Virtual Galápagos: A Novel, Project-Based Approach to Training Pre-Service STEM Teachers in Innovative Pedagogical Design

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This project aims to serve the national interest by implementing an alternative approach to STEM teacher preparation that is grounded in a highly collaborative, project-based structure. For 2 summers, a diverse cohort of 10 undergraduate pre-service teachers from across rural New York State will engage in a 10-week, project-based experience to learn student-centered pedagogical design methods by using them to create an inquiry-driven, interactive, interdisciplinary science website for grades 3-5. The curricular materials designed by the pre-service teachers will encourage elementary students to employ evidence-based practices as they address scientific questions about the Galápagos Islands, carefully aligned with Next Generation Science Standards and delivered at a critical point to fuel interest in science. Curricular materials will be piloted in local schools, professional development workshops, and by pre-service teachers prior to being widely disseminated. As a result of the program, the future teacher participants will be equipped with the skills, knowledge, and dispositions necessary to create pedagogical materials that utilize proven project-based methods for enhancing student persistence in STEM; as the pre-service teachers gain proficiency using student-centered pedagogies, their instructional abilities improve, creating a positive feedback loop in which they, in turn, inspire their own P-12 students to pursue STEM careers. The new curricular materials will be free to all and available in English and Spanish, to expand their utility to underserved groups in rural settings. Furthermore, two new courses on pedagogical design in STEM and technology use in the classroom will be created at Colgate University, filling critical gaps in the existing Teacher Preparation Program. By engaging pre-service teachers in an intensively collaborative pedagogical design process, the project will address three urgent needs in STEM education: limited science training and curricular resources for elementary teachers, the national shortage of quality STEM teachers, and the lack of STEM teachers in rural districts. Over the course of the project, a cohort of 20 undergraduate pre-service teachers will learn how to integrate emerging educational technologies using design-based frameworks into inquiry-based classrooms, an especially important training opportunity in rural, under-resourced districts post-pandemic. The project will build a learning environment of diverse individuals committed to STEM teaching in rural districts, to support recruitment and persistence of STEM teachers in such communities. Underserved groups will be strongly represented in the cohort and greater learning community, providing diverse, scientist role models and mentors for participants. Our knowledge-generation research will examine how pre-service STEM teachers approach curricular tasks to produce educational products in a design-based setting, informing teacher preparation programs about best practices to train and retain high quality childhood educators. Furthermore, our teacher-preparation model stresses the need for global curricular perspectives that feature an international bio-geologic treasure, the Galápagos Islands, but which can be adapted to address science issues in any location that offers depth of science content and significance. Thus, our project will result in a replicable, transferable teacher-training system adaptable for other institutions interested in preparing high-quality STEM teachers in student-centered pedagogy using design-thinking methods. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Partial funding is from the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship program.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.