Bridging Science Teaching and Learning in Title 1 Schools

该项目解决了科学教育中一个长期存在的挑战，其核心是国家对促进年轻学习者的繁荣和福利的承诺和兴趣，这些学生在科学领域的历史代表性不足。它通过在佐治亚州亚特兰大市的第一标题小学提供公平和获得高质量科学教学的机会，解决了扩大科学参与的挑战。标题1学校是低收入学生集中的学校，这些学校接受补充资金，以帮助满足生活在贫困水平附近的学生的教育目标和教育需求。在小学学习科学的机会特别有限；特别是在那些为不同种族和民族的儿童以及贫困儿童服务的学校。旨在扩大参与的干预在影响和范围上都是有限的。本项目通过开发、实施和评估专业发展模式来应对这一挑战，该模式将使教师能够有效地利用基于文化响应教学法的科学教育实践。它提供了一种新的科学教学模式，将科学教育的最佳实践与文化相关/反应性教学法的理论原则相结合，这些原则被发现可以影响来自低经济、多样化社区的学生。通过关注在职教师和职前教师，该项目将为理解教师职业生涯轨迹中的教师教育做出宝贵贡献，并加深对教师如何在日常课堂中采用和有效利用有效实践的理解，特别是在科学教学和学习方面。该项目将涉及30名职前教师和20名在职教师参加暑期学院和讲习班，向他们介绍该模型的教学特点，这些特点将在随后的学生教学中使用。教师提供的指导将影响约1,420名学生。该项目的目标是设计和测试一种创新的科学教学模式，该模式将科学教育的最佳实践与文化响应教学法的原则相结合。这个为期两年的设计和开发项目采用混合方法来检验该模型的三个组成部分，这些组成部分被认为对教师实践的改进至关重要：文化响应型课堂管理、话语和锚定。在探索过程中使用定性和定量的方法和措施，为如何以可行而有效的方式支持第一项STEM学校的教学提供了关键信息。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 a national commitment to and interest in advancing the prosperity and welfare of young learners who have been historically underrepresented in science. It addresses challenges with broadening participation in science by providing equity and access to quality science instruction at Title 1 elementary schools in metro Atlanta, Georgia. Title 1 schools are schools with large concentrations of low-income students that receive supplemental funds to assist in meeting educational goals and educational needs of students living near poverty levels. Opportunities to learn science in elementary school are particularly limited; especially in those schools that serve racially and ethnically diverse children and children suffering from poverty. Interventions aimed at broadening participation have been limited in both impact and scope. This project is addressing this challenge through the development, implementation, and evaluation of a professional development model that will prepare teachers to effectively utilize science education practices grounded in culturally responsive pedagogy. It provides a new science instruction model that intersects the best practices in science education with the theoretical principles of culturally relevant/responsive pedagogy found to influence students from low economic, diverse communities. By focusing on both in-service and preservice teachers, the project will make a valuable contribution to the understanding of teacher education across the trajectory of educators’ careers and deepen an understanding of how to prepare teachers to adopt and effectively utilize effective practices in their everyday classrooms, particularly in relation to science teaching and learning.The project will involve 30 preservice and 20 in-service teachers participating in a summer academy and workshops introducing them to instructional features of the model that will later be used during instruction with the students. Instruction provided by the teachers will impact approximately 1,420 students. The goal of the project is to design and test an innovative science instruction model that intersects the best practices in science education with the principles of culturally responsive pedagogy. The two-year design and development project incorporate mixed methods to examine the three components of the model hypothesized as critical for improvements in teacher practice: culturally responsive classroom management, discourse, and anchoring. Use of qualitative and quantitative methods and measures during exploration provides critical information on how to support instruction in Title 1 STEM schools in ways that are feasible, yet effective. 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.