Project Accelerate: University - High School AP Physics Partnerships

探索研究K-12项目（DRK-12）旨在通过研究和开发创新资源、模型和工具（rmt），显著提高pre -12学生和教师对科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）的学习和教学。DRK-12计划中的项目建立在STEM教育的基础研究和先前的研究和开发工作的基础上，为拟议的项目提供了理论和实证依据。Project Accelerate将AP物理1和AP物理2引入到不提供AP物理课程的学校。该项目将使249名学生（大多是服务不足的学生，即经济上处于不利地位的学生、少数民族学生和少数族裔学生）能够参加AP物理课程，否则这些学生将无法获得AP物理课程。这些学生要么通过完成一个高度互动、概念丰富、严格的在线课程来准备AP物理1考试，并完成虚拟实验室实验，要么参加一个认可的AP课程，其中还包括每周的动手实验。在这个项目中，将会有更多的学生来测试和完善这个模型，并将其扩展到AP物理2。此外，模型复制将在两个试验点之外的另一个站点进行测试。在马萨诸塞州波士顿大学的第一年试点中，结果表明，充分参与项目加速的学生(1)至少与传统课堂中的同龄人一样做好了在AP物理1考试中取得成功的准备；(2)比参加之前更倾向于参与额外的STEM项目，并追求STEM领域和项目。在试点研究的第二年，加速项目的规模翻了一番，并与西弗吉尼亚大学合作扩大了规模。根据试点年的经验教训，正在进行重大改革，预计将提高成功率。“加速项目”为一个重大的国家问题提供了一个潜在的解决方案，即接受高质量物理教育的年轻人太少，往往导致这些学生在大学里没有做好进入STEM职业和项目的准备。项目加速是一个可扩展的模式，使这些学生能够在STEM领域取得成功，在全国各地的站点都可以复制（不仅在物理方面，而且可能在14个AP科目上）。该项目可能会为数万名有动力但服务不足的学生带来成功，这些学生就读的学校没有机会参加严格的STEM课程。加速项目结合了学生家庭学校的支持结构、专门针对服务不足人群的需求而设计的私人在线课程，以及动手实验经验，使服务不足的学生也能接触到AP物理。该项目的目标是：1)在三年内增加249名学生，完成美国大学理事会认可的AP物理1课程或AP物理1预备课程；2)增加一个额外的复制站点，到项目结束时共有三所大学参与；3)制定正式的协议，以便“加速项目”能够在全国各地的站点轻松、准确地复制；4)制定正式的协议，使项目能够以合理的成本（每个学生参与者约500美元）自我维持；5)建立AP物理2课程，为通过AP物理1课程的学生提供第二年的严格经验，帮助他们进一步为大学和职业成功做好准备；6)创建额外的丰富的互动内容，如模拟和基于视频的实验，以添加到AP物理1准备课程中，并构建AP物理2准备课程-关键是积极地让学生参与到材料中，并包括脚手架来支持目标人群；7)进行定性和定量的教育研究，找出适合目标人群的课程特点，并找出需要改进的地方。这个项目将支持越来越多的关于在线和混合课程（结合在线和面对面的组成部分）有效性的研究，并调查这些课程在代表性不足的高中生中的使用情况。

The Discovery Research K-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools (RMTs). Projects in the DRK-12 program build on fundamental research in STEM education and prior research and development efforts that provide theoretical and empirical justification for proposed projects. Project Accelerate brings AP Physics 1 and, eventually, AP Physics 2 to students attending schools that do not offer AP Physics. The project will enable 249 students (mostly under-served, i.e., economically disadvantaged, ethnic minorities and racial minorities) to enroll in AP Physics - the students would otherwise not have access. These students either prepare for the AP Physics 1 exam by completing a highly interactive, conceptually rich, rigorous online course, complete with virtual lab experiments, or participate in an accredited AP course that also includes weekly hands-on labs. In this project, the model will be tested and perfected with more students and expanded to AP Physics 2. Further, model replication will be tested at an additional site, beyond the two pilot sites. In the first pilot year in Massachusetts at Boston University, results indicated that students fully engaged in Project Accelerate are (1) at least as well prepared as peer groups in traditional classrooms to succeed on the AP Physics 1 exam and (2) more inclined to engage in additional STEM programs and to pursue STEM fields and programs than they were prior to participating. In the second year of the pilot study, Project Accelerate doubled in size and expanded in partnership with West Virginia University. From lessons learned in the pilot years, key changes are being made, which are expected to increase success. Project Accelerate provides a potential solution to a significant national problem of too few under-served young people having access to high quality physics education, often resulting in these students being ill prepared to enter STEM careers and programs in college. Project Accelerate is a scalable model to empower these students to achieve STEM success, replicable at sites across the country (not only in physics, but potentially across fourteen AP subjects). The project could potentially lead to the success of tens of thousands of motivated but under-served students who attend schools where the opportunity to engage in a rigorous STEM curriculum is not available. Project Accelerate blends the supportive structures of a student's home school, a private online course designed specifically with the needs of under-served populations in mind, and hands-on laboratory experiences, to make AP Physics accessible to under-served students. The goals of the project are: 1) have an additional 249 students, over three years, complete the College Board-accredited AP Physics 1 course or the AP Physics 1 Preparatory course; 2) add an additional replication site, with a total of three universities participating by the end of the project; 3) develop formal protocols so Project Accelerate can be replicated easily and with fidelity at sites across the nation; 4) develop formal protocols so the project can be self-sustaining at a reasonable cost (about $500 per student participant); 5) build an AP Physics 2 course, giving students who come through AP Physics 1 a second year of rigorous experience to help further prepare them for college and career success; 6) create additional rich interactive content, such as simulations and video-based experiments, to add to what is already in the AP Physics 1 prep course and to build the AP Physics 2 prep course - the key is to actively engage students with the material and include scaffolding to support the targeted population; 7) carry out qualitative and quantitative education research, identifying features of the program that work for the target population, as well as identifying areas for improvement. This project will support the growing body of research on the effectiveness of online and blended (combining online and in-person components) courses, and investigate the use of such courses with under-represented high school students.