Supporting the Implementation of Scientific Modeling Instruction in High School Chemistry and Biology in Rural Schools

许多农村学区的高中生获得高级STEM课程和先进技术（包括高速互联网）的机会有限。农村学区在招聘和留住STEM教师方面面临困难。在许多情况下，农村STEM教师需要额外的培训和支持。该项目将确定农村教师面临的这些和其他障碍，并为教师创造专业发展机会。培训将旨在增加他们的学科特定知识和相关技能，让学生使用模型来探索，分析，评估和提高他们对科学的思考和知识。参与教师将在夏季获得114小时的正式专业发展，并在整个学年获得后续会议和创新虚拟辅导的持续支持。 该项目将修订生物和化学课程，每年支持农村地区30-90名教师实施面向改革的多元智能教学，使大约25 000名农村学生受益。该项目将产生一个能够维持项目倡议的领导教师网络。 广泛推广面向乡村教师和教师的STEM专业发展在线课程和数字化工具。此外，项目资源和研究成果将通过会议报告和同行评审的研究期刊进行传播。项目研究旨在了解农村科学教师的教学内容知识（PCK）的发展，以及农村教师实施称为建模教学（MI）的教学方法所需的支持。PCK指的是关于以及如何教授特定学科的科学概念的知识。MI是一种教学方法，学生积极参与使用创建并应用于具体物理，生物和化学现象的概念模型，以促进他们对科学/数学原理的理解。通过纵向的混合方法研究，该项目将增加关于PCK和MI的新知识。 该项目将调查教师的PCK的进展与高层次的实施MI，从事学生在科学研究实践。学科专业知识的研究将为在职和在职科学教师教育课程的设置和设计提供重要的信息。该项目还将研究指导的各个方面（例如，反馈，互动，话语，以及指导活动的模式和数量）支持教师在课堂上有效地使用PCK。定性研究工具将包括分析教师实施课程的视频，与教师的访谈集中在教训，焦点小组和半结构化访谈辅导经验，并分析教师导师-教师学员会议和活动。 科学教学实践调查将收集定量数据，用于了解每位教师实施多元智能的情况，研究教师在课堂上的科学实践，如调查，数据收集和分析，解释，建模和科学交流。 探索研究preK-12计划（DRK-12）旨在通过研究和开发创新资源，模型和工具，显着提高preK-12学生和教师的科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）的学习和教学。DRK-12项目中的项目建立在STEM教育的基础研究以及为拟议项目提供理论和经验依据的先前研究和开发工作的基础上。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。

High school students in many rural school districts have limited access to advanced STEM coursework and advanced technologies, including high-speed Internet. Rural school districts face difficulties in recruiting and retaining STEM teachers. In many cases, rural STEM teachers need additional training and support. The project will identify these, and other barriers rural teachers face and create professional development for teachers. The training will be designed to increase their discipline specific knowledge and related skills in engaging students in using models to explore, analyze, assess, and improve their thinking about and knowledge of science. Participating teachers will receive 114 hours of formal professional development in the summer and sustained support from follow-up sessions and an innovative virtual mentoring throughout the academic year. The project will revise biology and chemistry curriculum and support 30-90 teachers annually in rural areas in implementing reform-oriented MI instruction benefiting approximately 25,000 rural students. The project will result in a network of leader teachers who can sustain project initiatives. Online STEM professional development courses and digital tools for rural teachers and teachers will be made widely disseminated. In addition, project resources and research findings will be disseminated via conference presentations and peer-reviewed research journals.Project research is designed to generate knowledge about the development of rural science teachers' pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and the supports needed as rural teachers implement an approach to teaching called Modeling Instruction (MI). PCK refers to knowledge of and how to teach discipline-specific science concepts. MI is a pedagogical approach where students are actively engaged in using conceptual models that are created and applied to concrete physical, biological, and chemical phenomena to promote their understanding of scientific/mathematical principles. Through longitudinal mixed-methods research, the project will add new knowledge about PCK and MI. The project will investigate the progression of teachers’ PCK associated with the high-level implementation of MI that engages students in science research practices. The research of discipline specific PCK will significantly inform the curriculum and design of preservice and in-service science teacher education programs. The project will also research how various aspects of mentoring (e.g., feedback, interactions, discourse, and the modes and quantity of mentoring activities) support teachers in the effective use of PCK in the classroom. Qualitative research tools will include analysis of videos of teacher implementation of lessons, interviews with teachers focusing on the lessons, focus groups and semi-structured interviews on mentoring experiences, and analysis of teacher mentor-teacher mentee sessions and activity. The Science Instruction Practices Survey will collect quantitative data that will be used to understand each teacher’s implementation of MI, looking at the science practices that teachers in the classroom such as investigation, data collection and analysis, explanation, modeling, and science communication. The Discovery Research preK-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. 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.