Readiness through Integrative Science and Engineering: Refining and Testing a Co-Constructed Curriculum Approach with Head Start Partners

探索研究K-12计划(DRK-12)旨在通过研究和开发创新资源、模式和工具，显著提高K-12学前班学生和教师的科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)的学习和教学。DRK-12计划中的项目建立在STEM教育的基础研究和先前的研究和开发努力的基础上，这些研究和开发工作为拟议的项目提供了理论和经验证明。通过综合科学与工程准备(RISE)是一个后期设计和开发项目，它将建立在NSF资助的早期设计和开发研究的结果的基础上，在该研究中，课程开发的共同构建过程由一个教育研究人员团队与一小群Head Start教育工作者和家长领导人共同设计。在这一阶段，设计团队将扩大到包括课堂教练和社区专家，以便在更大的Head Start教室样本中实施和评估RISE模式。在当前阶段，迭代设计过程将进一步开发科学、技术和工程课程材料，并继续完善对教师获得家庭科学、技术和工程相关知识资金的支持，以建立儿童先前的知识作为家庭与学校的联系。该项目的最终目标是为来自低收入家庭的文化和语言多样化的居住在城市的儿童做好入学准备，这些儿童在课程发展研究中的代表性往往较低，尽管他们以后面临学校适应困难的风险最大。对科学、技术和工程的关注将解决早期STEM教育中的一个空白。拟议的小组随机设计，由90名教师/教室(45个RISE/45个对照)组成，将允许评估与不干预对照组相比，为期2年的REST干预的影响。第一年将包括招聘、入职和培训完全上升模式的课堂教练和社区专家，以及准备综合课程材料和资源。在第二年，参与课程的教师将在课堂教练和社区专家的支持下实施RISE课程方法；将收集有关教师实践、课堂质量和实施忠诚度的数据，这些形成性评估将为第三年的重新设计和任何改进提供信息。在第二年，还将测试和改进科学、技术和工程概念和技能的具体项目学习措施。在第三年，将收集教师(与第二年一样)以及每个教室(N=900)随机选择的10名儿童的上岗前数据。当评估儿童结果时，将使用多水平建模来解释儿童在教室中的筑巢情况。此外，将在最后的总结性分析中审查几个主持人(例如，教师教育、部分或全日制课堂、家长人口统计数据、实施忠诚度)。在该项目结束时，将最后确定所有材料，RISE共建方法将准备好在其他社区进行扩大和推广研究。

The Discovery Research K-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) for preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models, and tools. Projects in the DRK-12 program build on fundamental research in STEM education and prior research and development efforts that provide theoretical and empirical justification for proposed projects. Readiness through Integrative Science and Engineering (RISE) is a late stage design and development project that will build upon the results of an earlier NSF-funded design and development study in which a co-construction process for curriculum development was designed by a team of education researchers with a small group of Head Start educators and parent leaders. In this phase, the design team will be expanded to include Classroom Coaches and Community Experts to enable implementation and assessment of the RISE model in a larger sample of Head Start classrooms. In this current phase, an iterative design process will further develop the science, technology, and engineering curricular materials as well continue to refine supports for teachers to access families' funds of knowledge related to science, technology, and engineering in order to build on children's prior knowledge as home-school connections. The ultimate goal of the project is to improve school readiness for culturally and linguistically diverse, urban-residing children from low-income families who tend to be underrepresented in curriculum development studies even though they are most at-risk for later school adjustment difficulties. The focus on science, technology, and engineering will address a gap in early STEM education.The proposed group-randomized design, consisting of 90 teachers/classrooms (45 RISE/45 Control), will allow for assessment of the impact of a 2-year RISE intervention compared with a no-intervention control group. Year 1 will consist of recruitment, induction, and training of Classroom Coaches and Community Experts in the full RISE model, as well as preparation of integrative curricular materials and resources. In Year 2, participating teachers will implement the RISE curriculum approach supported by Classroom Coaches and Community Experts; data on teacher practice, classroom quality, and implementation fidelity will be collected, and these formative assessments will inform redesign and any refinements for Year 3. During Year 2, project-specific measures of learning for science, technology, and engineering concepts and skills will also be tested and refined. In Year 3, pre-post data on teachers (as in Year 2) as well as on 10 randomly selected children in each classroom (N = 900) will be collected. When child outcomes are assessed, multilevel modeling will be used to account for nesting of children in classrooms. In addition, several moderators will be examined in final summative analyses (e.g., teacher education, part or full-day classroom, parent demographics, implementation fidelity). At the end of this project, all materials will be finalized and the RISE co-construction approach will be ready for scale-up and replication studies in other communities.