Master Teachers Conducting STEM Practices and Action Research

这个Noyce Track 3项目，在中央俄克拉何马大学进行的硕士教师进行STEM实践和行动研究，旨在满足国家的需求：1)留住科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）教育工作者；2)培养能够支持其他拥有非传统证书的人的领导者。该项目包括与俄克拉荷马城公立学校和俄克拉荷马中央STEM联盟的合作伙伴关系。项目目标包括在六年内在俄克拉何马州中部培训14名高中生物和数学教师。硕士水平培训的目标是通过让教师参与真实的研究，包括在他们的教育环境中将研究付诸实践（教育行动研究），巩固教师对STEM实践的理解。该项目的核心是让教师参与领导力培训，同时探索与COVID-19大流行加剧的公平和成就差距相关的实践问题。这项工作不仅有助于解决俄克拉何马州中学教育中对高效生物和数学教师领导者的需求，还有助于解决学生的成就问题。该项目的结果旨在增加符合州和国家标准的可用课程，并帮助量化这些变化对保留率和学生对科学和数学的态度的影响。在俄克拉荷马中央大学教师的指导下，硕士教师研究员（mtf）将设计一个研究项目，收集和解释数据，并将他们的发现传达给他们的专业社区。此外，该项目旨在让mtf开发符合州和国家标准的STEM课程项目，利用三维学习方法：科学实践，横切概念和学科核心思想。在课堂上实施课程项目，评估使用三维课程对学生对科学和数学的态度的影响，以及内容的保留是本项目的主要目标。由俄克拉荷马州中部STEM联盟主办的领导力培训将这些实习教师与行业导师联系起来。该培训提供了一个框架，为不同资源学校的学生在STEM学习中遇到的不公平现象提供解决方案。硕士学位课程期间的培训和持续的专业发展使这些教师能够有效地支持和指导其他教师，特别是那些拥有紧急和替代认证的教师。该项目计划促进以课程为基础的领导能力的提高，这可以转化为使课程适应各种模式的勇气。这个Track 3：硕士教学奖学金项目是由Robert Noyce教师奖学金计划（Noyce）支持的。Track 3 Noyce项目支持优秀的K-12教师成为高需求学区的STEM大师教师。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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。

This Noyce Track 3 project, Master Teachers Conducting STEM Practices and Action Research, at the University of Central Oklahoma aims to serve the national need of 1) retaining science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) educators and 2) developing leaders who can support others who have nontraditional certifications. This project includes partnerships with Oklahoma City Public Schools and the Central Oklahoma STEM Alliance. Project goals include training 14 high school biology and mathematics teachers, Master Teacher Fellows, in Central Oklahoma, over six years. The goal of the Masters’ level training is to solidify teachers’ understanding of STEM practices by engaging them in authentic research, including bringing research into practice in their educational settings (educational action research). Central to this project is engaging teachers in leadership training while exploring a problem of practice related to equity and achievement gaps exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. This work not only contributes to addressing the need for highly effective biology and mathematics teacher leaders in secondary education in Oklahoma, it also addresses student achievement. Results from this project are positioned to increase the available curriculum aligned with state and national standards and help quantify how retention and students’ attitudes toward science and mathematics are affected by these changes. Mentored by faculty from the University of Central Oklahoma, the Master Teacher Fellows (MTFs) are expected to design a research project, collect and interpret data, and communicate their findings to their professional community. In addition, the project aims to have MTFs develop STEM curricular projects aligned to state and national standards utilizing a three-dimensional learning approach: scientific practices, crosscutting concepts, and disciplinary core ideas. Implementing the curricular projects in classrooms, evaluating the effect of using the three-dimensional curricula on student attitudes towards science and mathematics, and retention of content are major objectives of this project. Leadership training, hosted by the Central Oklahoma STEM Alliance, connects these practicing teachers to industry mentors. This training provides a framework to generate solutions to inequities in STEM learning experienced by students in schools with varying resources. Training during the M.S. degree program and ongoing professional development prepares these teachers to effectively support and mentor other teachers, especially those with emergency and alternative certification. The project plans to foster increased fluency in curriculum-based leadership, which can translate into courage in adapting curricula to a variety of modalities. This Track 3: Master Teaching Fellowships project is supported through the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program (Noyce). The Track 3 Noyce program supports exemplary K-12 teachers to become STEM master 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.