Collaborative Research: Learning to observe: Unpacking teachers development of expertise in scientific observation

科学观察是一项普遍存在的学科技能，但在当代科学教学中却被忽视了。教学材料常常把科学观察看作是一项简单的技能，或者是需要克服的一个小小的教学挑战。对于中学科学教师来说，挑战是复杂的，因为他们本身就是这种技能的新兴学习者。此外，该领域尚未为发展观测方面的专门知识制定解释性框架。使用不同理论框架的现有研究只提供了这一基本技能发展的不完整图景。为了解决这些问题，本研究将研究教师如何在学科背景下培养他们的观察技能，并研究这些技能是如何被他们的知识体系、社会互动和实践这些技能的文化背景所塑造的。结果将通过产生关于学习者如何发展观察技能的知识和培养这些技能的解释框架来推进该领域。通过关注学习观察的认知、互动和文化维度，确定支持科学观察的教学路径将内在地关注小组学习中出现的公平问题。由此产生的我们对科学观察的集体理解的转变将改善K-12科学教学材料和教师的专业发展。本研究的目标是深化关于科学观察专业知识如何作为一种多维技能发展的基于研究的知识。为了实现这一目标，研究人员将设计和实施高质量的科学专业学习体验（ple），将科学观察作为一种学习机会，在野外地质学这一学科中，观察是最重要的，而中学教师通常很少接受培训。本研究将揭示中学科学教师如何通过使用一种整合三个互补理论框架的新方法来学习产生科学观察：学习的认知、互动和文化维度。研究人员将在两轮为期一年的ple中分析教师的学习情况。课程的设计将使教师能够使用三维（3D）方法建立对地质记录的理解，这是基于实地科学观察的前景。经过一个学期的虚拟教学和为期一周的实地考察，教师们将运用他们新发现的技能为理科生开发实地体验。研究人员可以使用三个理论框架来分析教师在科学观察方面的专业知识的发展是如何依赖于他们的：1)知识体系；2)社会互动；3)文化背景和背景。应用这些理论框架从单一数据集产生互补的案例研究，并使用混合方法整合研究结果，将产生科学观测专业知识发展的多维性质的整体图景。研究结果将通过提供一个新的、基于研究的框架来解释这一重要但尚未得到充分研究的技能中的学习和专业知识发展，从而促进我们对科学观察及其在3D科学学习中的作用的理解。本项目由美国国家科学基金会EHR核心研究（ECR）项目支持。ECR项目强调在该领域产生基础知识的基础STEM教育研究。投资在至关重要、广泛和持久的关键领域：STEM学习和STEM学习环境，扩大STEM参与，以及STEM劳动力发展。该项目支持积累有力的证据，为理解、构建理论进行解释提供依据，并提出干预和创新建议，以应对教育中持续存在的挑战。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。

Scientific observation is a ubiquitous discipline-specific skill that has been overlooked in contemporary science instruction. Instructional materials often treat scientific observation as a simple skill or a minor pedagogical challenge to be overcome. For secondary science teachers, challenges compound as they themselves are often emergent learners of this skill. Furthermore, the field has yet to develop explanatory frameworks for the development of expertise in observation. Existing research using disparate theoretical frameworks has offered only an incomplete picture of the development of this essential skill. To address these issues, this research will study how teachers develop their observational skills in a disciplinary context, and to examine how these skills are shaped by their knowledge systems, social interactions, and the cultural contexts in which they are practiced. Results will advance the field through generating knowledge about how learners develop observational skills and an explanatory framework to foster these skills. By focusing on the cognitive, interactional, and cultural dimensions of learning to observe, the instructional paths to be identified to support scientific observation will inherently attend to equity issues that emerge in group learning. The resulting shift in our collective understanding of scientific observation will improve K-12 science instructional materials and teacher professional development. The goal of this research study is to deepen research-based knowledge about how expertise in scientific observation develops as a multidimensional skill. To achieve this goal, the researchers will design and implement high quality science professional learning experiences (PLEs) that forefront scientific observation as a learning opportunity in a discipline where observation is of utmost importance and where secondary teachers typically have little training: field geology. This study will unpack how secondary science teachers learn to generate scientific observations by using a novel approach that integrates three complementary theoretical frameworks: cognitive, interactional, and cultural dimensions of learning. The researchers will analyze teacher learning in two rounds of a year-long PLEs. The PLEs will be designed to enable teachers to build understanding of the geologic record using a three-dimensional (3D) approach that foregrounds field-based scientific observation. Following a semester of virtual instruction and a week-long field trip, teachers will apply their newfound skills to develop field-based experiences for their science students. The structure of the PLEs will enable researchers to use three theoretical frameworks to analyze how teachers’ developing expertise in scientific observation relies on their1) knowledge systems, 2) social interactions, and 3) cultural contexts and backgrounds. Applying these theoretical frameworks to produce complementary case studies from a single dataset and using mixed-methods to integrate findings will produce a holistic picture of the multidimensional nature of the development of expertise in scientific observation. Results will advance our understanding of scientific observation and its role in 3D science learning by offering a new, research-based framework to explain learning and expertise development within this important but understudied skill.This project is supported by NSF's EHR Core Research (ECR) program. The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development. The program supports the accumulation of robust evidence to inform efforts to understand, build theory to explain, and suggest intervention and innovations to address persistent challenges in education.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.