Collaborative Research: Research on Integrated STEM Self-Efficacy: A Study of Elementary Preservice Teachers including Noyce Scholars

该项目旨在满足国家需要，支持高效小学(K-6)STEM教师的发展和留住。小学教师经常不愿意把科学、数学和工程作为独立学科来教授，STEM的整合带来了新的挑战。以前的研究已经探索了自信(或自我效能)、教师有效性和教师保持之间的联系，但对于教学综合STEM(ISTEM)的自我效能感在很大程度上还没有探索。该项目将包括大约700名教师，他们经历了十个不同的教师准备计划。它的目的是确定支持早期职业小学教师在高需求学区内教授综合STEM的自我效能感的方案特征。它将考察自我效能感、iSTEM教学有效性和教师留任之间的关系。该项目的结果有可能为教师教育项目的设计提供参考，并可能有助于培养更多高素质的初级STEM教师。该项目在南方卫理公会大学、内布拉斯加-林肯大学、汤森大学和印第安纳大学东南分校包括与马萨诸塞大学波士顿分校、圣心大学、阿尔康州立大学、布里奇沃特州立大学、蒙特克莱尔州立大学和罗德岛大学的合作伙伴关系。项目目标包括：(1)跟踪未来小学教师的综合STEM教学自我效能感从教师准备课程转向教学岗位的变化；(2)确定和描述支持早期教师综合STEM教学自我效能感发展的教师教育关键要素；(3)确定综合STEM教学自我效能感、教学有效性和教师保留率之间的关系；以及(4)建立和支持一个专注于改善其STEM教学的小学教师社区。本项目以自我效能感理论为基础，采用顺序解释性混合方法设计，包括本科生、硕士研究生和在职教师，他们都在教学的头五年。该项目的纵向设计、对综合STEM教学自我效能感和有效性的创新关注以及对综合STEM教学自我效能感与教师留任之间关系的调查都体现了其智力价值。研究成果将发表在研究和实践者杂志上，并在国际会议上广泛分享，以影响超出本项目直接范围的研究人员、管理人员和教育工作者。这个Track 4：Noyce研究项目是由Robert Noyce教师奖学金计划(Noyce)支持的。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教师的有效性和留住的研究。这一奖项反映了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 of supporting the development and retention of highly effective elementary (K-6) STEM teachers. Elementary teachers are often uncomfortable teaching science, mathematics, and engineering as independent subjects, and STEM integration poses new challenges. Previous research has explored links between confidence (or self-efficacy), teacher effectiveness, and teacher retention, but self-efficacy for teaching integrated STEM (iSTEM) is largely unexplored. This project will include approximately 700 teachers who experienced ten different teacher preparation programs. It aims to identify programmatic features that support early career elementary teachers’ self-efficacy in teaching integrated STEM within high-need school districts. It will examine relationships among self-efficacy, iSTEM teaching effectiveness, and teacher retention. The findings that result from this project have the potential to inform the design of teacher education programs and may contribute to the development of more highly qualified elementary STEM teachers.This project at Southern Methodist University, University of Nebraska - Lincoln, Towson University, and Indiana University Southeast includes partnerships with the University of Massachusetts - Boston, Sacred Heart University, Alcorn State University, Bridgewater State University, Montclair State University, and University of Rhode Island. Project goals include to: (1) track changes in prospective elementary teachers’ integrated STEM teaching self-efficacy as they shift from teacher preparation programs to teaching positions; (2) identify and describe key elements of teacher education that support the development of integrated STEM teaching self-efficacy among early-career teachers; (3) identify the relationships among integrated STEM teaching self-efficacy, teaching effectiveness, and teacher retention; and (4) build and support a community of elementary teachers focused on improving their STEM teaching. Grounded in self-efficacy theory, this project will use a sequential explanatory mixed methods design and include undergraduates, Master’s students, and current teachers who are within their first five years of teaching. The project’s longitudinal design, innovative focus on integrated STEM teaching self-efficacy and effectiveness, and investigation of links between integrated STEM teaching self-efficacy and teacher retention reflect its intellectual merit. Research findings will be published in research and practitioner journals and shared widely at international conferences to impact researchers, administrators, and educators beyond the immediate scope of this project. This Track 4: 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 effectiveness and retention 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.