Improving the STEM Preparation of K-5 Pre-service Teachers through a Project-based, Interdisciplinary Approach

小学教师队伍主要是女性和白人，尽管K-12学生群体正变得越来越多样化。研究显示，小学教师很少上大学物理、化学和工程学的课程，只有三分之一的教师完成了他们将教授的所有科学领域的课程。此外，小学教师没有准备好让学生参与科学实践，或根据学生的想法提供科学教学，或将学生的文化背景融入科学教学。为了解决这些问题，该项目旨在通过使初级教师队伍多样化，并使初级科学教师做好准备，以便在基础科学涉及的各种科学学科中任教，从而服务于国家利益。此外，该项目寻求将科学问题与潜在的社会经济问题联系起来，从而激发学生的学习动机，并利用学生的文化认知方式。为此，该项目旨在共同设计一个为期两个季度的本科课程序列，让未来的小学教师参与以项目为基础的课程，以跨学科的科学内容为特色。课程顺序将包括当代问题、科学和工程实践以及伦理(“我们应该吗？”VS“我们可以吗？”所有这些都处于科学和科学决策始终存在的经济、社会和政治背景中。该项目突出强调了科学如何被用作压迫黑人、土著和其他有色人种的手段(BIPOC)和作为进步的工具的内容。为期两个季度的课程设计将满足华盛顿大学博塞尔大学(UWB)本科生的初级认证科学内容先决条件和一般的“自然世界”毕业要求。还打算为任何本科生和未来的小学认证学生提供在线版本的学习课程，以及为社区大学提供课程版本。最终，该项目希望产生一个可推广的模型，用于其他环境。一个学习科学家团队，专门从事以公平为重点的科学教育，以及来自生命、物理和地球科学的科学教师，正在合作为本科生设计四个学习模块(每个季度两个5周模块)。该项目使用了一种混合的方法(调查、退学券、访谈、观察)来了解学生和教师的学习，以及对职前教师从最初的队列到他们第一年教学的纵向研究。基于设计的研究，即一个项目参与设计、实施、研究和重新设计的迭代周期，被用于这项研究。该项目预计将有35名学生参与第一次迭代研究，然后在课程顺序重新设计后，70名学生参与为期两年的为期两个季度的研究。在这70名学生中，大约有50名将成为入职前的小学教师，他们将进入威斯康星大学的小学教师认证计划。预计每年将有70名学生参加在线课程，每年将有35名实习教师参加夏季峰会。除了通过该项目开发的材料外，主要调查人员还将研究三个问题。(1)由于新的课程顺序，本科生职前教师在科学内容学习、身份认同和对科学/科学教育学的理解方面发生了什么变化？(2)参与课程的联合设计后，大学教师的科学教育学发生了什么变化？(3)这种共同设计和实施的模式的基本设计原则和实践是什么，可以传播给更广泛的受众和背景？NSF IUSE：EHR计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生的STEM教育的有效性。通过参与式学生学习路径，该计划支持创建、探索和实施有前途的实践和工具。罗伯特·诺伊斯教师奖学金(NOYCE)计划为IUSE：EHR项目提供共同资金，以支持该项目的职前教师培养目标，这些目标与诺伊斯计划的目标非常一致。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。

The elementary teacher workforce is predominantly female and white, even though the K-12 student population is becoming increasingly diverse. Research shows elementary teachers take few college courses in physics, chemistry, and engineering, and only one third have had coursework in all the areas of science they will teach. Furthermore, elementary teachers do not feel well-prepared to engage students in the practices of science, or provide science instruction based on students' ideas, or to incorporate students' cultural backgrounds into science instruction. To address these issues, this project aims to serve the national interest by diversifying the elementary teaching workforce and preparing elementary science teachers to teach across the breadth of science disciplines that are addressed in elementary science. Moreover, the project seeks to connect scientific questions to underlying socio-economic issues that can motivate student learning and take advantage of students' cultural ways of knowing. Towards these ends this project aims to co-design a two-quarter undergraduate course sequence that engages prospective elementary school teachers in a project-based course of study featuring interdisciplinary science content. The course sequence will incorporate contemporary issues, science and engineering practices, and the ethics ("should we"? vs "can we"?) of science, all situated within the economic, social, and political contexts in which science and science decision-making always live. The project foregrounds content that highlights the ways in which science has been used as both a means of oppression of Black, Indigenous, and other people of color (BIPOC) and as a tool for advancement. The design of the two-quarter sequence will satisfy both elementary certification science content prerequisites and general "natural world" graduation requirements for undergraduates at the University of Washington Bothell (UWB). An online version of the course of study for any undergraduate student and prospective elementary certification students and a version of the courses for community colleges are also intended. Ultimately, the project expects to produce a generalizable model for use in other contexts.A team of learning scientists specializing in equity-focused science education and science faculty from across life, physical, and earth sciences are collaborating to co-design four learning modules (two 5-week modules each quarter) for undergraduate students. The project uses a mixed methods (surveys, exit tickets, interviews, observations) approach for understanding student and faculty learning, as well as a longitudinal study of pre-service teachers from an initial cohort into their first year of teaching. Design-Based Research, wherein a project engages in iterative cycles of design, implementation, research, and re-design, is being used in this study. The project expects to engage 35 students in the first iteration of the study, and then 70 students for two years in the two-quarter sequence after the course sequence is redesigned. Of those 70 students, approximately 50 will become elementary pre-service teachers who will enter UWB’s elementary teacher certification program. Seventy students per year are expected to take the online courses and 35 practicing teachers per year are intended to participate in the summer summits. In addition to the materials developed through this project, the principal investigators will research three questions. (1) What shifts in science content learning, identities, and understandings of science/science pedagogy occur in undergraduate pre-service teachers as a result of the new course sequence? (2) What shifts in science pedagogy occur in university faculty as a result of engaging in the co-design of the courses? (3) What are essential design principles and practices of this model of co-design and implementation that can be disseminated to wider audiences and contexts? 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. The Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship (Noyce) Program is providing co-funding for this IUSE: EHR project to support the project's pre-service teacher preparation goals, which are well-aligned with Noyce Program goals.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.