Online Deliberate Practice to Develop Questioning and Discussion Techniques of Undergraduate STEM Students Who Plan to Become Teachers

该项目旨在通过为未来的STEM教师创造基于实践的在线学习体验，服务于优秀STEM教育的国家利益。许多STEM教师进入课堂时经验有限，提出有效的问题并促进富有成效的STEM课堂讨论。该项目将开发在线体验，帮助未来的STEM教师在开始课堂实地体验之前培养有价值的教学、提问和讨论技能。教师技能与教师流动率、工作满意度和学生成绩相关。因此，提高教学技能有可能增加教师职业生涯的持久性。为了促进教学技能的发展，模拟课堂的在线学习体验将为STEM本科生提供反复练习教学技能的机会。这种方法包括在模拟中有意识的练习，及时的同伴和导师反馈，以及指导下的自我反思。所有反馈将基于Danielson（2013）准则，允许将发现转移到其他设置，并提供独立于提供反馈的专家的信息。预期的项目成果包括开发有效的基于实践的教师教育学习经验，复制在线教学活动，并为未来的教师提出有效的问题和鼓励刺激的STEM讨论做好准备。该项目通过在线教学平台Mursion™和Canvas™吸引本科职前STEM学生。Canvas™提供了一个全面的学习管理系统，使本科职前教师能够从事有意识的实践。例如，他们可以记录他们的行为，发布记录，接收反馈，并使用反馈来改进他们的行为。Mursion™提供了一个使用虚拟学生的模拟教室环境。通过这些虚拟平台，未来的教师可以进行反复练习，培养创造和提出具体问题的技能，以获得STEM学生理解的证据。采用混合方法的研究设计，该项目有可能推进：(1)基于实践的本科职前STEM教师培养；(2)利用在线平台创造同步和异步STEM教师技能实践机会；(3)发展提问和讨论技巧的基础设施，这些技巧可以复制到其他重要的教学技能中。该项目的结果将通过专业途径（即国家和地方会议和同行评议期刊）、美国国家科学基金会视频展示和项目网站传播。该项目将通过提供可用于教师准备的在线、可复制的基于实践的方法，使STEM教育界受益。本项目以实践为基础的教师培训方法、以实践为基础的教学活动和在线基础设施将被其他教师培训项目复制。NSF IUSE: EHR计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生STEM教育的有效性。通过参与学生学习轨道，该计划支持有前途的实践和工具的创建，探索和实施。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 aims to serve the national interest in excellent STEM education by creating a practice-based online learning experience for future STEM teachers. Many STEM teachers enter the classroom with limited experience asking effective questions and facilitating productive STEM class discussions. This project will develop online experiences to help future STEM teachers develop valuable teaching, questioning, and discussion skills before beginning classroom field experiences. Teacher skills have been correlated with teacher turnover, job satisfaction, and student outcomes. Thus, improving teaching skills has the potential to increase persistence in teaching careers. To foster teaching skill development, the online learning experiences in a simulated classroom will provide repeated opportunities for STEM undergraduate students to practice teaching skills. This approach includes deliberate practice within simulations, timely peer and mentor feedback, and guided self-reflection. All feedback will be based on the Danielson (2013) rubric allowing transferability of findings to other settings and providing information that is independent of the experts providing the feedback. Anticipated project outcomes include the development of effective practice-based teacher education learning experiences, replication of online instructional activities, and preparation of future teachers to ask effective questions and encourage stimulating STEM discussions.This project engages undergraduate preservice STEM students through the online instructional platforms, Mursion™ and Canvas™. Canvas™ provides a comprehensive learning management system that will enable the undergraduate pre-service teachers to engage in deliberate practice. For example, they can record their actions, post the recording, receive feedback, and use the feedback to improve their actions. Mursion™ provides a simulated classroom environment using avatar students. Through these virtual platforms, the future teachers can engage in repeated practice to develop skills in creating and posing specific questions to elicit evidence of STEM student understanding. Using a mixed-methods research design, the project has potential to advance: (1) practice-based undergraduate preservice STEM teacher preparation; (2) the use of online platforms to create synchronous and asynchronous STEM teacher skill practice opportunities; and (3) an infrastructure to develop questioning and discussion techniques that could be replicated for other important teaching skills. Results of this project will be disseminated through professional avenues (i.e. national and local conferences and peer-reviewed journals), the NSF video showcase, and a project website. This project will benefit the STEM education community by providing online, replicable practice-based approaches that can be used for teacher preparation. This project’s practice-based teacher preparation approach, practice-based instructional activities, and online infrastructure will be replicable by other teacher preparation programs. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.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.