Collaborative Research: Building Capacity for Middle School Master Science Teacher Development

这项由罗伯特·诺伊斯教师奖学金计划支持的能力建设项目将制定和试行一个工作定义，即在交叉科学概念中，哪些做法、方法和知识库构成硕士水平的教学。这些贯穿各领域的概念是目前在美国为提高K-12科学教学的连贯性所做的努力所不可或缺的。国家路易斯大学(NLU)和伊利诺伊理工学院(IIT)将合作建立一个联合硕士教师奖学金计划，该计划将培养芝加哥公立学校的一支中学科学教师队伍，他们具有深厚的教学内容知识和领导能力，能够在各州采用并开始实施下一代科学标准(NGSS)的交叉概念时实施特别相关的交叉概念。为了实现这一目标，该项目的主要活动将是建立大学与博物馆的合作伙伴关系，包括阿德勒天文馆和科学与工业博物馆，将专业科学内容知识、深入的教学知识和正在进行的科学实践地点整合在一起，并开发一条学习途径，大幅增加教师的科学内容知识，将他们与正在进行的科学实践地点连接起来，并支持他们将这些知识和联系转化为设计和评估学生的学习经验。这条途径的两个关键组成部分将是在博物馆遗址和IIT举办暑期研究所，旨在加深教师对科学和当代科学的交叉概念的了解，以及利用一个基于网络的平台协同改进教师实践，其中包括教师对形成的学生评估数据的一致检查。一组试点教师将在整个学年参加由项目设计的暑期学院和专业发展活动。需求评估的结果将为暑期学院的设计和专业发展提供信息。教师在实施针对具体内容的高杠杆教学策略方面的进展将使用自适应教学周期(ACT)来衡量，这是一个基于云的技术系统，使教师能够通过对学生学习的形成性评估、教师档案分析和教练/导师的反馈来改进特定的教学策略。将定制ACT工具，以支持实施NGSS科学教学。科学精通教学的定义和发展将为该领域的科学教育工作者和教师准备工作提供信息。作为这一能力建设项目的一部分，将支持他们到学校现场报道，并在其学校和学区实施更强有力的科学教学方面发挥领导作用。每个伙伴机构将通过开发和测试教师促进学生学习核心科学概念所需的科学知识和技能的模式，深化其教师教育的知识基础和能力。这些模式将为STEM教师的准备和整个机构的专业发展提供信息。到试点阶段结束时，这些教师将大大提高他们向学校现场实施NGSS提供信息的能力。

This Capacity Building project supported by the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship program will develop and pilot a working definition of what practices, approaches and knowledge base constitute Master Level teaching in cross-cutting concepts of science. These cross-cutting concepts are integral to current attempts to bring increased coherency to the teaching of K-12 science in the United States. National Louis University (NLU) and the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) will collaboratively build a joint Master Teacher Fellowship Program that will develop a cadre of middle school science teachers in Chicago Public Schools with deep pedagogical content knowledge and leadership capacity in implementing the cross-cutting concepts of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) of particular relevance as states adopt and begin to implement NGSS. To reach this goal, the key activities of this project will be the establishment of a University-Museum partnership involving Adler Planetarium and the Museum of Science and Industry that will integrate expert science content knowledge, deep pedagogical knowledge, and sites of ongoing science practice and the development of a learning pathway that substantially increases teachers' science content knowledge, connects them to ongoing sites of science practice, and supports them in translating that knowledge and connection into the design and assessment of learning experiences for their students. Two key components of that pathway will be a summer institute held at museum sites and IIT that is designed to deepen teachers' knowledge of cross-cutting concepts of science and current science, and the use of a web-based platform for collaborative improvement of teacher practice that incorporates teachers' consistent examination of formative student assessment data. A pilot group of teachers will take part in a project-designed summer institute and professional development activities throughout the school year. Results from a needs assessment will inform the design of the summer institute and professional development. Teachers' progress in implementing content-specific, high leverage teaching strategies will be measured using the Adaptive Cycles of Teaching (ACT), a cloud-based technology system that enables teachers to improve specific teaching strategies through formative assessments of student learning, teacher portfolio analysis and feedback from coaches/mentors. The ACT tool will be customized to support the implementation of NGSS science teaching. The definition and development of mastery teaching in science will inform science educators in the field and in teacher preparation. As part of this capacity building project, they will be supported in reporting to their school sites and in taking leadership roles in the implementation of stronger science teaching in their schools and districts. Each partner institution will deepen its knowledge base and capacity for teacher education by developing and testing models of the science knowledge and skills teachers need to advance student learning in central concepts of science. These models will inform STEM teacher preparation and professional development throughout each institution. By the close of the pilot phase, these teachers will have significantly developed their capacity to inform NGSS implementation at their school sites.