A Model of Educational Transformation: Developing a Community of Faculty Implementing Next Generation Physical Science and Everyday Thinking

该项目涉及科学教育的一个关键方面，即使小学教师具备物理科学概念的知识，并有信心让低年级学生参与探索物理科学。此外，该项目旨在解决总统科学和技术顾问委员会关于Excel报告的第一项建议，即“促进经验验证的教学实践的广泛采用”。该项目将解决与超越传播、实施、影响和可持续性相关的核心挑战。它将通过实施和研究现有的职前小学教师物理科学课程、符合下一代科学标准(NGSS)的下一代物理科学和日常思维(Next Gen PET)课程以及国家研究委员会K-12科学教育框架，让教师、物理教授和物理教育教授社区参与课程转型和持续专业发展。初步数据表明了这些材料的有效性。然而，这些材料的简单可获得性并不能确保它们被更广泛的受众采用；相反，研究表明，“制定和传播”办法的影响有限。相反，该项目将形成一个讲师社区，他们可以分享专业知识，并记录实施战略、挑战和经验教训。该社区将吸引来自全国各地的50名教职员工使用下一代PET进行课程转型，并将在项目期间接触到7000多名学生。长期影响将包括一大批潜在的小学教师，他们更好地准备好迎接向未来学生教授与NGSS一致的活动的挑战，以及一个由专家从业者和倡导者组成的社区，他们可以在更大的物理教育界从事教育变革。该项目以三个目标为指导。首先是建立并参与下一代PET实践社区，该社区由项目领导和教师实施者组成。实践社区(COP)将包括三个层次：项目领导层、称为专家干部(已确定)的有经验的PET指导员小组，以及更大的扩展干部。目标二是评估对教师和学生的直接影响。第三个目标是为教师变革和教育转型的研究基地做出贡献。该项目假设教员参与一个有组织和得到支持的COP将导致深远和可持续的教育变革。该项目的研究议程将通过调查一个首要问题来检验这一猜测：下一代PET实践社区在多大程度上导致了有效的教育变革？研究设计采用嵌入式系统或生态视角来看待人类发展，其中个别教员被认为影响社区的发展，而社区被视为影响教员的发展(Cole，1996；Rogoff，2003)。几个层面的研究将有助于解决上述首要问题。社区一级：缔约方会议是如何建立的，以及随着时间的推移，缔约方会议是如何围绕有效的教学实践制定话语规范的？教员一级(A)：缔约方会议是否支持教员应对与课程转型努力相关的已知挑战(这些挑战往往是改变标准传播模式的障碍)？教员水平(B)：随着时间的推移，教员采用下一代PET材料和核心教学实践的部分和有条件的方式是什么？广泛的社区层面：COP模式在多大程度上影响了没有直接参与COP的教职员工？最终，这个项目将有助于更有见识、更有科学素养的人群，以及关于教育转型和教师变动的文献。该项目有助于改善本科教育，因为它符合NSF-IUSE框架，该框架“促进使用STEM学习和教育研究的新的和令人兴奋的方法，以应对机构内和机构内以及特定学科内和跨学科的STEM教育挑战。”

This project addresses a critical aspect of science education, that of preparing elementary teachers to be knowledgeable of physical science concepts and confident in engaging early grade students in exploring physical science. Moreover, this project seeks to address the first recommendation of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology Engage to Excel report, to "catalyze widespread adoption of empirically validated teaching practices." This project will tackle a core challenge associated with moving beyond dissemination to implementation, impact, and sustainability. It will engage a community of faculty, professors of physics and of physics education, in course transformation and continued professional development through the implementation of and research on an existing physical science curriculum for pre-service elementary teachers, the Next Generation Physical Science and Everyday Thinking (Next Gen PET) curriculum, which is aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), and the National Research Council K-12 Science Education Framework. Preliminary data indicate the effectiveness of these materials. However, the simple availability of these materials does not ensure their adoption by a wider audience; rather, research indicates that "develop and disseminate" approaches have limited impact. This project will instead form a community of instructors that can share expertise, and document implementation strategies, challenges, and lessons learned. This community will engage 50 faculty members from across the country in course transformation using Next Gen PET, and will reach more than 7000 students during the project. Long-term impacts will include a large group of prospective elementary teachers better prepared to meet the challenges of teaching NGSS-aligned activities to their future students, as well as a community of expert practitioners and advocates who can engage in educational transformation in the larger physics education community. Three goals guide the project. The first is to establish and engage the Next Gen PET community of practice, consisting of project leadership and faculty implementers. The community of practice (CoP) will include three tiers: the project leadership, a small group of experienced PET instructors called the expert-cadre (already identified), and a larger expanded-cadre. Goal two is to evaluate direct impacts on faculty and students. The third goal is to contribute to the research base on faculty change and educational transformation. This project hypothesizes that faculty involvement in a structured and supported CoP will lead to far-reaching and sustainable educational transformation. The project's research agenda will examine this conjecture by investigating an overarching question: To what extent does the Next Gen PET community of practice lead to effective educational transformation? The research design uses an embedded systems or ecological perspective on human development where individual faculty are seen to influence the development of the community and the community is seen as influencing the development of faculty (Cole, 1996; Rogoff, 2003). Several levels of research will contribute to addressing the overarching question above. Community-level: How does the CoP get established and how does the CoP develop discursive norms around effective pedagogical practice over time? Faculty-level (a): Does the CoP support faculty in responding to known challenges associated with course transformation efforts (which are often barriers to change in the standard dissemination models)? Faculty-level (b): What are the partial and conditional ways faculty take-up the Next Gen PET materials and core pedagogical practices over time? Broad Community-level: To what extent does the CoP model impact faculty not directly involved in the CoP? Ultimately, this project will contribute to a more informed, scientifically literate population and to the literature on educational transformation and faculty change. This project contributes to the improvement of undergraduate education as it attends to the NSF-IUSE framework which "promotes new and exciting approaches to using research on STEM learning and education to address STEM education challenges across and within institutions, as well as within and across specific disciplines."