EAGER: Shifting to Online Instruction for Math Teachers Teaching Computing

布朗大学将探索如何使数学教师能够有效地在线教授计算。Bootstrap是一个全国性的推广计划，帮助K-12教师将入门计算整合到现有的课程中，如数学、物理和社会研究。与许多计划一样，Bootstrap已转向2020年夏秋两季的虚拟职业发展(PD)。该校的教师还准备采用远程教学和社交远程教学相结合的教学方式。对于以前计算机背景有限的教师来说，同时学习和准备以一种新的(在线)形式教授计算需要大量的认知开销。教师必须学会有效地使用编程工具，还必须学会如何管理这些工具、讲课幻灯片、数字工作表(如果面对面学习就会出现在纸面上)，以及潜在的视频会议。随着许多学习者(教师和学生)在平板电脑或Chromebook上工作，而没有外部显示器或打印机，认知需求变得相当大。这个渴望的项目探索了教师如何在整合的背景下体验工作量和发展非认知倾向，这些已知的影响虚拟PD在计算中的有效性。布朗大学将寻求了解和缓解数学教师在学习将计算整合到他们的课程中时所面临的额外挑战，无论是在虚拟PD中还是在虚拟教学中。收集的数据将主要是定性的，形式包括调查、PD课程中嵌入的签到问题、教师访谈和PD期间的实地观察。调查的设计将考虑到各种潜在因素，包括认知任务负荷、信心、动机和兴趣。该项目将产生案例研究、关于在虚拟环境中有效设计PD和教学的结果，以及适应虚拟教学环境的课程材料。修订后的课程材料将在网上免费提供。评估和材料将为各种情况下的教师设计，包括远程授课的教师、亲自授课但处于学生社交距离之下的教师，以及农村地区的教师，他们一直要求独立于CoVID进行虚拟PD。尤其是后者，将使这项工作即使在面对面的教学和学习能够恢复之后也是相关的。这一奖项反映了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。

Brown University will explore how to enable math teachers to effectively teach computing online. Bootstrap is a national-scale outreach program that helps K-12 teachers integrate introductory computing into existing classes, such as math, physics, and social studies. Like many programs, Bootstrap has shifted to virtual professional development (PD) for Summer and Fall 2020. Its teachers are also preparing to teach with a combination of remote and socially-distanced instruction. For teachers with limited prior computing background, simultaneously learning and preparing to teach computing in a new (online) format demands significant cognitive overhead. Teachers must learn to effectively use programming tools, but also how to manage attention across these tools, lecture slides, digital worksheets (that would have been on paper for in-person learning), and potentially a videoconference session. With many learners (teachers and students) working on tablets or Chromebooks without external monitors or access to printers, the cognitive demands become considerable. This EAGER project explores how teachers in the integration context experience workload and develop non-cognitive dispositions that are known to impact the effectiveness of virtual PD in computing.Brown University will seek to understand and mitigate the additional challenges that math teachers face when learning to integrate computing into their courses, both in virtual PD and in virtual teaching. Collected data will be largely qualitative, in the form of surveys, check-in questions embedded in PD sessions, interviews with teachers, and field observations during PD. Surveys will be designed to account for a variety of underlying factors, including cognitive task load, confidence, motivation, and interest. The project will result in case studies, findings about effective design of PD and instruction in virtual contexts, and curricular materials adapted for virtual instructional settings. Revised curricular materials will be freely available online. The assessments and materials will be designed for teachers in various situations, including those teaching remotely, those teaching in person but under student social-distancing, and those in rural areas, who have been requesting virtual PD independently of COVID. The latter, in particular, will make this work relevant even after in-person teaching and learning is able to resume.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.