Fostering STEM Thinking in Mathematics Courses for Elementary Education Majors

该项目旨在通过改进课程和提供资源，扩大K-8准教师获得真实问题解决经验的机会，并支持他们对科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）思维的理解，以及在K-8数学中的STEM整合，从而为国家利益服务。STEM整合是一种教学STEM内容的方法，不是专注于单个学科本身，而是专注于在真实的问题解决环境中解决由STEM实践约束的现实问题。该项目旨在开发、完善和测试四个课程模块的有效性，以提供一个有凝聚力的框架，支持未来的K-8教师学习STEM思维和STEM整合。模块化序列将用于马奎特大学基础教育专业的学生，他们的第一门课程是3门课程的数学序列。在准备K-8教师时关注STEM教育是很重要的，因为它是这些年级学生对STEM的兴趣甚至未来热情的基础，这对满足美国STEM劳动力的需求具有重要意义。该项目使用模型启发活动（MEA）为未来教师创造有意义的机会，让他们在解决问题的背景下体验STEM整合。mea是支持学生发明和测试模型以应对开放式现实问题的活动。该项目采用跨界框架来指导教学活动的设计，以建立未来教师对STEM思维的理解，即在解决问题的背景下共享STEM学科实践。在课程活动的发展中，Pólya的一般问题解决过程将被解释为一个边界对象，STEM跨界将被概念化为与每个领域内问题解决相关的STEM学科实践。这些学科实践和思维习惯可以从各自的STEM标准文件中看出：下一代科学标准、技术素养标准、K-12工程教育标准和数学共同核心国家标准。这些模块将讨论数据驱动的决策，重点是与使用比率和比例、缩放、测量和估计表示定量关系相关的课程主题（例如，解决涉及比率的问题，定义密度等属性，以及使用代表性抽样）。这些模块使用真实的问题解决环境，旨在培养未来教师参与STEM跨学科问题解决实践（例如，提出问题，选择和使用可用资源，选择，应用，调整或创建模型，分析结构，生成论点，并根据证据做出决策）。这些行为将在数据分析中通过跨界框架的镜头进行针对性分析。通过该项目开发和传播的材料直接响应了国家研究委员会（NRC, 2013）的呼吁，即建立课程，让教师候选人参与并体验由STEM特定教学方法和实践支持的综合STEM内容。项目材料有望成为全国范围内对数学STEM内容整合感兴趣的数学教师和教育工作者的有用资源。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。部分资金来自Robert Noyce教师奖学金项目。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 by improving curricula and generating resources that broaden K-8 prospective teachers’ access to authentic problem-solving experiences and support their understanding of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) thinking and STEM integration in K-8 mathematics. STEM integration is an approach to teaching STEM content not with a focus on individual disciplines per se but with a focus on solving real-world problems bound by STEM practices within an authentic problem-solving context. The project intends to develop, refine, and test the effectiveness of four curricular modules to provide a cohesive framework for supporting prospective K-8 teachers’ learning about STEM thinking and STEM integration. The modular sequence will be used with Marquette University elementary education majors in their first course of a 3-course mathematics sequence. Attention to STEM education in preparing K-8 teachers is important as it serves at these grade levels as the foundation for students’ interest and even future passion for STEM, which has implications for meeting the demands of the STEM workforce in the United States. The project uses the Model Eliciting Activities (MEA) to create meaningful opportunities for prospective teachers to experience STEM integration in problem-solving contexts. MEAs are activities that support students in inventing and testing models in response to open-ended real-world problems. The project employs a boundary-crossing framework to guide the design of instructional activities to build prospective teachers’ understanding of STEM thinking as shared STEM disciplinary practices in the context of problem-solving. In the development of the course activities, Pólya’s general problem-solving process will be interpreted as a boundary object, and STEM boundary-crossing will be conceptualized as STEM disciplinary practices related to problem-solving within each domain. These disciplinary practices and habits of mind are discerned from respective STEM standards documents: the Next Generation Science Standards, Standards for Technological Literacy, Standards for K-12 Engineering Education, and Common Core State Standards for Mathematics. The modules will address data-driven decision-making with an emphasis on curricular topics related to representing quantitative relationships using ratios and proportions, scaling, measurement, and estimation (e.g., solving problems involving rates, defining attributes such as density, and using representative sampling). Using authentic problem-solving contexts, the modules are intended to foster prospective teachers’ engagement in STEM interdisciplinary problem-solving practices (e.g., asking questions, selecting and using available resources, selecting, applying, adapting, or creating models, analyzing structures, generating arguments, and making decisions based on evidence). These behaviors will be targeted in data analysis through the lens of the boundary-crossing framework. Materials developed and disseminated through this project directly respond to calls by the National Research Council (NRC, 2013) for establishing courses where teacher candidates engage in and experience integrated STEM content supported by STEM-specific pedagogical methods and practices. Project materials are expected to be useful resources to mathematics teacher educators nationwide interested in STEM content integration in mathematics. 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. Partial funding is from the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship program.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.