Preparing Next Generation Scientists through Teacher and Extension Science Partnerships and Schoolyard Citizen Science Investigations in Elementary Schools

随着下一代科学标准（NGSS）的发布，人们对设计和开发高质量的、与NGSS一致的专业发展产生了极大的兴趣和需求。《标准》的三维学习框架还需要更具创造性和非传统的专业发展模式，以支持不断变化的科学教育和教学格局。本项目旨在通过创新的协作式专业发展模式，在小学阶段解决这一关键需求。新罕布什尔大学将与新罕布什尔学校合作，将两组教育工作者——小学教师（正式）和合作推广科学志愿者（非正式）——聚集在一起，创建一个以社区为基础的专业发展伙伴关系，以提高教育工作者的自我效能感、科学内容知识和教学实践。该模型建立在两个小组都有可以共享和协作开发的专业知识的前提之上。教师和推广科学志愿者将与一个跨学科的教育专家团队一起，通过与当地相关的社区公民科学项目，学习如何为小学生设计和实施适当的、与ngss一致的科学课程。这是一种特别新颖的方法。虽然这两个群体都因其在各自领域（即正式和非正式环境）对基础科学教育的贡献而受到高度重视，但很少（如果有的话）现有的模型研究了在共享专业发展经验中使这两个群体合作的潜在影响。这个早期设计和开发项目将与来自新罕布什尔州城市和农村的大约50名小学教师（二年级至五年级）和30名推广科学志愿者合作并参与为期一年的专业发展计划。在三年的时间里，目标群体将参加与生物多样性、土壤科学、河流生态学、植物物候学和/或野生动物栖息地有关的讲习班和公民科学调查。项目内容和活动将与新一代科学标准和新罕布什尔州标准保持一致。本文将采用混合方法的方法来探讨小学教师的三个方面。随着时间的推移。研究问题将寻求解决：(1)小学教师发生了什么变化？自我效能教学科学，以及他们通过当地相关的公民科学项目整合NGSS科学实践的能力？(2)教师内容知识发生了哪些变化？教师内容知识的变化与教师自我效能感的变化有何关系？(3)推广科学志愿者与教师合作的过程是怎样的？数据将通过调查、访谈和文件/工件收集。形成性和总结性评价将由具有广泛相关专门知识的专家组成的咨询委员会提供。该项目的成果有可能影响全国的专业发展方法，并将通过优化小学教师在课堂上实施与当地相关的公民科学来支持提高公众科学素养和公众参与科学技术的目标。同样，通过促进志愿者与当地学校之间的联系，这种创新模式为推广科学志愿者影响社区提供了新的途径。该项目得到了发现研究K-12计划（DRK-12）的支持，该计划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。

With the release of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), great interest and demand has been placed on the design and development of high quality, NGSS-aligned professional development. The Standards' Three-Dimensional Learning Framework has also required more creative and non-conventional professional development models to support the changing landscape of science education and instruction. This project intends to address this critical need at the elementary school level through an innovative collaborative professional development model. The University of New Hampshire, in partnership with New Hampshire Schools, will bring together two groups of educators - elementary school teachers (formal) and cooperative extension science volunteers (informal) - to create a community-based professional development partnership that improves educators' self-efficacy, science content knowledge, and instructional practice. The model builds on the premise that both groups have expertise that can be shared and collaboratively developed. Together, with an interdisciplinary team of education experts, the teacher and extension science volunteers will learn how to design and implement appropriate, NGSS-aligned science lessons with elementary school students through locally relevant community-based, citizen science projects. This is a particularly novel approach. Though both groups are highly regarded for their contributions to elementary science education in their respective domains (i.e., formal and informal settings), few, if any, existing models examine the potential impact of partnering the groups together in a shared professional development experience. This Early Stage Design and Development project will partner and engage approximately 50 elementary school teachers (grades 2nd-5th) and 30 extension science volunteers from urban and rural New Hampshire in the year-long professional development program. Over a three-year period, the target groups will participate in workshops and citizen science investigations related to biodiversity, soil science, stream ecology, plant phenology and/or wildlife habitats. Program content and activities will be aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards and New Hampshire State Standards. A mixed methods approach will be employed to explore three aspects of the elementary school teacher?s efficacy over time. The research questions will seek to address: (1) What changes occur in elementary school teachers? self-efficacy teaching science and in their ability to integrate NGSS science practices through locally relevant citizen science projects? (2) What shifts occur in teacher content knowledge and how do the shifts in teacher content knowledge relate to the changes in teacher self-efficacy? (3) What is the process of collaboration between extension science volunteers and teachers? Data will be collected through surveys, interviews, and documents/artifacts. Formative and summative evaluations will be provided by an Advisory Board of experts with a broad range of relevant expertise. The outcomes of this project have the potential to impact professional development approaches across the country and will support the goal of increasing public scientific literacy and public engagement with science and technology by optimizing elementary teachers' implementation of locally-relevant citizen science in their classrooms. Similarly, by promoting a connection between the volunteers and local schools, this innovative model provides a new avenue for extension science volunteers to impact their communities.The project is supported by the Discovery Research K-12 program (DRK-12), which 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.