Computational Sciences Pathway Option for Massachusetts High School Students

作为STEM学科中强大的计算创新和应用的结果，STEM+C课程满足了从早期年级到高中(K-12之前)学生对现实世界、跨学科和计算准备的迫切需求。教育发展中心将与马萨诸塞州中小学教育部合作，开发和测试一系列计算科学高中课程。在必修的核心科学课程中嵌入计算思维和计算技能发展的方法与科学的现代化相一致，使用计算工具和方法促进科学理解，加速发现，并为学生未来在科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)领域的努力做好准备。新课程将反映传统的科学途径，将与符合数字素养和计算机科学国家标准的主题相结合。课程材料的设计将由计算科学家和计算科学集成方面的专家指导，以确保与STEM领域的现代计算实践相关联。75名高中教师将参加一项专门的专业发展计划，该计划将提高教师破译和解释计算机模型嵌入科学思想的机制的能力。将对教学材料进行测试和修订，其中包括课程和评估。这些课程和相关的教学材料将得到马萨诸塞州小学和中等教育部门的认可，并将提供给所有406所马萨诸塞州公立高中。在项目的最后一年，将衡量计算科学课程对学生计算思维技能和科学知识的影响。到项目结束时，计算科学课程将嵌入到马萨诸塞州的教育基础设施中，对全州范围内的STEM+C教学产生重大影响。该项目将开发和测试生物、化学和物理三门理科高中课程，这些课程整合了马萨诸塞州的数字素养和计算机科学标准。对于每个课程，该项目将开发和测试10个课程单元、年中和年终单元评估以及专业发展学习单元。教育发展中心将与马萨诸塞州中小学教育部合作制定和实施这一计划。研究问题解决的是，参加开发课程的学生是否比没有参加计算集成的同一课程的学生表现出更高水平的计算思维技能和科学知识。为了回答这些问题，该项目将采用准实验研究设计，包括60名干预教师(每门课程20名教师)和60名对照教师。将对大约2400名注册参加感兴趣课程的学生进行知识调查评估，这些学生由参与研究的120名教师教授。除了传统的期刊和会议出版物和演示文稿的传播方法外，这些单元和相关评估将立即成为马萨诸塞州高中课程的一部分，并将从马萨诸塞州中小学教育部网站免费获得。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

As a result of the powerful innovation and application of computing in STEM disciplines, the STEM+C program addresses an urgent need for real-world, interdisciplinary, and computational preparation of students from the early grades through high school (preK-12). The Education Development Center in partnership with the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education will develop and test a series of computational science high school courses. The approach to embed computational thinking and computational skills development within required core science courses is consistent with the modernization of science to use computational tools and methods that advance scientific understanding, accelerate discovery, and prepare students for future endeavors in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. The new courses will reflect the traditional science pathway that will be integrated with topics that align with digital literacy and computer science state standards. The design of curricular materials will be guided by computational scientists and experts in computational science integration to ensure relevance to modern computational practices in STEM fields. 75 high school teachers will participate in a specialized professional development program that will enhance teachers' ability to decode and explain mechanisms that embed scientific ideas with computer models. The instructional materials, which includes lessons and assessments, will be tested and revised. The courses and related instructional materials will be endorsed by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and will be available to all 406 Massachusetts public high schools. During the last year of the project, the impact of the computational science courses on students' computational thinking skills and science knowledge will be measured. By the end of the project, the computational science courses will be embedded in the Massachusetts educational infrastructure with major statewide impact on STEM+C teaching and learning. This project will develop and test three science high school courses in Biology, Chemistry, and Physics which integrates Massachusetts standards for Digital Literacy and Computer Science. For each course, the project will develop and test 10 curriculum units, mid- and end-of-year unit assessments, and professional development learning units. Education Development Center will partner with the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for the development and implementation. Research questions address whether the students enrolled in the developed courses demonstrate higher levels of computational thinking skills and science knowledge than students who are enrolled in the same course without computational integration. To answer the questions, the project will use a quasi-experiment research design involving 60 intervention teachers (20 teachers per course) and 60 comparison teachers. Assessment of knowledge surveys will be administered to approximately 2,400 students enrolled in courses of interest who are taught by the 120 teachers participating in the study. In addition to the traditional dissemination methods of journal and conference publications and presentations, these units and the associated assessments will immediately become part of Massachusetts high school curriculum and will be available at no cost from the State of Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education website.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.