Using Integrated, Place-based Watershed Curriculum to Increase Teacher Self-efficacy with Culturally Relevant STEM

该项目将设计和研究一种专业发展(PD)模式，在这种模式下，小学教师将体验以当地分水岭为重点并植根于当地美洲原住民文化价值观和知识的综合、以地点为基础、具有文化可持续性的STEM课程。然后，教师将在位于当地分水岭和土著社区的PD的指导下，设计和实施他们自己的与文化相关的STEM单位。很少有研究专门考察PD对教师在与文化相关的STEM中的自我效能感的影响，或者进一步考察嵌入美国原住民价值观和知识的STEM课程对学生参与和兴趣的影响。PD是为北达科他州一系列学校环境和文化背景的教师设计的，教材是为他们所在社区独特的地区和文化开发的。北达科他州是多元化土著社区的家园，有五个联邦承认的部落。发展计划将包括有希望但往往是孤立的先前发展计划模式的要素，为教师提供：a)与文化相关的教学方法，包括土著学生；b)教学教学知识；c)支持性专业学习社区；d)以地方为基础的分水岭课程；e)为教师提供有条理的时间，以便他们合作创建实施单位。该项目将通过演讲和同行评议的出版物向地方和州立学校社区、广大公众以及STEM教育界传播调查结果。该项目模式将更广泛地与教育工作者分享，以便得到广泛应用，包括调整PD的要素，并将其整合到职前教师方法课程中。通过探索以下研究问题来评估这种PD方法的有效性及其对学生的影响：(1)教师如何参与STEM专业学习体验，使他们沉浸在北达科他州美洲原住民社区的文化中？(2)整合了与文化相关的教育学和当地土著社区联系的PD对教师文化相关的STEM自我效能感有何影响？(3)教师如何整合与文化相关的方法并使其与PD引入的NGSS有效地联系起来？以及(4)因地制宜的文化课程如何影响学生对STEM的态度、兴趣和参与？利用定量和定性数据收集和分析的灵活、混合方法的研究设计将被用来探索教师的认知、经验、自我效能感的变化、教师实践的变化以及学生的反应和结果。探索研究PREK-12计划(DRK-12)旨在通过研究和开发创新资源、模型和工具，显著提高Pre-K-12学生和教师在科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)方面的学习和教学。 -12计划中的项目建立在STEM教育的基础研究和先前的研究和开发工作的基础上，为拟议的项目提供了理论和经验上的证明。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 will design and research a professional development (PD) model in which elementary teachers experience integrated, place-based, culturally sustaining STEM curriculum focused on local watersheds and grounded in local Native American cultural values and knowledge. The teachers will then design and implement their own culturally relevant STEM unit, guided by the PD, which is situated within their local watershed and Indigenous community. Few studies have examined the impact of PD that focuses specifically on such approaches on teachers’ self-efficacy in culturally relevant STEM or, further, on the impact STEM curriculum that embeds Native American values and knowledge has on student engagement and interest. The PD is designed for teachers across a range of school settings and cultural contexts in North Dakota with materials developed for their communities’ unique regions and cultures. North Dakota is home to diverse Indigenous communities, with five federally recognized tribes. The PD will include promising, but often isolated, elements of prior PD models to give teachers: a) culturally relevant pedagogy inclusive of Indigenous students, b) pedagogical content knowledge, c) a supportive professional learning community, d) place-based watershed curriculum, e) and structured time for teachers to collaborate on creating units for implementation. The project will disseminate findings to local and state school communities, the greater public, and the STEM education community via presentations and peer-reviewed publications. The project model will be shared more broadly with educators so that it may be widely used, including adapting elements of PD and integrating it in pre-service teacher methods coursework. The effectiveness of this PD approach and its impact on students will be evaluated by exploring the following research questions: (1) How do teachers engage with STEM professional learning experiences that immerse them in the cultures of the Native American communities in North Dakota? (2) What is the impact of PD that integrates culturally relevant pedagogy and local Indigenous community connections on teachers’ culturally relevant STEM self-efficacy? (3) How do teachers integrate culturally relevant approaches and adapt them to effectively link to NGSS introduced in the PD? and (4) How does culturally responsive, place-based curriculum impact students’ attitudes, interest, and engagement with STEM? A flexible, mixed-methods research design using quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis will be used to explore teacher perceptions, experiences, changes in self-efficacy and changes in teacher practice as well as student responses and outcomes. The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. Projects in the DRK-12 program build on fundamental research in STEM education and prior research and development efforts that provide theoretical and empirical justification for proposed projects. 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.