EAPSI: How Personal and Contextual Factors Impact the Effects of Teacher Training on Student Math and Science Performance

这项研究探讨了青少年的挑战性问题？数学和科学成就，这影响保留，毕业，以及未来的学术和职业方向和成功。具体而言，该项目将使用1，400名中国中学生的样本来研究教师培训对学生数学和科学表现的影响，并确定可能影响培训效果的因素。该项目将与中国浙江大学教育实践专家孙远涛博士合作开展。预计该项目将有助于更好地理解不同背景下有效的教师数学和科学培训实践的特点。数学和科学作为中学课程的核心内容，受到多种个人因素和情境因素的直接影响和相互作用。尽管教师培训的重要性，令人惊讶的是，培训的效果并不总是显示出对学生的成果是有益的。一个可能的原因可能是普遍存在的一次性、一天、低强度的培训，缺乏连续性和问责制。与美国教师很少接受密集的、以内容为中心的数学/科学课程专业培训不同，中国教师被要求经常参加强制性的、持续的研讨会。该项目的结果可以帮助研究人员，从业者和政策制定者更好地了解更密集，持续，以内容为中心的教师培训对青少年数学和科学表现的有效性。此外，研究结果还确定了两个人（例如，初始条件、性别和年龄）和背景（例如，班级气氛和同伴影响）的调节因子，在中国青少年样本中测试培训效果。该奖项旨在促进研究人员之间的国际合作，研究两个不同国家的教师培训对青少年数学和科学表现的影响因素。该奖项是东亚和太平洋夏季研究所项目下的一个奖项，支持美国研究生的夏季研究，由NSF和中国科学技术部共同资助。

This study investigates the challenging issue of adolescents? math and science achievement, which impacts retention, graduation, and future academic and career orientation and success. Specifically, the project will examine the effect of teacher training on student math and science performance and identify the factors that may impact training effects using a sample of 1,400 Chinese middle school students. This project will be conducted in collaboration with Dr. Yuantao Sun, an expert on educational practice, at Zhejiang University in China. It is expected that the project will contribute to improved understanding of the characteristics of effective teacher math and science training practices for different contexts. It will also foster mutual understanding of teaching and learning principles between U.S. and Chinese education researchers.Mathematics and Science, as central elements of middle school curriculum, are influenced by multiple personal and contextual factors directly and interactively. Despite the significance of teacher training, surprisingly the effects of training are not always shown to be beneficial for student outcomes. One possible reason may be the pervasiveness of single-shot, one-day, low-intensity training which lacks continuity and accountability. Different from U.S. teachers who seldom receive intensive, content-focused professional trainings in math/science courses, the teachers in China are required to attend mandated, sustained workshops frequently. The results of this project could help researchers, practitioners, and policy makers better understand the efficacy of more intensive, sustained, content-focused teacher training on adolescent math and science performance. In addition, the findings also identify both individual (e.g., initial condition, gender, and age) and contextual (e.g., class climate and peer influence) moderators when testing training effects among a large Chinese adolescent sample. This award is expected to facilitate international collaborations among researchers examining factors that moderate the impact of teacher training on adolescent math and science performance in two different countries.This award under the East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes program supports summer research by a U.S. graduate student and is jointly funded by NSF and the Ministry of Science and Technology of China.