The Critical Digital Pedagogy Project: Teacher Preparation for Inquiry-Based Online STEM Education

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This project aims to serve the national interest of improving STEM teaching and learning by identifying and integrating critical digital pedagogy methods to prepare pre-service teachers to teach inquiry-based STEM education effectively in online learning environments. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, both K-12 and higher education underwent a dramatic shift to primarily online instruction. With the realization that multiple modes of instruction are possible, pre-service teacher programs must prepare students to teach in online environments. This IUSE Engaged Student Learning Level 1 project seeks to combine inquiry-based approaches to learning with critical digital pedagogy. It supports Carroll University faculty members in transforming their teaching to facilitate inquiry-based STEM education in online learning environments. In turn, this is expected to improve undergraduate STEM teaching and learning for pre-service teachers at Carroll University, as education faculty will integrate critical digital pedagogy methods into their K-12 STEM methods courses. Critical digital pedagogy impels the reimagining of how and where learning occurs, and how all students and teachers, regardless of culture, ability, or boundaries are empowered (Stommel, 2014). When combined with inquiry-based learning the approach offers the opportunity to address meaningful real-world problems in ways that require critical and creative thinking and emphasize community and collaboration. Such an integrated and sustained multidisciplinary perspective is intended to prepare Carroll pre-service teachers to teach inquiry-based K-12 STEM education in a variety of delivery methods, including in fully online learning environments. The long-term goal is to develop a critical digital pedagogy model that prepares pre-service teachers to facilitate the learning of STEM concepts and processes in online learning environments that are equitable and inclusive of all learners.The implementation of inquiry-based practices that value active learning, immersion in authentic settings, engagement in reasoning and problem solving, and the development of creativity are shown to facilitate effective student learning. However, the implementation of these pedagogical methods and the accompanying research are contextualized within in-person learning environments. Therefore, this project’s first objective is to identify best practices for incorporating critical digital pedagogy into inquiry-based, online STEM education for pre-service teachers, and begin integrating these new instructional techniques into methods courses. A second objective is to increase STEM and education faculty members’ efficacy around the incorporation of critical digital pedagogy into methods courses for pre-service teachers. The third objective is to use new instructional techniques to improve pre-service teachers’ sense of efficacy for effectively teaching inquiry-based STEM education in online learning environments. This project emphasizes examination of equity and access issues in tandem with instructional changes to ensure all students can access these learning opportunities in both K-12 and higher education settings. The project investigators are collaborating with the Wisconsin Evaluation Collaborative, within the Wisconsin Center for Education Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, to conduct both formative and summative assessments of the project. The results will be published in peer-reviewed publications, presented at national conferences, and distributed widely through an online professional development micro-credential. 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. The Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship (Noyce) Program is providing co-funding for this IUSE: EHR project to support the project's preservice teacher preparation goals, which are well-aligned with Noyce Program goals.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.