Improving the STEM Preparation of K-5 Pre-service Teachers through a Project-based, Interdisciplinary Approach

尽管 K-12 学生群体变得越来越多样化，但小学教师队伍主要是女性和白人。研究表明，小学教师很少修读物理、化学和工程方面的大学课程，只有三分之一的人修过他们将教授的所有科学领域的课程。此外，小学教师没有做好充分准备让学生参与科学实践，或根据学生的想法提供科学教学，或将学生的文化背景纳入科学教学。为了解决这些问题，该项目旨在通过使基础教学队伍多样化并培养基础科学教师来教授基础科学涉及的广泛科学学科，从而服务于国家利益。此外，该项目力求将科学问题与潜在的社会经济问题联系起来，从而激励学生学习并利用学生的文化认知方式。为了实现这些目标，该项目旨在共同设计一个为期两个季度的本科课程序列，让未来的小学教师参与以跨学科科学内容为特色的基于项目的学习课程。课程序列将纳入当代问题、科学和工程实践以及科学伦理（“我们应该”吗？与“我们可以”吗？），所有这些都位于科学和科学决策始终存在的经济、社会和政治背景下。该项目突出的内容强调了科学如何被用作压迫黑人、原住民和其他有色人种 (BIPOC) 的手段以及作为进步的工具。两季度序列的设计将满足华盛顿大学博塞尔分校 (UWB) 本科生的基本认证科学内容先决条件和一般“自然世界”毕业要求。还计划为任何本科生和未来的初级认证学生提供在线学习课程版本，以及针对社区大学的课程版本。最终，该项目期望产生一个可在其他环境中使用的通用模型。一个由专门从事以公平为中心的科学教育的学习科学家团队和来自生命、物理和地球科学领域的科学教师正在合作，为本科生共同设计四个学习模块（每个季度两个为期 5 周的模块）。该项目采用混合方法（调查、退票、访谈、观察）来了解学生和教师的学习，并对职前教师从最初的队列到第一年的教学进行纵向研究。本研究使用基于设计的研究，其中项目参与设计、实施、研究和重新设计的迭代循环。该项目预计在第一轮研究中吸引 35 名学生，然后在重新设计课程序列后，在两个季度的序列中吸引 70 名学生，为期两年。在这 70 名学生中，大约 50 名将成为小学职前教师，进入 UWB 的小学教师认证计划。每年预计有 70 名学生参加在线课程，每年预计有 35 名执业教师参加夏季峰会。除了通过该项目开发的材料外，主要研究人员还将研究三个问题。 (1) 由于新的课程序列，本科职前教师在科学内容学习、身份和对科学/科学教育学的理解方面发生了哪些变化？ (2) 由于参与课程的共同设计，大学教师的科学教育学发生了哪些转变？ (3) 这种协同设计和实施模型的基本设计原则和实践是什么，可以传播给更广泛的受众和环境？ 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。通过“参与学生学习”轨道，该计划支持有前景的实践和工具的创建、探索和实施。罗伯特·诺伊斯教师奖学金 (Noyce) 计划正在为 IUSE: EHR 项目提供共同资助，以支持该项目的职前教师准备目标，该目标与诺伊斯计划目标非常一致。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。

The elementary teacher workforce is predominantly female and white, even though the K-12 student population is becoming increasingly diverse. Research shows elementary teachers take few college courses in physics, chemistry, and engineering, and only one third have had coursework in all the areas of science they will teach. Furthermore, elementary teachers do not feel well-prepared to engage students in the practices of science, or provide science instruction based on students' ideas, or to incorporate students' cultural backgrounds into science instruction. To address these issues, this project aims to serve the national interest by diversifying the elementary teaching workforce and preparing elementary science teachers to teach across the breadth of science disciplines that are addressed in elementary science. Moreover, the project seeks to connect scientific questions to underlying socio-economic issues that can motivate student learning and take advantage of students' cultural ways of knowing. Towards these ends this project aims to co-design a two-quarter undergraduate course sequence that engages prospective elementary school teachers in a project-based course of study featuring interdisciplinary science content. The course sequence will incorporate contemporary issues, science and engineering practices, and the ethics ("should we"? vs "can we"?) of science, all situated within the economic, social, and political contexts in which science and science decision-making always live. The project foregrounds content that highlights the ways in which science has been used as both a means of oppression of Black, Indigenous, and other people of color (BIPOC) and as a tool for advancement. The design of the two-quarter sequence will satisfy both elementary certification science content prerequisites and general "natural world" graduation requirements for undergraduates at the University of Washington Bothell (UWB). An online version of the course of study for any undergraduate student and prospective elementary certification students and a version of the courses for community colleges are also intended. Ultimately, the project expects to produce a generalizable model for use in other contexts.A team of learning scientists specializing in equity-focused science education and science faculty from across life, physical, and earth sciences are collaborating to co-design four learning modules (two 5-week modules each quarter) for undergraduate students. The project uses a mixed methods (surveys, exit tickets, interviews, observations) approach for understanding student and faculty learning, as well as a longitudinal study of pre-service teachers from an initial cohort into their first year of teaching. Design-Based Research, wherein a project engages in iterative cycles of design, implementation, research, and re-design, is being used in this study. The project expects to engage 35 students in the first iteration of the study, and then 70 students for two years in the two-quarter sequence after the course sequence is redesigned. Of those 70 students, approximately 50 will become elementary pre-service teachers who will enter UWB’s elementary teacher certification program. Seventy students per year are expected to take the online courses and 35 practicing teachers per year are intended to participate in the summer summits. In addition to the materials developed through this project, the principal investigators will research three questions. (1) What shifts in science content learning, identities, and understandings of science/science pedagogy occur in undergraduate pre-service teachers as a result of the new course sequence? (2) What shifts in science pedagogy occur in university faculty as a result of engaging in the co-design of the courses? (3) What are essential design principles and practices of this model of co-design and implementation that can be disseminated to wider audiences and contexts? 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 pre-service 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.