Culturally Responsive, Affective-Focused Teaching of Science and Mathematics

自认为是黑人、土著或有色人种（BIPOC）的学生和专业人士在STEM领域的代表性仍然不足。扩大对STEM的参与需要K-12 STEM教师如何参与和教育那些被认定为BIPOC的学生。研究表明，文化和社会公正的联系可以为那些在科学和数学方面被认为是BIPOC的学生带来积极的学术成果。该项目将提供一个以实地为基础的科学和数学教师教育计划，支持通过文化响应实践关注学生情感发展的教学。在这个项目中，情感发展被定义为学生将他们的科学和数学学习融入他们自己独特的个人价值体系的能力。该项目的实地教师教育计划为期两年，并模拟如何在STEM课堂上进行文化响应和情感教学，以吸引学生。该项目的参与者包括48名中学科学和数学教师，他们在佛罗里达州一个教育公平问题最持久和最明显的地区与大约5300名学生一起工作。相关研究将对理论和实践产生影响，可以扩展到改善全国学校和地区STEM教育工作者的发展。这与NSF致力于通过基于研究的设计和开发创新模型来促进K-12学生和教师在STEM学科中的学习的承诺是一致的。采用基于设计的实施研究，本项目将实现以下目标：(1)通过为全区48名中学科学和数学教师配备文化响应，以情感为中心的实践和领导技能，改变他们的实践；(2)构建工具和资源，作为开放获取的专业发展材料，通过学习管理工具广泛共享；(3)发展基于证据和适应性的变革理论，与STEM教育界广泛分享。研究计划采用定性和定量研究方法，研究科学和数学教师及其学生在经历不断完善的教师教育模式时的经历和变化。该项目特别侧重于研究教师和学生的成果，包括教师的文化响应，情感关注的实践和自我效能感，他们对学生价值观和文化背景的理解，以及他们对文化多样性的态度；学生情感发展和STEM成就的增长，他们对STEM职业的兴趣，以及STEM身份的发展。对研究问题的回答将为开发实践工具和理论模型提供经验驱动的方法，以实现STEM教师转型和对BIPOC学生的积极影响。探索研究preK-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preK-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。

Students and professionals who identify as Black, Indigenous, or people of color (BIPOC) continue to be underrepresented in STEM fields. Broadening participation in STEM requires a change in how K-12 STEM teachers engage and educate students who identify as BIPOC. Research has demonstrated that cultural and social justice connections can lead to positive academic outcomes for students who identify as BIPOC in science and mathematics. This project will provide a field-based science and mathematics teacher education program that supports teaching focused on students’ affective development through culturally responsive practices. In this project, affective development is defined by students’ abilities to incorporate their science and mathematics learning into their own unique personal value systems. The project's field-based teacher education program takes place over a two-year period and models how culturally responsive and affective instruction can occur in the STEM classroom to engage students. The project participants include 48 secondary science and mathematics teachers who work with about 5300 students in a district with some of the most persistent and pronounced educational equity issues in the state of Florida. The associated research will have implications for theory and practice that can be extended to improve STEM educator development in schools and districts throughout the country. This aligns with NSF’s commitment to advancing K-12 student and teacher learning in the STEM disciplines through research-based design and development of innovative models.Using design-based implementation research, this project will accomplish the following objectives: (1) transform the practices of a district-wide set of 48 secondary science and mathematics teachers by equipping them with culturally responsive, affective-focused practices and leadership skills; (2) construct tools and resources that will serve as open-access professional development materials shared widely via learning management tools; and (3) develop an evidence-based and adaptable theory of change to share widely with the STEM education community. The research plan draws on both qualitative and quantitative research methods to study the experiences and changes of science and mathematics teachers and their students as they experience continuously refined versions of the teacher education model. In particular, this project focuses on studying teacher and student outcomes, including teachers’ culturally responsive, affective-focused practices and self-efficacy, their understanding of student values and cultural backgrounds, and their attitudes toward cultural diversity; growth in students’ affective development and STEM achievement, their interest in STEM careers, and STEM identity development. Answers to the research questions will provide empirically-driven means for developing both the practical tools and the theoretical models of change toward STEM teacher transformation and positive impacts for students who identify as BIPOC.The Discovery Research preK-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.