Opening Pathways into Engineering Through an Illinois Physics and Secondary Schools Partnership

该项目将进行研究和教师专业发展(PD)，以适应大学水平的教学材料，供高中教师在他们的物理课程中实施。在高中接受高质量的高级物理教学，可以为学生打开获得大学STEM学位的道路，让他们做好准备，迎接在把关本科物理课程时面临的挑战。然而，在全国范围内，获得这种高级物理教学的机会并不普遍，特别是在农村、城市和低收入服务区，在这些地区，教师的教学资源可能更加有限，物理教师孤立、准备不足和场外教学最为常见。伊利诺伊州物理与中学(IPASS)伙伴计划通过将来自不同学校背景的伊利诺伊州高中物理教师聚集在一起，参加围绕大学级教学材料构建的密集PD体验，以应对学生机会方面的这些差异。该计划将帮助教师适应、采用高质量的、与大学一致的物理教学，并将其融入课堂，从而为学生进入STEM教育和职业生涯开辟更公平、更清晰和更可行的途径。IPass伙伴计划让伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳-香槟分校(U of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)的教育研究人员、大学物理教师和教师专业发展人员与在职高中物理教师合作，调整大学物理课程和教学，以适应他们高中课堂的背景。该项目将调整伊利诺伊大学本科物理课程的两个关键组成部分，使其适用于高中：(1)使用基于网络的“翻转”平台Smart物理，它包含在线预讲、预实验和家庭作业；(2)使用以科学技能发展为目标的研究型物理实验室活动，利用iOLab无线实验室系统-一个紧凑的设备，包含数百个物理实验室所需的所有传感器，具有支持快速数据收集和分析的界面。该计划采用了两个支持教师持续深入参与的PD元素：(1)在项目结束时逐步扩大教师队伍至40人，完成一系列物理教学任务，并与物理教学社区合作，为其特定的课堂环境开发高级物理教学；(2)参与暑期强化PD课程，包括每周与大学项目工作人员举行PD会议，这些会议重视教师在设计课程时的机构作用，并在教师之间形成持久的专业关系。IPass伙伴计划还解决了教师适应高级选修课程(AP)物理标准变化时对指导、支持和资源的需求。最近修订的高中物理课程强调对中心物理原理和科学实践的深刻概念理解，将通过以探究为基础的实验室工作学习。计划中的研究将解决三个核心问题：(1)iPass如何影响教师的实践？(2)该计划是否鼓励学生精通物理，并鼓励他们在课程之外追求STEM主题？(3)伊利诺伊大学课程的哪些方面必须适应高中课堂的结构，以最好地服务于高中生？为了回答这些问题，将收集几个数据流：研究人员将收集教师全年PD活动和课堂教学的教学文物和视频记录，以追踪教师教学和教学发展的发展。参与教师的学生将在物理课程前后接受物理知识、态度和未来职业抱负的调查，并录制学生小组作业的视频，收集学生的书面课程作业和成绩。最后，高中生将在毕业后接受关于他们STEM教育和职业发展轨迹的调查。这个项目的结果将是一个伊利诺伊州的物理教师社区，他们致力于不断开发高级高中物理课程，教师记录的这些课程适用于一系列学校和课堂环境的例子，以及一套旨在支持学生未来STEM机会和参与的研究型PD原则。探索研究K-12计划(DRK-12)旨在通过研究和开发创新资源、模型和工具(RMT)，显著提高学前班学生和教师的科学、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经验上的证明。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project will conduct research and teacher professional development (PD) to adapt university-level instructional materials for implementation by high school teachers in their physics courses. Access to high-quality, advanced physics instruction in high school can open pathways for students to attain university STEM degrees by preparing them for the challenges faced in gatekeeping undergraduate physics courses. Yet, across the nation, access to such advanced physics instruction is not universally available, particularly in rural, urban, and low-income serving districts, in which instructional resources for teachers may be more limited, and physics teacher isolation, under-preparation and out-of-field teaching are most common. The Illinois Physics and Secondary Schools (IPaSS) Partnership Program responds to these disparities in student access by bringing together Illinois high school physics teachers from a diverse set of school contexts to participate in intensive PD experiences structured around university-level instructional materials. This program will help teachers adapt, adopt, and integrate high-quality, university-aligned physics instruction into their classrooms, in turn opening more equitable, clear, and viable pathways for students into STEM education and careers. The IPaSS Partnership Program puts education researchers, university physics instructors, and teacher professional development staff at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (U of I) in collaboration with in-service high school physics teachers to adapt university physics curricula and pedagogies to fit the context of their high school classrooms. The project will adapt two key components of U of I’s undergraduate physics curriculum for high school use by: (1) using a web-based “flipped” platform, smartPhysics, which contains online pre-lectures, pre-labs and homework and (2) using research-based physics lab activities targeting scientific skill development, utilizing the iOLab wireless lab system – a compact device that contains all sensors necessary for hundreds of physics labs with an interface that supports quick data collection and analysis. The program adopts two PD elements that support sustained, in-depth teacher engagement: (1) incremental expansion of the pool of teachers to a cohort of 40 by the end of the project, with a range of physics teaching assignments and work collaboratively with a physics teaching community to develop advanced physics instruction for their particular classroom contexts, (2) involvement in a combination of intensive summer PD sessions containing weekly PD meetings with university project staff that value teachers’ agency in designing their courses, and the formation of lasting professional relationships between teachers. The IPaSS Partnership Program also addresses needs for guidance, support and resources as teachers adapt to the shifts in Advanced Placement (AP) Physics standards. The recent revised high school physics curriculum that emphasizes deep conceptual understanding of central physical principles and scientific practices will be learned through the inquiry-based laboratory work. The planned research will address three central questions: (1) How does IPaSS impact teachers’ practice? (2) Does the program encourage student proficiency in physics and their pursuit of STEM topics beyond the course? (3) What aspects of the U of I curricula must be adapted to the structures of the high school classroom to best serve high school student populations? To answer these questions, several streams of data will be collected: Researchers will collect instructional artifacts and video recordings from teachers’ PD activities and classroom teaching throughout the year to trace the development of teachers’ pedagogical and instructional development. The students of participating teachers will be surveyed on their physics knowledge, attitudes, and future career aspirations before and after their physics course, video recordings of student groupwork will be made, and student written coursework and grades will be collected. Finally, high school students will be surveyed post-graduation about their STEM education and career trajectories. The result of this project will be a community of Illinois physics teachers who are engaged in continual development of advanced high school physics curricula, teacher-documented examples of these curricula suited for a range of school and classroom contexts, and a research-based set of PD principles aimed at supporting students’ future STEM opportunities and engagement.The Discovery Research K-12 program (DRK-12) 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.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.