Networking Urban Resources with Teachers and University to enRich Early Childhood Science (NURTURES) Phase II: Expansion and Evaluation

在成功前期工作的基础上，托莱多大学的这个项目，将城市资源与教师和大学联网，以丰富幼儿科学(STEM)：研究教师专业发展和家庭参与对幼儿成绩的影响，同时以幼儿教师和家庭/照顾者为目标，努力建设双方的能力，以促进学生对科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)学习的兴趣。教师参加为期两周的暑期专业发展计划，并在整个学年以个性化指导和参与专业学习社区的形式获得支持。家庭每年四次收到科学调查包(从学校寄回家)，并参加全年的社区STEM活动。问答包和社区活动鼓励科学探究、讨论和对关键科学思想的进一步探索。项目参与者将包括俄亥俄州和密歇根州的120名教师、2400名3年级学龄前儿童和7200多名家庭成员。该项目由发现研究K-12项目(DRK-12)资助，该项目旨在通过研究和开发创新资源、模式和工具，显著加强K-12年级学生和教师的STEM学习和教学。这一后续项目旨在：1)根据下一代科学标准(NGSS)改变儿童早期科学教学，以显著提高学生的科学、读写能力和数学成绩；2)让PreK-3学生的家庭参与科学探究实践，以显著提高学生的科学、素养和数学成绩。这个后续项目的一个特别重要的方面是对每个组成部分(教师专业发展与家庭参与)如何影响学生学习的研究努力。该项目将使用随机控制组研究设计(RCT)来比较三组学生的成就结果：教师接受专业发展和家庭参与活动的儿童，教师只接受专业发展的儿童和控制组。该项目将使用标准化测试(Terranova Complete Battery)来衡量K-3年级儿童在科学、数学、阅读和早期识字方面的学习成果。科学透镜评估将衡量学龄前儿童的科学学习情况。该项目将产生一个面向教师和家庭的基于NGSS的方案，该方案已经过系统的测试，最终可能扩大到广泛的影响研究和传播。

Building on successful prior work, this University of Toledo project, Networking Urban Resources with Teachers and University to enRich Early Childhood Science (NURTURES): Researching the impact of teacher professional development and family engagement on PreK-3 achievement, simultaneously targets young children's teachers and families/caregivers in an effort to build both parties' capacity to promote student interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) learning. Teachers participate in a two-week summer professional development program and receive support across the school year in the form of individualized coaching and participation in professional learning communities. Families receive science inquiry packets (sent home from school) four times a year and attend community STEM events throughout the year. Inquiry packets and community events encourage science inquiry, discourse, and further exploration of key science ideas. Project participants will include 120 teachers, 2,400 PreK-3 children and over 7,200 family members in Ohio and Michigan. The project is funded by the Discovery Research K-12 program (DRK-12), which seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of STEM by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. Extending the initial NURTURES project, developed with NSF Math and Science Partnership funding, this follow-up project aims to: 1) Transform early childhood science teaching based upon Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) to measurably increase student science, literacy, and math achievement, and 2) Engage families of PreK-3 students in science inquiry practices to measurably improve student science, literacy, and math achievement. A particularly important facet of this follow-up project is the research effort to parse and understand how each component (teacher professional development versus family engagement) impacts student learning. The project will use a randomized control group research design (RCT) to compare student achievement outcomes among three groups: Children whose teachers received professional development and family engagement activities, children whose teachers received only professional development, and a control group. The project will use standardized tests (the TerraNova Complete Battery) to measure impact on learning gains in science, mathematics, reading, and early literacy for children in grades K- 3. The Lens on Science assessment will measure science learning in preschool children. This project will result in an NGSS-based program for teachers and families that has been systematically tested and may ultimately be scaled up to an impact study and dissemination at a broad level.