Collaborative Research: Integrating computing in STEM: Designing, developing, and investigating a team-based professional development model for middle- and high-school teachers

随着计算已成为科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）实践的组成部分，STEM+计算计划旨在通过在幼儿教育中应用计算思维和计算活动的整合来解决计算STEM领域的新挑战。这个合作STEM+计算项目的目标是设计，开发和调查专业发展（PD）的成果，旨在支持在职教师在初中和高中课堂上整合计算和STEM课程。大约360名教师在北卡罗来纳州和南卡罗来纳州将被招募参加夏季PD讲习班。在每个州，一个研讨会将实施一个新的PD模型，为STEM+C教师的跨学科团队提供与研究人员合作的机会，并在研讨会和整个学年中共同建立课程，活动和资源，将计算集成到基于课堂的活动中。这些资源将与其他教师和公众免费共享。在每个州的第二个研讨会将采用更传统的，单一的教师为重点的方法PD。在讲习班之后，该项目将通过每月在线会议，以及参加在线论坛和参加面对面会议的机会，全年支持教师。来自南卡罗来纳州和北卡罗来纳州州立大学的Citadel军事学院的研究人员将合作：设计和开发基于团队的PD;调查其对教育实践的影响;根据需要创建支持课堂活动的计算工具;并致力于推进关于如何在不同的教室，环境，和文化。该项目将探索PD背景（例如，个人或团队）和文化（学科，国家）影响与计算集成的STEM课程的质量和实施。PD将分三个阶段实施和研究，特别关注教师的成果，利用通过管理现存的仪器，访谈，焦点小组，课堂互动的视频和音频记录，以及文物分析获得的数据。项目团队成员将设计新的STEM+C综合课程;开发标准人行横道;将课程映射到标准;开发、测试和完善工具（包括Snap！这些课程包括：将复杂的计算和STEM内容整合到创意项目中的编程模块;建立和支持将计算融入STEM的教师社区;在两个州（北卡罗来纳州和南卡罗来纳州）和PD类型（个人和团队）之间进行严格的比较研究。标准人行横道和项目研究将在州和国家STEM标准，计算标准学校课程和课堂环境之间建立明确的联系。一名独立的评估员将评估：实施情况;教师对专业学习的反应;专业学习导致的教师内容知识的变化，以及对课堂教学的影响;教师的态度和行为，以及教师采用新的计算方法和活动的程度。

As computing has become integral to the practice of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), the STEM+Computing program seeks to address emerging challenges in computational STEM areas through the applied integration of computational thinking and computing activities within STEM teaching and learning in early childhood education through high school (preK-12). The goal of this collaborative STEM+Computing project is to design, develop, and investigate outcomes of professional development (PD) designed to support in-service teachers in integrating computing and STEM curricula across middle- and high-school classrooms. Approximately 360 teachers in North Carolina and South Carolina will be recruited to participate in summer PD workshops. In each state, one workshop will implement a new PD model that provides interdisciplinary teams of STEM+C teachers with an opportunity to work with the investigators and together -- in the workshop and throughout the academic year -- to build lessons, activities, and resources that integrate computing into classroom-based activities. These resources will be freely shared with other teachers and the public. A second workshop in each state will employ a more traditional, single-teacher focused approach to PD. Following the workshops, the project will support the teachers year-round through monthly online meetings, and opportunities to participate in an online forum and attend in-person sessions. Investigators from Citadel Military College of South Carolina and North Carolina State University will collaborate to: design and develop the team-based PD; investigate its effects on educational practice; create computational tools as needed to support classroom-based activities; and work to advance knowledge on how the new resources can be effectively adopted across diverse classrooms, contexts, and cultures.This project will explore how PD contexts (e.g., individual or team) and cultures (discipline, state) impact the quality and implementation of STEM curricula integrated with computing. The PD will be implemented and studied in three phases, with a particular focus on teacher outcomes, utilizing data obtained through administration of extant instrumentation, interviews, focus groups, video and audio recordings of classroom interactions, and analyses of artifacts. Members of the project team will design new integrated STEM+C curricula; develop standards crosswalks; map the curricula to standards; develop, test, and refine tools (including Snap! programming modules that will help students integrate complex computing and STEM content into creative projects); build and support a community of teachers integrating computing in STEM; and conduct a rigorous comparison study across two states (North Carolina and South Carolina), and PD types (individual and team). Standards crosswalks and project research will make explicit connections across state and national STEM standards, computing standards school curricula, and classroom contexts. An independent evaluator will assess: implementation; teachers' reactions to professional learning; changes in teacher content knowledge as a result of professional learning, and implications for classroom instruction; and teachers' attitudes and behaviors, and the extent to which teachers are adopting new computing pedagogies and activities.