Developing and Validating Assessments to Measure and Build Elementary Teachers' Content Knowledge for Teaching about Matter and Its Interactions within Teacher Education Settings

这是一项早期设计和开发协作工作，提交给发现研究PreK-12 （DRK-12）计划的评估链。它的基本目的是检查和收集初步效度证据，用于评估和构建幼儿园-五年级科学教师关于教师教育环境中物质及其相互作用的教学内容知识（CKT）。本主题的选择将有助于概念验证的发展，以确定是否以及如何开发和使用CKT评估来衡量和构建小学教师的CKT。此外，它将促进以证据为中心的设计过程的快速和有针对性的改进，该过程可以应用于其他科学主题。计划将CKT评估和相关资源整合到教师教育课程中，以支持教师将其内容知识应用于教与学科学工作的能力。该项目将结合先前项目的努力，并参与基础研究，以检验教师CKT的性质，并建立有关CKT评估材料的生产性使用和设计的理论和假设，以支持形成性和总结性使用。同样，该项目将创建一组描述性案例，突出说明这些工具的使用。了解如何利用CKT科学评估作为总结性工具来评估当前的努力，并作为形成性工具来建立小学教师的专业，基于实践的知识将是这项工作的中心焦点。主要的研究问题将是：(1)小学科学教师关于物质及其相互作用的认知的本质是什么？(2)教师教育如何支持准小学教师CKT的发展？为了解决研究问题，本研究将采用混合方法、基于设计的研究方法来收集各种有效性证据来源，以支持CKT工具、教学任务和辅助材料的形成性和总结性使用。该项目将围绕两个主要的研究和发展方向进行组织。第一篇文章将建立对小学教师CKT本质的实证理解。第二部分将侧重于开发和研究如何在教师教育环境中形成CKT教学任务，以构建小学教师的CKT。此外，该项目将完善一个概念框架，以确定构成科学教学工作的特定科学教学实践。这也将用于评估教师在认识、理解和响应他们在教授科学时所从事的内容密集型实践时所利用的CKT。为此，该研究将建立在先前nsf资助工作的两个现有框架上。第一个最初是为中小学英语语言艺术和数学教师创建CKT评估而开发的。第二部分是初级科学教师所面临的内容挑战。它是由小学科学教师使用的教学工具和实践组织起来的，比如科学模型和解释。这些教学实践跨越了《下一代科学标准》（NGSS; leading States, 2013）学科链中所涉及的内容。该项目的主要成果将是建立和完善有关小学教师CKT本质的理论，以及如何有效地设计CKT基础科学评估材料以形成和总结目的的知识。该项目还将开发一套有效可靠的评估方法，对CKT问题的熟练程度提供解释，并可用于监督小学教师的学习。一个外部咨询委员会将对项目的活动和进展提供形成性和总结性反馈。DRK-12项目旨在通过研究和开发创新资源、模型和工具，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。该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努力的基础上，为拟议的项目提供理论和实证依据。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。

This is an Early-Stage Design and Development collaborative effort submitted to the assessment strand of the Discovery Research PreK-12 (DRK-12) Program. Its fundamental purpose is to examine and gather initial validity evidence for assessments designed to measure and build Kindergarten-fifth grade science teachers' content knowledge for teaching (CKT) about matter and its interactions in teacher education settings. The selection of this topic will facilitate the development of a proof-of-concept to determine if and how CKT assessments can be developed and used to measure and build elementary teachers' CKT. Also, it will facilitate rapid and targeted refinement of an evidence-centered design process that could be applied to other science topics. Plans are to integrate CKT assessments and related resources into teacher education courses to support the ability of teachers to apply their content knowledge to the work of teaching and learning science. The project will combine efforts from prior projects and engage in foundational research to examine the nature of teachers' CKT and to build theories and hypotheses about the productive use and design of CKT assessment materials to support formative and summative uses. Likewise, the project will create a set of descriptive cases highlighting the use of these tools. Understanding how CKT science assessments can be leveraged as summative tools to evaluate current efforts, and as formative tools to build elementary teachers' specialized, practice-based knowledge will be the central foci of this effort. The main research questions will be: (1) What is the nature of elementary science teachers' CKT about matter and its interactions?; and (2) How can the development of prospective elementary teachers' CKT be supported within teacher education? To address the research questions, the study will employ a mixed-methods, design-based research approach to gather various sources of validity evidence to support the formative and summative use of the CKT instrument, instructional tasks, and supporting materials. The project will be organized around two main research and development strands. Strand One will build an empirically grounded understanding of the nature of elementary teachers' CKT. Strand Two will focus on developing and studying how CKT instructional tasks can be used formatively within teacher education settings to build elementary teachers' CKT. In addition, the project will refine a conceptual framework that identifies the science-specific teaching practices that comprise the work of teaching science. This will be used as well to assess the CKT that teachers leverage when recognizing, understanding, and responding to the content-intensive practices that they engage in as they teach science. To that end, the study will build on two existing frameworks from prior NSF-funded work. The first was originally developed to create CKT assessments for elementary and middle school teachers in English Language Arts and mathematics. The second focuses on the content challenges that novice elementary science teachers face. It is organized by the instructional tools and practices that elementary science teachers use, such as scientific models and explanations. These instructional practices cut across those addressed in the Next Generation Science Standards' (NGSS; Lead States, 2013) disciplinary strands. The main project's outcomes will be knowledge that builds and refines theories about the nature of elementary teachers' CKT, and how CKT elementary science assessment materials can be designed productively for formative and summative purposes. The project will also result in the development of a suite of valid and reliable assessments that afford interpretations on CKT matter proficiency and can be used to monitor elementary teachers learning. An external advisory board will provide formative and summative feedback on the project's activities and progress.The DRK-12 Program 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. Projects in the program build on fundamental research in STEM education and prior research and development efforts that provide theoretical and empirical justification for proposed projects.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.