EAPSI: How Personal and Contextual Factors Impact the Effects of Teacher Training on Student Math and Science Performance

这项研究调查了青少年的挑战性问题？数学和科学成就，它影响留校、毕业以及未来的学术和职业方向和成功。具体地说，该项目将调查教师培训对学生数学和科学表现的影响，并利用1400名中国中学生的样本确定可能影响培训效果的因素。该项目将与位于中国的浙江大学教育实践专家孙元涛博士合作进行。预计该项目将有助于更好地了解不同情况下有效的教师数学和科学培训做法的特点。它还将促进美国和中国教育研究人员对教学原则的相互理解。数学和科学作为中学课程的核心要素，受到多种个人和情境因素的直接和交互影响。尽管教师培训很重要，但令人惊讶的是，培训的效果并不总是对学生的结果有利。一个可能的原因可能是普遍存在的单发、一天、低强度的训练，缺乏连续性和责任感。与很少接受强化的、注重内容的数学/科学课程专业培训的美国教师不同，中国的教师被要求经常参加强制性的、持续的研讨会。该项目的结果可以帮助研究人员、实践者和政策制定者更好地了解更密集、持续、注重内容的教师培训对青少年数学和科学表现的效果。此外，在中国青少年大样本中测试培训效果时，研究结果还确定了个体(例如，初始状态、性别和年龄)和背景(例如，班级氛围和同伴影响)的主持人。该奖项预计将促进研究人员之间的国际合作，研究教师培训对两个不同国家青少年数学和科学表现的影响。东亚和太平洋暑期学院项目下的这个奖项支持一名美国研究生的暑期研究，由美国国家科学基金会和中国的科技部联合资助。

This study investigates the challenging issue of adolescents? math and science achievement, which impacts retention, graduation, and future academic and career orientation and success. Specifically, the project will examine the effect of teacher training on student math and science performance and identify the factors that may impact training effects using a sample of 1,400 Chinese middle school students. This project will be conducted in collaboration with Dr. Yuantao Sun, an expert on educational practice, at Zhejiang University in China. It is expected that the project will contribute to improved understanding of the characteristics of effective teacher math and science training practices for different contexts. It will also foster mutual understanding of teaching and learning principles between U.S. and Chinese education researchers.Mathematics and Science, as central elements of middle school curriculum, are influenced by multiple personal and contextual factors directly and interactively. Despite the significance of teacher training, surprisingly the effects of training are not always shown to be beneficial for student outcomes. One possible reason may be the pervasiveness of single-shot, one-day, low-intensity training which lacks continuity and accountability. Different from U.S. teachers who seldom receive intensive, content-focused professional trainings in math/science courses, the teachers in China are required to attend mandated, sustained workshops frequently. The results of this project could help researchers, practitioners, and policy makers better understand the efficacy of more intensive, sustained, content-focused teacher training on adolescent math and science performance. In addition, the findings also identify both individual (e.g., initial condition, gender, and age) and contextual (e.g., class climate and peer influence) moderators when testing training effects among a large Chinese adolescent sample. This award is expected to facilitate international collaborations among researchers examining factors that moderate the impact of teacher training on adolescent math and science performance in two different countries.This award under the East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes program supports summer research by a U.S. graduate student and is jointly funded by NSF and the Ministry of Science and Technology of China.