Building Capacity to Prepare STEM Majors to Become STEM Educators

培养STEM专业学生成为STEM教育者的能力建设项目是太平洋路德大学（PLU）的一个能力建设项目，为Noyce Track 1提案做准备。该项目的主要目标包括建设培养高技能K-12 STEM教师的机构能力，特别是为边缘化社区服务的机构能力，以及深化与周边学区的伙伴关系。该项目旨在开发一门本科课程，以加深职前教师对STEM内容和教学法的了解。作为新课程的一部分，职前教师将在文化和语言多样化的公立学校获得实地经验。职前教师主管将接受有关如何最好地促进STEM教学发展的培训。该项目还将创建一个资源库，其中包含课程材料和STEM相关的多样性响应文献，供PLU学生和当地学校合作伙伴使用。该项目旨在通过以下方式培养培养高素质STEM教师的能力：(i)通过咨询委员会与地方和区域伙伴关系进行强有力的合作；（ii）通过具有文化响应性的课程让不同的学生群体参与STEM学习。参与该项目的职前教师将是来自所有STEM学科的本科生，包括生物、化学、物理、地球科学、数学和计算机科学。该项目将开发一个跨学科的、以研究为基础的课程，其中包括K-8课堂体验，以加深学生对科学内容和教学法的认识。通过跨学科伙伴关系的发展，学生将与当地K-12教师共同规划和教授科学课程。学生实地实习将在三个当地学区（Tacoma、Franklin Pierce和Clover Park）进行，这些学区为贫困社区的不同学生群体提供服务，并有意培养他们的STEM教学能力。PLU与当地学区之间的互利伙伴关系有可能为PLU学生带来真正的学校和大学体验。除了对职前教师知识的影响外，这些经验旨在加强学区学生的STEM教育，促进学校与大学的STEM合作，改善学校和PLU的教与学，并为当地教师提供新的材料和智力资源。顾问委员会将包括来自普吉特海湾教育服务区、史密森尼科学教育中心项目（科学教育改革的领导和支持）董事会、PLU教职员工和系统生物学研究所的成员。通过基于设计的研究（DBR）方法，该项目旨在就如何利用合作来创建有效的stem课程、改善教师的准备和发展以及促进互利的伙伴关系产生知识。实现变更的DBR方法涉及实现设计、实现、分析和重新设计的多个迭代。该项目是在DBR上下文中收集和分析观察、调查和学生反思等数据的第一个迭代。传播工作将侧重于在地区和国家的STEM和教育会议以及科学教育和教师教育期刊上分享该项目的成果。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Building Capacity to Prepare STEM Majors to Become STEM Educators project is a Capacity Building project at Pacific Lutheran University (PLU), in preparation for a Noyce Track 1 proposal. The project's primary goals include building institutional capacity to produce highly skilled K-12 STEM teachers, particularly for service in marginalized communities, as well as deepening partnerships with surrounding school districts. The project aims to develop an undergraduate course that will deepen preservice teachers' knowledge of STEM content and pedagogy. As a part of the new course, preservice teachers will have field experiences in culturally and linguistically diverse public schools. Preservice teacher supervisors will receive training on how to best foster STEM teaching development. The project will also create a resource library with curriculum materials and STEM related diversity-responsive literature for use by PLU students and local school partners. This project seeks to build capacity to prepare highly qualified STEM teachers through (i) strong collaborations with local and regional partnerships via an advisory board and (ii) the engagement of diverse student populations in STEM learning through culturally responsive curriculum. Preservice teachers participating in the project will be undergraduates from all STEM disciplines including biology, chemistry, physics, geosciences, mathematics, and computer science. The project will develop an interdisciplinary, research-based course that includes K-8 classroom experiences to deepen students' knowledge of science content and pedagogy. Through the development of interdisciplinary partnerships, students will co-plan and teach science lessons with local K-12 teachers. Student field placements will occur in three local school districts (Tacoma, Franklin Pierce, and Clover Park) that serve diverse student populations in poverty affected communities and that are intentionally building their STEM teaching capacity. The mutually beneficial partnership between PLU and local school districts has the potential to result in authentic school and university-based experiences for PLU students. In addition to their impact on preservice teacher knowledge, these experiences aim to enhance STEM education for school district students, foster school-university STEM collaborations, enhance teaching and learning in the schools and PLU, and provide new materials and intellectual resources for local teachers. The advisory board will include members from the Puget Sound Educational Service District, the Board of the Smithsonian Science Education Center's program (Leadership and Support for Science Education Reform), PLU faculty, and the Institute for Systems Biology. Through a design-based research (DBR) approach, this project aims to generate knowledge on how to leverage collaborations to create effective STEM-focused course offerings, improve teacher preparation and development, and foster mutually beneficial partnerships. The DBR approach to bring about change involves implementing multiple iterations of design, implementation, analysis, and redesign. This project is the first iteration that will collect and analyze data such as observations, surveys, and student reflections, within the DBR context. Dissemination efforts will focus on sharing the project's results at STEM and Education conferences as well as in science education and teacher education journals, both regionally and nationally.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.