but it is also uniquely designed for institutional customization and adoption, further increasing the likelihood of wide-spread uptake, participation, and engagement. If successful, this broad implementation effort will directly impact over 3,000 informal science educators and professionals in nearly 350 informal STEM learning institutions across the country. The intended theory of action and iterative, design-based implementation approach will be closely monitored, documented and analyzed by an experienced team of external evaluators, using formative and summative evaluative methods. A mixed methods approach will be employed to: (a) examine the effectiveness and accessibility of blended PL and regional PLCs for the ISL field, (b) identify critical design features in blended PL and regional PLCs for impacting educators' practice, (c) determine how PLCs can develop and continue in ISL through looking at what system of support is needed, and (d) ascertain the effective role of the Leaders and Leadership Sites. Data will be collected at all levels - from the RoP directors and PIs, document reviews, interviews and observations with RoP leaders at the six partnering institutions, and surveys with the RoP facilitators (n=700) and informal STEM educator participants (n=2,000). The results of the findings could be instrumental in the development of future frameworks and models designed to broadly disseminate similar professional learning models effectively within ISL contexts.

作为加强非正式环境中学习的总体战略的一部分，推进非正式STEM学习（AISL）计划为寻求推进非正式环境中STEM学习的设计和开发的新方法和基于证据的理解的努力提供资金。这包括提供多种途径，扩大STEM学习经验的获取和参与，推进非正式环境中STEM学习的创新研究和评估，以及发展参与者对深度学习的理解。该项目将通过识别和密切评估有效扩大非正规STEM学习（ISL）环境中工作的教育专业人员获得和维持专业学习（PL）所需的关键因素和过程来实现这些目标。这项工作的背景是建立在一个以证据为基础的、经过全国实地测试的专业学习模式——实践反思（RoP）。这一模式将被改进，通过面对面或混合的方法，增强本地化支持和培养区域专业学习社区，为ISL教育者提供更多的访问经过验证的PL课程的机会。对于混合PL在非正式环境中的有效性仍然知之甚少。考虑到在服务不足和偏远地区有大量非正式的STEM教育工作者和机构，在获得高质量的STEM专业发展方面往往面临着不同的和不可克服的挑战，强调更多的PL可及性对ISL领域尤为重要。这个模块化项目不仅针对广泛的非正式机构；在规模、STEM内容重点、地理位置和服务社区方面各不相同，但它也为机构定制和采用而独特设计，进一步增加了广泛吸收、参与和参与的可能性。如果成功，这一广泛的实施工作将直接影响全国近350个非正式STEM学习机构的3000多名非正式科学教育工作者和专业人员。预期的行动理论和迭代，基于设计的实施方法将由经验丰富的外部评估人员团队使用形成性和总结性评估方法密切监测，记录和分析。将采用混合方法方法：(A)检查混合PL和区域plc在ISL领域的有效性和可及性，(b)确定混合PL和区域plc的关键设计特征，以影响教育者的实践，(c)通过查看需要的支持系统来确定plc如何在ISL中发展和继续，以及(d)确定领导者和领导站点的有效作用。将从各个层面收集数据——从RoP主任和pi、文件审查、对六个合作机构的RoP领导人的访谈和观察，以及对RoP促进者（n=700）和非正式STEM教育参与者（n= 2000）的调查。这些发现的结果可能有助于未来框架和模型的发展，这些框架和模型旨在在ISL背景下有效地广泛传播类似的专业学习模式。