Science Education and Leadership to Promote Equity in K-6 Classrooms

该项目旨在为国家发展高素质的小学科学教学教师领导的需要服务。小学阶段的科学教学质量因学区和学校而异。然而，一个关键的国家优先事项是确保所有学生认为科学与他们的生活有关，并将自己视为科学的参与者。 为了实现这些目标，所有学生必须从幼年开始就有平等的机会获得以学生的经验和社区为中心的高质量科学教学。本项目旨在通过能力建设来提高小学科学教师的知识和技能，从而改善小学科学教学。 这些教师领导者将提供领导，以做出必要的改变，在他们的学校提供公平，高质量的科学教学。 该项目将集中在该地区的需求和机会，包括大学和地区合作伙伴。 这一区域努力的结果将为在全州范围内审查类似问题的额外努力提供信息。该项目将与当地学校和大学内部合作伙伴合作，探索和开发机制，使未来的教师领导者能够更深入地将下一代科学标准融入他们的教学和专业社区。 西华盛顿大学的这个项目包括与西北教育服务区和西北华盛顿四个区的高需求学校的合作伙伴关系：贝灵汉，芒特弗农，Nooksack和Sedro-Wooley。 项目目标包括：（1）确定需求和能力的变化，以实现公平的，下一代科学标准对齐的科学教学在西北华盛顿的小学;（2）与学校合作伙伴共同构建教师领导力发展和支持的可持续模式，使跨地区的专业知识共享，同时对学校的情况作出反应;以及（3）为科学教育教师和小学教师领导制定一项计划，以参与互惠学习，从而使学校的教师准备和科学教学保持一致。通过这项工作，教师领导人将建立一个实践社区，加强学校与大学的伙伴关系。该项目开发的教师领导模式将为社区贡献新的知识，并可能被其他机构采用。该项目将由一名在小学科学教育方面具有丰富经验的评估员进行评估。 这个能力建设项目是通过罗伯特诺伊斯教师奖学金计划（诺伊斯）的支持。诺伊斯计划支持有才华的STEM本科专业和专业人士成为有效的K-12 STEM教师和经验丰富的模范K-12教师，成为高需求学区的STEM硕士教师。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并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，被认为值得支持。

This project aims to serve the national need of developing highly qualified teacher-leaders in elementary grade level science instruction. The quality of science instruction at the elementary level varies between school districts and schools. Yet, a critical national priority is to ensure that all students see science as relevant to their lives and see themselves as participants in science. To achieve these goals, all students must have equitable access from an early age to high quality science instruction centered in students’ experiences and communities. This project looks to improve elementary school science instruction by building capacity to develop elementary science master teachers’ knowledge and skills. These teacher-leaders will provide leadership to make the changes needed to provide equitable, high-quality science instruction in their schools. This project will center on the needs and opportunities within the region that includes the university and district partners. The results of this regional effort will inform an additional effort to examine similar issues statewide. Working with local schools and internal university partners, the project will explore and develop mechanisms to allow future teacher-leaders to more deeply integrate the Next Generation Science Standards into their teaching and professional communities. This project at Western Washington University includes partnerships with the Northwest Educational Service District and high-need schools in four districts in Northwest Washington: Bellingham, Mount Vernon, Nooksack, and Sedro-Wooley. Project goals include to: (1) Determine the needs and capacity for change toward equitable, Next Generation Science Standards-aligned science teaching in elementary schools in Northwest Washington; (2) Co-construct with school partners a sustainable model for teacher leadership development and support that enables the sharing of expertise across districts while being responsive to school contexts; and (3) Create a plan for science education faculty and elementary teacher leaders to engage in reciprocal learning that will result in aligned teacher preparation and science teaching in schools. Through this work, teacher-leaders will develop a community of practice and strengthen school-university partnerships. The model of teacher leadership developed by the project will contribute new knowledge to the community and may be adopted by other institutions. The project will be assessed by an evaluator with significant experience in elementary science education. This Capacity Building project is supported through the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program (Noyce). The Noyce program supports talented STEM undergraduate majors and professionals to become effective K-12 STEM teachers and experienced, exemplary K-12 teachers to become STEM master teachers in high-need school districts. It also supports research on the persistence, retention, and effectiveness of K-12 STEM teachers in high-need school districts.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.