Investigating how combining intensive professional development and modest support affects rural, elementary teachers’ science and engineering practice

本研究将探讨影响教师在专业学习(PL)后改变的因素，并将检视3-5年级对理工科教学的适度支持在多大程度上长期维持专业学习的成果。这项研究将招募来自北达科他州、加利福尼亚州、蒙大拿州和怀俄明州四个州的45名小学教师，他们分布在小的农村学区。教师们将参加为期5天的密集在线学习。在完成初始PL后，教师将参与适度的电子支持，包括初始PL后第二年为期半天的复习会议、虚拟会议、参与教师之间的社交媒体连接，以及访问与教授小学科学相关的一系列主题的存档网络研讨会。还将为更换实际操作教室工程任务所需的消耗性用品提供适度支助。该项目将考察这些微不足道的支持在多大程度上单独和共同促进了可持续发展成果的可持续性，包括用于科学的教学时间的增加，教师在科学方面的自我效能，以及教师使用与下一代科学标准相一致的以改革为导向的教学战略。这项纵向研究将着眼于四个研究目标：(1)评估为期5天的激烈的科学和工程公共活动对教师科学知识和自我效能感的影响程度；(2)观察适度支持对教师科学和工程自我效能感的有效性，对教师使用探究式教学策略的有效性，以及对公共关系结果(包括科学和工程教学时间)的可持续性的影响；(3)记录高强度的PL和随后的适度支持对教师教授工程教学的能力的有效性，特别是他们对工程实践的整合；和(4)记录教师在高强度的PL和适度的支持下教授的科学和工程教学的结果，如学生的成绩所示。为期三年的混合方法研究设计将从多种来源收集定量和定性数据，包括教师调查、教师访谈和课堂观察，以及学生学习的衡量标准。量化数据将使用分层建模进行分析，以检查初始PL后的增长率以及提供适度支持后的增长变化。定性数据，包括教学日志，将与定量调查数据一起进行独立分析，以便进行三角测量。这些数据将按教师个人、年级、学校、学区和州进行分析。总而言之，这些数据将使项目团队能够实现项目的研究目标，这些目标侧重于科学和工程领域的可持续发展成果、教师利用各种支持的程度以及哪些支持对取得有意义的结果至关重要。探索研究K-12计划(DRK-12)旨在通过研究和开发创新资源、模型和工具(RMT)，显著提高K-12学龄前学生和教师在科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)方面的学习和教学。DRK-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 study will investigate factors influencing teacher change after professional learning (PL) experiences and will examine the extent to which modest supports for science and engineering teaching in grades 3-5 sustain PL outcomes over the long term. One hundred eighty elementary teachers situated in small, rural school districts will be recruited for the study, bringing together 45 teachers from four states: North Dakota, California, Montana, and Wyoming. The teachers will participate in intensive online PL over the span of 5 days. After completing the initial PL, teachers will engage in modest electronic supports including a half-day refresher session the year after the initial PL, virtual meetings, social media connections among participating teachers, and access to archived Webinars on a range of topics related to teaching elementary school science. Modest support for replacement of consumable supplies needed for hands-on classroom engineering tasks will also be provided. The project will examine the extent to which these modest supports individually and collectively foster the sustainability of PL outcomes in terms of increases in instructional time devoted to science, teacher self-efficacy in science, and teacher use of reform-oriented instructional strategies aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards. The effects of contextual factors on sustainability of PL outcomes will also be investigated.This longitudinal study will address four research objectives: (1) assessing the extent to which an intense 5-day science and engineering PL event impacts teachers’ knowledge and self-efficacy in science; (2) observing the effectiveness of modest supports on teachers’ self-efficacy in science and engineering, on teachers’ use of inquiry-based instructional strategies, and on the sustainability of PL outcomes, including instructional time in science and engineering; (3) documenting the effectiveness of intense PL, followed by modest supports, on teachers’ capacities to deliver engineering instruction, and specifically their integration of engineering practices; and (4) capturing the outcomes of science and engineering instruction delivered by teachers after intense PL and modest supports, as shown by student achievement. The three-year mixed-methods research design will collect quantitative and qualitative data from multiple sources, including teacher surveys, teacher interviews, and classroom observations, plus measures of student learning. Quantitative data will be analyzed using hierarchical modeling to examine growth rates after the initial PL and the change in growth after the provision of modest supports. Qualitative data including instructional logs will be analyzed independently and together with the quantitative survey data for triangulation purposes. These data will be analyzed by individual teacher, by grade level, by school, by district, and by state. Together, these data will enable the project team to address the project's research objectives, which focus on the persistence of PL outcomes in science and engineering, the extent to which teachers make use of various supports and which supports are critical for attaining meaningful outcomes. The Discovery Research K-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 (RMTs). 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.