Developing a Practice-based Interdisciplinary Teacher Preparation Program at the Intersection of Science, Second Language, and Literacy Acquisition

在科学、第二语言和读写能力的交叉点上制定基于实践的跨学科教师准备计划

• 批准号: 2012970
• 负责人: Su Gao
• 金额: $ 30万
• 依托单位: The University of Central Florida Board of Trustees
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-10-01 至 2024-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2012970&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Developing; Practice; based; Interdisciplinary; Teacher

This project aims to serve the national interest in high quality STEM education. To this end, it plans to improve curricula in a secondary science teacher education program. In addition to the consistently low performance of U.S. secondary students on international tests, a significant and consistent national gap exists in the science achievement of English learners versus native English-speaking students. One-third of all English learners in the U.S. are in secondary school settings. However, most secondary preservice teacher education programs do not include an explicit English learner focus in science methods courses. As a result, many teachers lack experience and coursework in the language and literacy demands of teaching science to English learners. This project proposes to focus on scientific inquiry, second language learning, and science-specific literacy to better prepare secondary (Grades 6-12) and preservice teachers to teach science to all students, including English learners. A successful new curriculum created through this project could be adapted by other science teacher preparation programs. Expected outcomes of the project include an increase in new teachers’ lesson planning and teaching skills using approaches that: 1) Engage students in science and engineering practices; 2) Implement skills and strategies for scaffolding the learning of English learners; 3) Integrate science-specific literacy.Teacher educators at the University of Central Florida aim to create a practice-based, interdisciplinary program that targets preservice teacher preparation over four undergraduate courses during two semesters. These courses will include two courses at the University and two internship courses in the local school district, the Seminole County Public Schools. Pre-service teachers will be engaged in a series of practices including focused inquiry, directed observations, and guided practice to learn how to teach science to all students. Mixed methods research will be used to explore research questions that include the impact on teacher’s lesson planning and teaching skills and learning outcomes of students who are taught by these new teachers. The pre-service teachers’ performance will be compared with those who graduated from the University’s secondary science education programs before implementing this programmatic transformation. The teaching effectiveness of pre-service teachers will also be measured by comparing the learning outcomes of their students in the internship classrooms with those in the control group. Specific practices and conditions of the project that lead to improvements in the pre-service teachers’ skills will also be explored. An ongoing project evaluation will be conducted throughout the three project years. The evaluation will engage all stakeholders in the assessment cycle to provide feedback and inform the research team about progress toward the objectives and potential improvements to the project design. Dissemination activities will include a project website, peer-reviewed publications, and national and international conference presentations. The resulting curriculum will be shared with practitioner audiences, including science teachers in secondary science classrooms and science methods course instructors in diverse undergraduate teacher education programs across the nation. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.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.

该项目旨在服务于高质量STEM教育的国家利益。 为此，它计划改进中学科学教师教育方案的课程。除了美国中学生在国际测试中的表现一直很低之外，英语学习者与以英语为母语的学生在科学成就方面存在着显著而持续的国家差距。美国三分之一的英语学习者都在中学学习。然而，大多数中学副教师教育计划不包括一个明确的英语学习者在科学方法课程的重点。 因此，许多教师在向英语学习者教授科学的语言和读写要求方面缺乏经验和课程。该项目建议将重点放在科学探究、第二语言学习和科学素养上，以更好地培养中学（6-12年级）和中学教师向所有学生（包括英语学习者）教授科学。通过该项目创建的成功的新课程可以被其他科学教师准备计划所适应。该项目的预期成果包括提高新教师的课程规划和教学技能，采用以下方法：1）让学生参与科学和工程实践; 2）实施技能和策略，为英语学习者的学习提供支架; 3）整合科学素养。中佛罗里达大学的教师教育工作者旨在创建一个基于实践的，跨学科计划，目标是在两个学期内为四门本科课程做好副教师准备。这些课程将包括大学的两门课程和当地学区塞米诺尔县公立学校的两门实习课程。 职前教师将从事一系列的做法，包括集中调查，定向观察，并指导实践，以学习如何教科学给所有学生。混合方法研究将用于探索研究问题，包括对教师的课程规划和教学技能的影响，以及由这些新教师任教的学生的学习成果。职前教师的表现将与那些谁从大学的中学科学教育课程毕业之前，实施这一方案的转变。我们亦会比较职前教师的学生在实习教室与对照组学生的学习成果，以衡量他们的教学成效。此外，我们亦会探讨该计划的具体做法和条件，以提高职前教师的技能。将在三个项目年期间进行持续的项目评价。评价将使所有利益攸关方参与评估周期，以提供反馈，并向研究小组通报实现目标的进展情况和项目设计的潜在改进。传播活动将包括一个项目网站、同行评审的出版物以及在国家和国际会议上发言。由此产生的课程将与从业者的观众，包括科学教师在中学科学教室和科学方法课程教师在全国各地的不同本科教师教育计划共享。NSF IUSE：EHR计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生STEM教育的有效性。 该奖项反映了NSF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。