Collaborative Research: The Next Generation of STEM Teacher Preparation in Washington State

下一代STEM教师培训项目由华盛顿州的五所高等教育机构领导。这一合作努力将促使参与STEM学科教师培训的机构、华盛顿州公共教育主管办公室、P-12教育工作者以及来自企业、政府和非政府组织(NGO)的其他关键利益攸关方，在全州范围内实现各级STEM教师培训工作的可持续变革。该项目不再是孤立的、单一的机构项目改进努力，而是华盛顿州的学院和大学与两年制学院、P-12学校、社区团体和企业合作，共同改善STEM教师培养。该项目将产生更多高素质的P-12级科学和数学教师，包括一支准备教授计算机科学和工程的新教师队伍。此外，该项目寻求通过积极招聘和激励来自2年制和4年制大学STEM专业的人数不足的学生成为P-12初中和高中STEM教师，从而增加STEM教师队伍的多样性。该项目的资金支持来自NSF的改善本科教育计划和罗伯特·诺伊斯教师奖学金计划。该项目的主要目标是：1.改善华盛顿州的STEM教师培养计划(影响该州90%以上的未来STEM教师毕业生；2.增加对合格和多样化的STEM学生的招聘，以及3.创建基于研究的适应性模式，通过协作改进STEM教师培训。为了实现这些目标，该项目将：(A)创建华盛顿州STEM教师培训的共同愿景，(B)共享、开发、调整、实施和评估实现这一愿景的资源和模式，以及(C)建立和评估持续、协作的项目改进模式。该项目将涉及的教师准备的关键组成部分包括：改善职前教师的临床实践和新教师的入职经验，改善职前教师的学科和STEM教学内容知识，并将计算机科学、工程学和可持续发展纳入教师准备。致力于改进每个组成部分的跨机构工作组将研究、创建和制作一套材料和专业开发研讨会。来自高等教育机构的教职员工和管理人员、P-12教育工作者以及STEM企业、非政府组织和政府机构的代表将依次调整这些材料和专业发展经验，以支持和维持其机构的STEM教师培训计划的改进。能力建设的三个组成部分：组织变革、增加STEM教师队伍的多样性和合作建设将是每个工作组和区域小组努力的基础。

The Next Generation of STEM Teacher Preparation project is led by five institutions of higher education in Washington State. This collaborative effort will engage institutions involved in the preparation of teachers of STEM disciplines, Washington State's Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, P-12 educators, and other key stakeholders from business, government, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), in bringing about statewide sustainable change in the preparation of STEM teachers at all levels. The project moves away from isolated, single institutional program improvement efforts, to colleges and universities in Washington State working collaboratively to improve STEM teacher preparation in partnership with two-year colleges, P-12 schools, community groups, and businesses. The project will result in the production of more, highly qualified, P-12 science and mathematics teachers, including a new cadre of teachers prepared to teach computer science and engineering. In addition, the project seeks to increase the diversity of the STEM teacher workforce by actively recruiting and incentivizing underrepresented students from STEM majors at 2- and 4-year colleges to become P-12 middle and high school STEM teachers. Financial support for this project comes from NSF's Improving Undergraduate Education program and the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program.The project's primary goals are: 1. To improve STEM teacher preparation programs in Washington State (impacting greater than 90% of the state's future STEM teacher graduates,2. Increase recruitment of qualified and diverse STEM students into teaching, and3. Create an adaptive, research-based model for improving STEM teacher preparation through collaboration. To achieve these goals, the project will: (a) create a common vision for STEM teacher preparation in Washington State, (b) share, develop, adapt, implement, and evaluate resources and models to achieve this vision, and (c) build and assess a model of continuous, collaborative program improvement. The critical components of teacher preparation this project will address include: improving pre-service teachers' clinical practice and new teachers' induction experiences, improving the disciplinary and STEM pedagogical content knowledge of pre-service teachers, and integrating computer science, engineering, and sustainability into teacher preparation. Cross-institutional Working Groups dedicated to improving each component will research, create, and produce a set of materials and professional development workshops. Regional Teams of faculty and administrators from institutions of higher education, P-12 educators, and representatives from STEM businesses, NGOs, and government agencies, will in turn adapt these materials and professional development experiences to support and sustain STEM teacher preparation program improvements at their institutions. Three capacity-building components: organizational change, increasing the diversity of the STEM teaching workforce, and collaboration building, will underlie the efforts of every Working Group and Regional Team.