Exploring the Integration of Systems Thinking in Biology in Participatory Professional Development

该项目将开发一种教师专业学习（PL）模式，以中学生物科学为重点，解决现实世界的问题。系统思维是理解生物系统的核心。游戏设计已被证明有助于培养教师和学生的系统思维。学生将参与PL，通过分享他们的计算机知识来说明分布式专业知识的价值。教师将调整现有课程，并与学生共同设计游戏，体验参与式实践。PL模式包括36小时的同步面对面和在线活动，包括夏季连续4天的6小时课程和整个学年的4次3小时课程。该项目将与14名教师合作，在三年内多次实施，涉及约1,900名学生。参与式课堂将提高所有学生的能力，使他们将自己视为熟练和坚持不懈的学习者。通过PL，教师将学会运用系统思维来解释和理解生物系统的功能，将游戏设计融入现有的课程中，以提高学生在学习生物系统时应用系统思维技能，并参与参与实践。该模型扩大了学生参与PL过程的机会，从而更好地理解他们在使用计算工具时对教师教学法的影响。项目研究有可能在我们对与ngss一致的教学、科学内容理解（特别是与生物多样性相关的）以及最终学生的学习、代理和行动的理解方面发展新的知识。该项目将研究PL如何促进教师学习，教师的教学法如何随着他们接受和使用项目工具来支持学生学习生物系统而变化，以及学生如何学习生物系统并提高系统思维技能。该PL模型的理论和研究框架基于：(1)生物学系统和游戏设计是如何协同的，(2)学生参与PL的重要性，(3)制定参与性实践。这种混合方法研究将包括基于设计的研究（DBR），以迭代地测试和修改PL模型，该模型确定了教师学习环境中结构支持元素（包括工具、任务结构、参与者结构和话语实践）之间的关系。猜想映射方法将在DBR循环中使用，以测试参与式PD学习环境支持教师将游戏设计整合为学生参与并从系统中学习的建构主义学习机会的假设。项目研究将以以下问题为指导：(1)PL学习环境的要素如何有助于教师学习？(2)教师如何使用项目提供的工具（游戏、设计和参与式实践）来支持学生学习生物系统，这如何改变他们的教学方法？(3)设计游戏如何帮助学生学习生物系统和培养系统思维技能？将对定性和定量数据进行三角测量，以解决每个研究问题，并对研究结果进行可靠性检查。定性数据，如实地记录、音频和视频记录、访谈、教师和学生工件、日志以及开放式调查和评估问题，将通过表示与PL和课堂上的学生和教师经验相关的预期主题和模式的代码进行分析。定量数据，包括教师调查李克特量表问题、实施日志、学生评估和游戏规则，将使用重复测量方差分析来检查教师和学生的岗前变化。该项目的研究成果和实践将通过会议报告和出版物广泛传播给教师、管理人员和研究人员。该项目还将编写一份“剧本”，使教育工作者能够根据当地情况和社区需要自由地借鉴和修改项目中使用的工具和过程。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。

The project will develop a teacher professional learning (PL) model that focuses on middle-school biological sciences in addressing real world problems. Systems thinking is central to understanding biology systems. Game design has been shown to help develop systems thinking in teachers and students. Students will participate in PL to illustrate the value of distributed expertise by sharing their knowledge of computer. Teachers will adapt their existing curriculum and will co-design games with students to experience participatory practices. The PL model includes 36 hours of synchronous in-person and online activities, including four consecutive six-hour days in the summer and four three-hour sessions throughout the school year. The project will work with 14 teachers with multiple implementations over three years, involving approximately 1,900 students. Participatory classrooms will enhance the capacity of all students to see themselves as skilled and persistent learners. Through the PL, teachers will become knowledgeable about applying systems thinking to interpret and understand the functioning of biology systems, integrating game design in their existing lessons to enhance student application of systems thinking skills to learning about biological systems, and engaging in participatory practices. The model expands opportunities for students to be involved in the PL process, resulting in a better understanding of their impact on teacher pedagogy when using computational tools. Project research has the potential for developing new knowledge on our understanding of NGSS-aligned teaching and learning, science content understanding (specifically related to biodiversity), and ultimately student learning, agency, and action.The project will research how the PL contributes to teacher learning and how teachers’ pedagogy changes as they take up and use project tools to support student learning about biological systems, and how students learn about biology systems and improve systems thinking skills. The theoretical and research framework for this PL model is grounded in: (1) how systems in biology and game design are synergistic, (2) the importance of students’ presence in Pl, and (3) enacting participatory practices. This mixed methods study will include design-based research (DBR) to iteratively test and revise a PL model that identifies relationships between structural support elements, including tools, task structures, participant structures, and discursive practices, in a teacher learning environment. Conjecture mapping approach will be used in cycles of DBR to test the hypothesis that a participatory PD learning environment supports teachers in integrating game design as a constructionist learning opportunity for students to engage with and learn from systems. Project research will be guided by the following questions: (1) How do the elements of the PL learning environment contribute to teacher learning? (2) How do teachers use the tools provided by the project (game, design, and participatory practices) to support student learning about biological systems and how does this change their pedagogy? and (3) How does designing a game help students learn about biology systems and develop skills in systems thinking? Qualitative and quantitative data will be triangulated to address each research question and to provide a reliability check on findings. Qualitative data, such as fieldnotes, audio and video recordings, interviews, teacher and student artifacts, logs, and open-ended survey and assessment questions will be analyzed through codes that represent expected themes and patterns related to student and teacher experiences in PL and in the classroom. Quantitative data, including teacher survey Likert scale questions, implementation logs, and student assessment and game rubrics, will be analyzed using repeated measure ANOVA to examine pre-post changes in teachers and students. Research findings and practices from the project will be widely disseminated to teachers, administrators, and researchers through conference presentations and publications. The project will also create a “playbook” that will enable educators to freely draw on and modify the tools and processes utilized in the project for their local contexts and community needs. 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.