Using Engineering Principles of Design to Advance Teacher Education of Prospective Elementary Teachers

迫切需要为职前小学教师提供内容丰富的工程设计学习经验，以发展他们的知识，技能和对STEM教学和学生学习的理解。在这个以研究为基础的项目中，科学，工程和教育大学教师合作，为小学科学教师准备创建一个创新的，可扩展的和可持续的模式，以解决前所未有的需要准备小学科学教师在全国范围内教授工程实践。 通过研究小学职前教师对工程实践的学习，研究人员可以揭示出有助于培养高质量小学STEM教师的因素，以及科学和工程教师在创建、实施和评估尖端学习材料时所面临的挑战。本计画是一个发展、执行与教育研究计画，其目的为：1）改善、执行与评估以工程设计为基础的模式，以增进职前国小科学教师对工程实务的了解; 2）研究这种方法对职前小学科学教师跨多个本科生科学课程学习工程实践的影响; 3）传播和评估普渡大学以外的可转移性模型。 因此，这一改进本科STEM教育（IUSE-EHR）开发和实施II级项目，在ESTA学生学习轨道，将积极促进IUSE-EHR计划的目标，该计划旨在通过本科预科课程确定改善K-12 STEM教育的最佳实践，服务STEM教师准备。该团队将重新设计现有的小学科学教师准备模型，以符合下一个目标。Generation Science Standards（NGSS） UPDATE将在五年内直接与240名小学职前教师合作，通过有目的地将工程设计整合到五门必修的本科科学课程中，并培养新一代高质量的模范小学STEM教育工作者，来拓宽STEM学习领域。该项目的目标是：1）提炼创新的、内容丰富的、基于工程设计的科学任务; 2）将任务映射到课程目标和相关内容; 3）实施基于工程设计的科学任务和课程体系; 4）产生基于证据的结果，以了解职前小学教师如何学习工程实践以及如何使用工程实践教授科学; 5）利用成果和教师反思不断改进实践;以及6）验证基于综合工程设计的科学方法的模型，以帮助小学科学教师为可转移性做好准备。本研究在UPDATE计画实施期间，将探讨以下研究问题：1）职前教师如何概念化工程实务？2)职前教师的工程实践知识随时间变化的程度如何？3)职前教师如何在各自的本科科学课程中执行工程设计任务？4)职前教师从事工程设计工作，会以何种方式影响他们对每项任务的科学概念理解？5)职前教师以何种方式利用他们的本科科学课程的工程设计为基础的经验，通知他们的课程计划和实施？以及6）在方法课程中，他们在实地经验中采用了哪些设计知识体系？为了衡量工程实践和有针对性的科学概念的学习，研究小组将采用混合方法，使用库存，概念评估，访谈和课堂观察。预期的项目成果包括一个工作，可转移，可扩展的模型，小学科学教师的准备，将包括一个高质量的，标准和工程设计为基础的科学任务，强调核心学科概念的应用集合;更新和增强本科科学课程，重点是通过设计学习科学;丰富的基础科学方法课程，侧重于通过工程设计学习和教授科学;评估工具，衡量职前小学教师对工程实践的学习;以及学生设计作品、笔记本和课程计划的范例组合。这个项目将开发和测试的模型，以及从这个项目中产生的研究结果可能是非常有吸引力和有用的其他小学教师准备计划在这个国家，寻求将工程标准纳入各自的计划。

There is a critical need to provide pre-service elementary school teachers with content-rich engineering design learning experiences in order to develop their knowledge, skills, and understandings for STEM teaching and student learning. In this research-based project, science, engineering, and education university faculty collaborate to create an innovative, scalable, and sustainable model for elementary science teacher preparation in order to address the unprecedented need to prepare elementary science teachers to teach engineering practices nationwide. By examining elementary pre-service teachers' learning of engineering practices, researchers can uncover the factors that contribute to the generation of high quality elementary STEM teachers as well as the challenges science and engineering faculty face when creating, implementing, and assessing cutting edge learning materials. This Using Principles of Design to Advance Teacher Education (UPDATE) project is a development, implementation and educational research project with the following goals, to: 1) refine, implement and assess the impact of an engineering design-based model for enhancing pre-service elementary science teachers' understanding of engineering practices; 2) research the impact of this approach on pre-service elementary science teachers' learning of engineering practices across multiple undergraduates science course; and 3) propagate and assess the model for transferability beyond Purdue University. Thus, this Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE-EHR) Development and Implementation II tier project, in the Engaged Student Learning track, will positively contribute to the goals of the IUSE-EHR program which seeks to identify best practices to improve K-12 STEM education through undergraduate pre-service STEM teacher preparation.The team will redesign an existing elementary science teacher preparation model consistent with the goals of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). UPDATE will work directly with 240 elementary pre-service teachers over five years to broaden the STEM learning landscape by purposefully integrating engineering design across five required undergraduate science courses and growing a new generation of high quality, exemplary elementary STEM educators. The project objectives are to: 1) refine innovative, content-rich, engineering design-based science tasks; 2) map the tasks to course objectives and related content; 3) implement the engineering design-based science tasks and pedagogies; 4) generate evidence-based outcomes for understanding how pre-service elementary teachers learn engineering practices and how to teach science using engineering practices; 5) utilize outcomes and faculty reflections to continually improve practice; and 6) validate a model for an integrated engineering design-based science approach to elementary science teacher preparation for transferability. During implementation of project UPDATE, the following research questions will be investigated: 1) How do pre-service teachers conceptualize engineering practices? 2) To what extent does pre-service teachers' knowledge of engineering practices change over time? 3) How do pre-service teachers perform on engineering design tasks within their respective undergraduate science courses? 4) In what ways does pre-service teachers' engagement in engineering design affect their science conceptual understandings relative to each task? 5) In what ways do pre-service teachers utilize their engineering design-based experiences from their undergraduate science courses to inform their lesson plans and implementation? and 6) What design-informed pedagogies do they employ in field experiences in the methods course? To measure learning of engineering practices and targeted science concepts, the research team will employ a mixed methods approach using inventories, concept assessments, interviews, and classroom observations. Anticipated project outcomes include a working, transferable, scalable model for elementary science teacher preparation that will include a collection of high quality, standards- and engineering design-based science tasks that emphasize the application of core disciplinary concepts; updated and enhanced undergraduate science courses that focus on learning science through design; enriched elementary science methods courses focused on the learning and teaching of science through engineering design; assessment tools that measure pre-service elementary teachers learning of engineering practices; and a portfolio of exemplars of student design artifacts, notebooks, and lesson plans. The model this project will develop and test, as well as the research findings that emanate from this project are likely to be very attractive and useful to other elementary teacher preparation programs across this nation that seek to incorporate engineering standards into their respective programs.