Teaching Science Outdoors: A Next Generation Approach for Advancing Elementary Science Teaching in Urban Communities

该项目解决了科学教育中一个长期存在的挑战，其核心是为生活在高度贫困社区和在资源不足的小学上学的学生提供有意义的科学教育机会。这些学生明显不太可能获得高质量的科学学习机会，也不太可能被鼓励从事（而不仅仅是学习）科学。密歇根州立大学的这项研究项目旨在提高高度贫困城市社区小学教师的能力，使他们能够将户外活动作为课堂的一部分，制定与下一代科学标准（NGSS）相一致的科学方法。它建立并推进了当前科学教育背景下的户外教育工作，要求小学教师利用下一代科学和工程实践让学生参与理解现象。该项目的目标是促进小学教师的教学实践，并确定这如何影响学生的认知和非认知学习成果，特别是那些传统上在科学课堂上被边缘化的学生。它还将促进关于如何弥合非正式和正式学习环境的知识。为了实现这些目标，该项目将制定、制定和研究一项计划，其中包括一系列以户外学习为重点的夏季专业发展课程、学年后续会议和针对两个高需求地区的小学教师和非正式教育工作者的课堂辅导。基于设计的研究将用于：1)促进教师实践并研究这些实践如何随着时间的推移而发展，2)与教师合作衡量学生的成果，以及3)确定这种正式/非正式方法的哪些方面是富有成效的，学生参与和学生学习工件的衡量标准将被分析。该项目将成为非正式科学组织、教育工作者和K-12课程之间发展伙伴关系的典范。教师实践和学生学习的修订措施和结果；户外课程计划；说明小学教师如何开发和实施符合ngss的户外课程的案例；修正的非正式-正式理论模型；将编制和传播有关产品传播的资料，包括促进指导方针和指导办法。探索研究K-12项目（DRK-12）旨在通过研究和开发创新资源、模型和工具，显著提高pre -12学生和教师对科学、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工作的基础上，为拟议的项目提供了理论和实证依据。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project addresses a long-standing challenge in science education centered on providing meaningful science education opportunities to students living in communities of high poverty and attending under-resourced elementary schools. These students are significantly less likely to receive high-quality science learning opportunities and to be encouraged to engage in (rather than simply learn about) science. This Michigan State University research project is designed to enhance the capacity of elementary teachers in high-poverty urban communities for enacting Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) -aligned science approaches using the outdoors as part of their classroom. It builds on and advances prior outdoor education work for the current context of science education that requires elementary teachers to engage students in making sense of phenomena using next generation science and engineering practices. The goal of this project is to advance elementary teachers' pedagogical practices and determine how this affects cognitive and non-cognitive learning outcomes of their students, particularly those who are traditionally marginalized in science classrooms. It also will advance knowledge on ways to bridge informal and formal learning environments. To achieve these goals, the project will develop, enact and study a program that involves a scaffolded series of summer professional development sessions focused on outdoor learning and school year follow-up meetings and classroom-based coaching for elementary teachers and informal educators from two high-need districts.Design-based research will be utilized to: 1) foster teacher practices and study how these develop over time, 2) work with teachers to measure student outcomes, and 3) determine what aspects of this formal/informal approach are productive, measures of student engagement and student learning artifacts--will be analyzed. The project will serve as a model for developing partnerships between informal science organizations, educators, and K-12 programs. Revised measures and outcomes of teacher practices and student learning; outdoor-focused lesson plans; cases illustrating how elementary teachers develop and enact NGSS-aligned outdoor lessons; a revised informal-formal theoretical model; and information about dissemination of products including facilitation guidelines and coaching approaches will be developed and disseminated.The Discovery Research K-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by 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.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.