PIRE: Crafting Optimal Learning in Science Environments

该奖项旨在提高中学科学教师在课堂上促进参与性活动的技能。最近，美国和芬兰都制定了新的科学标准，强调有趣、具有挑战性和与学生相关的教学活动的价值。生命和未来。特别令人感兴趣的是课堂信息和课堂教学任务，这阻碍了妇女、代表性不足的少数群体和有特殊需要的个人在STEM领域追求职业生涯。该项目是美国和芬兰的研究人员和教师之间的合作项目，其目的是：1)测量中学科学课堂上学生的学术、社会和情感学习情况；2)调查仿照新的下一代科学标准实施的新形式的科学教学的效果；3)在美国和芬兰之间创建一个综合交流计划，面向学生、教师、教师教育工作者、研究人员和政策领导者，以促进科学教师的专业发展和教师教育计划的改进。计划中的教育交流计划将包括由美国教师教育工作者、科学教师和科学教师实习生组成的团队前往芬兰，以便与芬兰同行交流研究成果和教学专业知识。预计这些交流将扩大参与者？网络为他们提供了更多的信息来源，以提高教师的专业水平和加深他们的STEM知识。为了利用美国和芬兰中学化学和物理课堂上的科学活动，通过先前的研究显示，该项目将创建一种教学干预措施，促进科学教育改革，特别是基于项目的学习，并将其与传统的科学教学方法进行比较。本研究采用创新的单案例研究设计和智能手机技术，测试学生在参与教学干预时，是否体验到科学与自身、社会和科学学习的相关性增加？与教师合作，将在三年内创建和复制四个科学单位(每一年都会增加新的学校、教师和学生)。到第三年年底，将进行一项更大的实地测试，将在20所处理高中的40个教室实施干预措施，影响代表不同背景的近2000名学生(与对照人群相匹配)。这项工作的开展，从设计到实施，将在芬兰学校与同龄学生共同进行。该奖项由教育和人力资源局学习研究司共同资助。

The PIRE award aims to enhance secondary science teachers' skills in promoting engaging activities in classrooms. Recently, both the United States and Finland have developed new science standards that stress the value of instructional activities that are interesting, challenging, and relevant to students? lives and futures. Of particular interest are the classroom messages and instructional tasks in classrooms that have discouraged women, underrepresented minorities, and individuals with special needs from pursuing careers in STEM fields. This project is a collaboration between researchers and teachers in the United States and Finland that: 1) measures the academic, social, and emotional learning of students in secondary science classes; 2) investigates the effect of the implementation of a new form of science instruction modeled after the new Next Generation Science Standards; and 3) creates an integrated exchange program between the United States and Finland for students, teachers, teacher educators, researchers, and policy leaders to foster the professional development of science teachers and improvement of teacher education programs. The planned educational exchange program will involve teams of U.S. teacher educators, science teachers, and science teacher interns traveling to Finland in order to exchange research findings and teaching expertise with their Finnish counterparts. It is anticipated that these exchanges will expand participants? networks providing them more sources of information to elevate the professionalism of teachers and deepen their STEM knowledge. To capitalize on science activities in secondary chemistry and physics classrooms in the United States and Finland that have been shown through prior research to enhance engagement and learning, the project will create an instructional intervention which advances reforms in science education, specifically project based learning, and compares it with conventional science instructional techniques. Using both innovative single case study design and smartphone technology this research will test when students participate in the instructional intervention do they experience an increase in science relevance both for themselves and society and science learning? Working with teachers, four science units will be created and replicated over a three year period (with additional new schools, teachers, and students in each successive year). By the end of year three a larger field test will be conducted in which the intervention will be implemented in 40 classrooms in twenty treatment high schools affecting nearly 2,000 students representing diverse backgrounds (with matched control populations). The conduct of this work, from its design to implementation, will be jointly undertaken in Finnish schools with similarly aged students. This award is cofunded by the Division of Research on Learning, Directorate for Education and Human Resources.