Big Sky Science Partnership

大天空科学合作计划（BSSP）由Salish Kootenai学院（SKC）领导，该学院是位于蒙大拿州Pablo的一所部落学院。其他高等教育的核心合作机构是位于波兹曼的蒙大拿州立大学和位于米苏拉的蒙大拿大学。K-12社区的核心合作伙伴包括位于蒙大拿州西部的flahead保留地的学校，以及位于蒙大拿州东南部的Crow和Northern Cheyenne保留地的学校，以及米苏拉地区的公立学区。具体学区包括米苏拉县公立学校、洛洛第7学区、莱克县第30学区、波尔森第23学区、迪克森第9公立学区、桑德斯县第8联合学区、Superior学区和Lone Rock小学第13学区。大天空科学伙伴关系（BSSP）的首要目标是提高合作学校3-8年级美国印第安学生的科学成就。由合作伙伴IHEs的地球科学、物理、天文学和教育学院组成的跨学科团队，以及来自SKC土著数学和科学研究所的专业开发人员、西方学习和教学中心、K-8教师和管理人员将共同设计和促进全年的项目活动。共有90名3-8年级的在职教师将通过两组45名教师成为BSSP的教师领导。最多20名职前教师候选人也将有机会参加暑期学院和其他选定的学年活动。参与者将参加为期两周的暑期研习班，在此期间，IHE的科学和教育合作伙伴将提供具有挑战性的综合科学内容和教学法课程。这三个暑假将分别专注于不同的内容领域，分别是天文学、地球科学和物理学，但这些不同学科的概念将得到强调。重要的是，文化能力策略将贯穿整个课程。除了其他领导力发展活动外，还将由部落顾问和科学家举办关于文化能力的独特的多日讲习班。学年专业学习社区活动将让合作伙伴参与在线科学内容课程、在线讨论论坛、为期8天的现场研讨会和工作嵌入式指导，以进一步发展教师的专业和领导技能和知识。响应式项目评估设计将采用混合方法、准实验设计来评估对教师的内容知识、教学实践和态度以及学生的成绩和态度的影响。对高等教育教师的教学实践和态度的影响也将被评估。BSSP在K-8和IHE水平上都有目标：1)通过深化K-8在职和职前教育者对科学内容和教学方法的理解来改善科学教学；2)培养以学校为本的K-8科学教师领袖；3)培养K-20教师在科学教学中的文化能力；4)提高高校理科教师对K-8学校文化和大学前科学教育问题的认识；5)提高高校理科教师与大学预科教师合作的有效性；6)发展由BSSP合作伙伴组成的可持续的专业学习社区；7)为K-8教师设计一套严格的研究生水平的科学课程，8)开发一种可行的科学教师培养模式，使K-8教师做好充分准备，向不同的学生教授科学。此外，BSSP还确定了三个研究问题，这些问题与使用有效课堂实践的障碍、培养领导力和专业学习社区以建立内容知识和教学技能以支持有风险的学生、以及不同文化中在线学习环境的有效性有关。

Abstract 0634587The Big Sky Science Partnership (BSSP) is led by the Salish Kootenai College (SKC), a tribal college located in Pablo, Montana. Additional core partner institutions of higher education (IHE) are Montana State University, in Bozeman, and the University of Montana, in Missoula. Core partners from the K-12 community include the schools of the Flathead Reservation, located in western Montana, and the schools of the Crow and Northern Cheyenne Reservations, located in southeastern Montana, as well as Missoula area public school districts. Specific districts include Missoula County Public Schools, Lolo School District #7, School District #30 Lake County, Polson Schools District #23, Dixon Public Schools District No. 9 Sanders County, Joint School District #8, Superior School District, and Lone Rock Elementary District #13.The overarching goal of the Big Sky Science Partnership (BSSP) is to increase science achievement of American Indian students in grades 3-8 of partner schools. A cross-disciplinary team of the partner IHEs' Geoscience, Physics, Astronomy and Education faculty, along with professional developers from the SKC Indigenous Math and Science Institute, and the Center for Learning and Teaching in the West, K-8 teachers, and administrators will collaboratively design and facilitate year-round project activities. A total of ninety grade 3-8 inservice teachers will become Teacher Leaders in the BSSP, through two cohorts of 45 teachers each. Up to twenty preservice teacher candidates will also have the opportunity to participate in the summer institute and other selected academic year activities. Participants will be involved in two-week summer institutes during which IHE science and education partners will facilitate challenging integrated science content and pedagogy courses. Each of the three summers will focus on a different content area, astronomy, geoscience, and physics, respectively, but concepts that permeate these different disciplines will be highlighted. Importantly, cultural competency strategies will be woven throughout the courses. There will also be distinctive and multi-day workshops on cultural competency delivered by tribal consultants and scientists, in addition to other leadership development activities. School year professional learning community activities will engage partners in online science content courses, online discussion forums, eight days of on site workshops, and job embedded coaching to further develop teachers' professional and leadership skills and knowledge.A responsive project evaluation design will be employed to assess impacts on teachers' content knowledge, instructional practices and attitudes, and students' achievement and attitudes using a mixed-methods, quasi experimental design. Impacts on higher education faculty's instructional practice and attitudes will also be assessed. The BSSP has objectives at both the K-8 and IHE level, to: 1) improve science instruction by deepening K-8 inservice and preservice educators' understanding of science content and pedagogy; 2) generate school based K-8 science Teacher Leaders; 3) develop cultural competency in science instruction in K-20 instructors; 4) improve IHEs science faculty members' understanding of K-8 school culture and issues in precollege science education; 5) improve IHEs science faculty member's effectiveness in working with precollege teachers; 6) develop a sustainable professional learning community made up of the BSSP partners; 7) generate a set of rigorous graduate level science courses designed for K-8 teachers, and 8) develop a viable model of science teacher preparation that will produce K-8 teachers well prepared to teach science to diverse students. In addition, the BSSP has identified three research questions associated with barriers to using effective classroom practices, fostering leadership and professional learning communities for building content knowledge and pedagogical skills in support of at-risk students, and the efficacy of online learning environments in diverse cultures.