Teachers and Researchers Advancing Integrated Lessons in STEM

在服务不足的农村人口中，高中生往往缺乏STEM榜样，在职业准备方面存在缺陷，获得先进技术的机会有限。尽管学生可能对STEM职业感兴趣，但他们往往缺乏基于地点的STEM学习经验和从事信息和通信技术(ICT)和STEM职业所需的先进技术。该项目名为“教师和研究人员推进STEM综合课程”(Trails 2.0)，将扩大、扩大和创新STEM综合教学和教师专业发展的测试模式，以加强农村学生对STEM内容的学习，同时激发对技术丰富和信息和通信技术职业的兴趣。在四年的时间里，Trails 2.0将涉及多达90名在职中学生物学或农业(生命科学)和工程/技术教育教师，影响切萨皮克湾东部(马里兰州和弗吉尼亚州)、科罗拉多州东南部、新墨西哥州北部和夏威夷本土学校的10,000多名学生。Trails 2.0将提高STEM教师的自我效能感，扩大和维持他们的实践网络社区。TRAILS 2.0还将促进农村学校学生对STEM内容的学习和职业意识。TRAILS 2.0对教师的目标是：1)加强和增加STEM教师的实践社区，2)提高STEM综合教学自我效能感。S对学生的目标是：1)通过加强21世纪的技能来提高学生追求STEM职业的能力；2)提高社会情感成果(STEM职业意识、STEM学习参与度、对STEM学习的态度以及STEM和ICT职业)。Trails 2.0将通过融合科学研究和工程设计来解决下一代科学标准(NGSS)，以促进STEM实践和确定横切概念，这为教师提供了他们经常难以自己找到的真实STEM学习环境。Trails 2.0将利用当地农村知识背景、知识基金和土著科学知识(ISK)，通过实践社区、3D打印和仿生工程设计创建基于地点的STEM学习，以促进21世纪的技能。Trails 2.0教师专业发展以一门经过验证的STEM示范课程为特色，该课程将仿生学与工程设计相结合，称为D-诱饵。在D-诱饵单元中，学生研究、设计和生产一种仿生诱饵，使用CAD和3D打印来创建可测试的原型，模仿水生昆虫或海洋生物。教师将整合STEM内容，推广21世纪的技能，同时像他们的学生一样，作为积极的学习者参与D-Bait课程。然后，教师团队共同生成并随后实施他们自己的基于地点的综合STEM课程，使用3D打印和仿生工程设计挑战。Trails 2.0将研究以地点为基础的STEM教师专业发展的教师实践、教师自我效能感和扩大的实践网络社区，扩大STEM教育的知识库。Trails 2.0还将通过多个地点和ISK STEM学习经验、接触当地STEM专业人员以及与同行合作，建立对学生的社会情感成果、21世纪技能和STEM职业意识的影响的证据。该项目由学生和教师创新技术体验计划(ITEST)资助，该计划支持建立对实践、计划要素、背景和过程的理解的项目，这些项目有助于提高学生对科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)以及信息和通信技术(ICT)职业的知识和兴趣。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。

High school students in rural underserved populations often lack STEM role models, have deficiencies in career readiness, and have limited access to advanced technologies. Although students may be interested in STEM careers, they often lack place-based STEM learning experiences and advanced technology necessary to pursue information and communication technology (ICT) and STEM careers. The project, Teachers and Researchers Advancing Integrated Lessons in STEM (TRAILS 2.0), will expand, scale, and innovate a tested model of integrated STEM instruction and teacher professional development to enhance rural students’ learning of STEM content while generating interest in technology-rich and ICT careers. Over four years, TRAILS 2.0 will involve up to 90 in-service secondary biology or agriculture (life science) and engineering/technology education teachers to impact over 10,000 students in the eastern Chesapeake Bay (Maryland and Virginia), Southeastern Colorado, Northern New Mexico, and native Hawaiian-serving schools. TRAILS 2.0 will increase STEM teachers’ self-efficacy and expand and sustain their community of practice network. TRAILS 2.0 will also advance rural school students’ learning of STEM content and career awareness.TRAILS 2.0’s goals for teachers are: 1) strengthen and increase STEM teachers' community of practice, and 2) increase integrated STEM teaching self-efficacy. TRAILS 2.0’s goals for students are to: 1) improve students’ capacity to pursue STEM careers by strengthening their 21st-century skills and 2) enhance socio-emotional outcomes (STEM career awareness, engagement in STEM learning, attitudes toward STEM learning, and STEM and ICT careers). TRAILS 2.0 will address Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) by blending science inquiry and engineering design to promote STEM practices and identify crosscutting concepts, which provides teachers with authentic STEM learning contexts they often struggle to locate on their own. TRAILS 2.0 will use local rural knowledge contexts, funds of knowledge, and Indigenous science knowledge (ISK) to create place-based STEM learning through a community of practice, 3D printing, and biomimicry engineering design that promote 21st-century skills. TRAILS 2.0 teacher professional development features a proven exemplar STEM lesson integrating biomimicry with engineering design called D-BAIT. In the D-BAIT unit, students research, design, and produce a biomimicry-inspired fishing lure that mimics aquatic insects or marine life using CAD and 3D printing to create testable prototypes. Teachers will integrate STEM content and promote 21st-century skills while engaging in the D-BAIT lesson as active learners, just like their students. Teacher teams then cogenerate and later implement their own place-based integrated STEM lessons using 3D printing and biomimicry engineering design challenges. TRAILS 2.0 will research place-based integrated STEM teacher professional development on teachers’ practices, teacher self-efficacy, and expanded community of practice networks, expanding the knowledge base in STEM education. TRAILS 2.0 will also establish evidence of impact on students’ socio-emotional outcomes, 21st-century skills, and STEM career awareness through multiple place-based and ISK STEM learning experiences, exposure to local STEM professionals, and collaboration with peers. This project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers.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.