Expanding The Reach of A Successful Pre-service Teacher Research Program

该项目旨在满足国家需要，培养具有真实学科STEM实践经验的高素质STEM教师，这些实践是科学研究的核心，同时有助于理解教师研究计划中什么是有效的，对谁有效。它寻求将加州理工州立大学圣路易斯·奥比斯波成功的STEM教师和研究人员(STAR)计划扩展到其他三所机构，并发展这些机构在未来运营自己版本的STEM的能力。这一努力的职前教师受众包括准备成为STEM教师的本科生。STAR特别关注那些来自这些领域历史上代表性不足的社区的本科生，并将支持这些学生参与真实的科学研究和有组织的教育研讨会。这些体验旨在培养知识、技能和观点，使他们能够让未来的学生参与到富有成效的STEM学习环境中，并反思和克服关于谁属于STEM，谁不属于STEM的外部排他性信息的影响。因此，这项工作帮助职前STEM教师发展关于他们自己的智力和能力的个人生产心态，以及促进他们未来学生与STEM的连接感的观点。该项目是四个机构的合作：加州理工州立大学圣路易斯奥比斯波，南方大学和路易斯安那州巴吞鲁日的A&Am；M(指定的历史上的黑人学院和大学之一)，华盛顿州托皮尼什的亚基马保留地的传统大学(一个拉美裔服务机构和土著服务机构)，以及海沃德的加州州立大学东湾(一个拉美裔服务机构)。该项目计划在三年内为来自合作机构和全国任何Noyce项目的未来STEM教师提供120个为期九周的暑期研究实习机会。通过项目组的努力，预计将在40多个合作的国家实验室、大学研究设施(包括合作机构的研究设施)和其他研发机构中的一个进行研究安置。该项目旨在利用调查和问卷中的定量数据以及深度访谈中的定性数据进行一系列研究，以考察参与STAR计划对生产性思维(成长心态、归属感、认同感)的发展及其随后对教学实践的影响。该项目的研究议程还打算开发一个新的量表--“STEM学科性质量表”--来衡量人们对STEM学科性质的不同思考方式。该项目关于参与STAR的假设将导致参与者在他们对STEM的看法上变得更强(与教授研究而不是做研究相比)。预期这类研究经验有助于发展研究发现的有益于学生成绩并最终缩小教育成果中的种族差距的各种生产性思维和教学方法。STAR计划的这一扩展将经过形成性和总结性评估，以指导计划的改进。诺伊斯研究项目由罗伯特·诺伊斯教师奖学金项目(Noyce)提供支持。Noyce计划支持有才华的STEM本科专业和专业人员成为有效的K-12 STEM教师，并支持经验丰富、模范的K-12教师成为高需求学区的STEM硕士教师。它还支持对高需求学区K-12 STEM教师的持久性、保留率和有效性的研究。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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 to prepare high-quality STEM teachers with first-hand experience in authentic disciplinary STEM practices that are core to scientific research, while simultaneously contributing to the understanding of what works--and for whom--in teacher-research programs. It seeks to expand the successful STEM Teacher and Researcher (STAR) Program at California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo to three other institutions and to develop the ability of these institutions to operate their own versions of STAR in the future. The pre-service teacher audience for this effort is comprised of undergraduates preparing to be STEM teachers. STAR focuses especially on those undergraduates from communities that have been historically underrepresented in these domains, and will support the participation of these students in authentic science research and structured educational workshops. These experiences are intended to develop knowledge, skills, and perspectives that allow them to engage their future students in productive STEM learning situations, as well as to reflect upon and overcome the impact of external exclusionary messages about who does and who does not belong in STEM. Thus, this work assists the pre-service STEM teachers in developing personal productive mindsets about their own intellect and capabilities, as well as perspectives on promoting their future students’ sense of connection with STEM.This project is a collaboration among four institutions: the California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo, Southern University and A&M in Baton Rouge, Louisiana (one of the designated Historically Black Colleges and Universities), Heritage University on the Yakima Reservation in Toppenish, Washington (an Hispanic Serving Institution and Native Serving Institution), and California State University East Bay in Hayward (an Hispanic Serving Institution). Over three years, the project intends to provide 120 nine-week summer research placements to prospective STEM teachers from the partnering institutions and any Noyce project in the nation. Through the efforts of the project team research placements are anticipated to take place in one of more than forty cooperating national labs, university research facilities (including those of the partner institutions), and other R&D settings. The project aims to conduct a series of studies using quantitative data from surveys and questionnaires, as well as qualitative data from in-depth interviews, to examine the effect that participation in the STAR Program has on the development of productive mindsets (growth mindset, belonging, identity) and their subsequent effects on pedagogical practices. The project’s research agenda also intends to develop a new scale - the "Disciplinary Nature of STEM Scale" - to measure the different ways people think about the nature of STEM disciplines. The project’s hypotheses regarding participation in STAR leading to the participants becoming stronger in their view of STEM (compared to being taught about research rather than doing research) will be tested. It is anticipated that such research experiences lead to the development of the kinds of productive mindsets and pedagogical approaches that research has found to benefit student achievement and ultimately reduce racial gaps in educational outcomes. This expansion of the STAR Program will undergo formative and summative evaluation to guide improvements in the program. This Noyce Research 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.