Case Studies of a Suite of Next Generation Science Instructional, Assessment and Professional Development Materials in Diverse Middle School Settings

新的国家科学标准是雄心勃勃的，需要重大的变化，以教学实践，伴随着课程，评估和专业发展材料的协调系统。该项目通过设计一套协调的教学、评估和教师专业学习材料，试图制定下一代科学标准背后的愿景，来解决这些标准的愿景和实施之间的差距。该研究的重点是使用最先进的技术设计这些材料，以创建围绕三项调查组织的为期8周的沉浸式生命科学现场体验。两个州的城市学生班级将收集当地昆虫物种的数据，目的是了解，分享和批评环境管理解决方案。一个集成的学习技术系统，学习导航器，利用大数据来组织学生收集的数据，对话，课程，评估信息。学习导航器还将扩大教师在指导和培养下一代科学学习方面的作用。该项目通过深入探索标准文件的目标来推进该领域。该研究开始解决在下一代科学标准的背景下，什么东西在何时、何地以及对谁有效的问题。该项目使用了一系列的案例研究，以创建，测试，评估和完善系统的教学，评估和专业发展的材料，因为他们是在两个不同的城市学校环境制定。它的设计对象是宾夕法尼亚州和加州的文化、种族和语言多样、资源不足的学校的330名学生和22名教师。这些学校位于经济困难的社区，学生在州标准化考试中表现不佳。它将记录下一代科学培养教材的团队合作建设过程;为有效和可靠的教学单元制定评估任务;并跟踪教师使用教学和评估材料的模式。该研究还将记录学生发展下一代科学知识时是否发现新的误解，比较两个州两个不同学校的调查结果。数据收集将包括：（a）多种类型的数据，以建立教育评估的有效性和可靠性，（B）设计、评估和使用课堂观察协议，以收集有关支持这一愿景的课堂实践的频率和分类程度的信息，以及（c）通过跨案例分析进行案例研究，连续几年对10个单独的课堂制定进行分析。这将导致更强和更好地理解什么是强大的下一代科学学习和课堂条件，教学材料，评估和教师发展-促进它。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

New state science standards are ambitious and require important changes to instructional practices, accompanied by a coordinated system of curriculum, assessment, and professional development materials. This project addresses a gap between vision and implementation of such standards by designing a coordinated suite of instructional, assessment and teacher professional learning materials that attempt to enact the vision behind the Next Generation Science Standards. The study focuses on the design of such materials using state-of-the-art technology to create an 8-week long, immersive, life science field experience organized around three investigations. Classes of urban students in two states will collect data on local insect species with the goal of understanding, sharing, and critiquing environmental management solutions. An integrated learning technology system, the Learning Navigator, draws on big data to organize student-gathered data, dialogue, lessons, an assessment information. The Learning Navigator will also amplify the teacher's role in guiding and fostering next generation science learning. This project advances the field through an in-depth exploration of the goals for the standards documents. The study begins to address questions about what works when, where, and for whom in the context of the Next Generation Science Standards. The project uses a series of case studies to create, test, evaluate and refine the system of instructional, assessment and professional development materials as they are enacted in two distinct urban school settings. It is designed with 330 students and 22 teachers in culturally, racially and linguistically diverse, under-resourced schools in Pennsylvania and California. These schools are located in neighborhoods that are economically challenged and have students who demonstrate patterns of underperformance on state standardized tests. It will document the process of team co-construction of Next Generation Science-fostering instructional materials; develop assessment tasks for an instructional unit that are valid and reliable; and, track the patterns of use of the instructional and assessment materials by teachers. The study will also record if new misconceptions are revealed as students develop Next Generation Science knowledge, comparing findings across two diverse school locations in two states. Data collection will include: (a) multiple types of data to establish validity and reliability of educational assessments, (b) the design, evaluation and use of a classroom observation protocol to gather information on both frequency and categorical degree of classroom practices that support the vision, and (c) consecutive years of ten individual classroom enactments through case studies analyzed through cross-case analyses. This should lead to stronger and better developed understandings about what constitutes strong Next Generation Science learning and the classroom conditions, instructional materials, assessments and teacher development -- that foster it.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.