Advancing, Supporting, and Sustaining Equity among Elementary Teachers of Science

迫切需要扩大反种族主义和以正义为导向的教学，将学习者的文化和语言资源纳入科学课堂。该项目旨在将这一方向超越教师教育中的多文化或基础课程，以有效解决教育中的公平问题。该项目侧重于小学一级的科学教学。科学是小学教师面临的一个共同挑战，它经常被错误地视为“中立”。“为了满足这些需求，该项目将制定并反复完善一个实用框架和一套教师教育材料，以支持早期职业教师-从副教师教育到他们的第三年课堂教学-在教学中认识和培养儿童的科学知识和实践，并支持历史上被边缘化的儿童有意义地参与科学。该项目内的研究将致力于解释框架和材料之间的联系，以及它们对早期职业教师的想法，计划和教学实践的纵向潜在影响，在他们的学校和地区背景下。因此，该项目的总体目标是开发和研究一个实用的框架，以指导教师教育，为能够在基础科学中推进种族，经济和社会正义的初学者做好准备。为期四年的纵向项目将使用基于设计的研究方法，利用混合互补方法，并位于小学教师教育计划内（和之后）。在三个设计周期中，该项目将涉及四组小学教师，跟随他们进入早期的课堂教学。该项目利用访谈、反思、教案分析、课堂教学录像和调查等数据源，回答有关参与者对促进公平实践的小学科学教学的想法、规划和实施的研究问题。专注于支持基础科学中以正义为导向的工作的工具的研究有限，而纵向性质的研究就更少了。因此，该项目解决了文献中的关键空白。除了这些贡献，以更好地了解教师的学习和发展，在这个重要的竞技场，这个项目将提高儿童参与科学，帮助早期职业教师连接到他们的学生的想法，兴趣，身份，家庭，文化和语言资源。此外，该项目的框架和教师教育材料将免费提供给其他教师教育工作者，使这些材料能够在多种情况下发挥作用。该项目还将提供专业学习经验，以建设当地和其他地方的教育工作者能力。该项目由发现研究preK-12计划（DRK-12）资助，旨在通过研究和开发创新资源，模型和工具，显着提高preK-12学生和教师的科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）的学习和教学。DRK-12项目中的项目建立在STEM教育的基础研究以及为拟议项目提供理论和经验依据的先前研究和开发工作的基础上。该奖项反映了NSF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。

There is an urgent need to expand antiracist and justice-oriented teaching that incorporates cultural and linguistic resources of learners in science classrooms. This project aims to move this orientation beyond multicultural or foundation courses in teacher education, to effectively address issues of (in)equity within education. This project focuses on science teaching at the elementary level. Science is a common challenge among elementary teachers, and it is frequently, and mistakenly, seen as "neutral." To address these needs, this project will develop and iteratively refine a practical framework and a suite of teacher education materials that support early career teachers--from preservice teacher education through their third year of classroom teaching--in teaching that recognizes and nurtures the scientific knowledge and practices of children and supports meaningful participation of historically marginalized children in science. Research within the project will work to explain connections among the framework and materials and their potential effects, longitudinally, on early career teachers' ideas, plans, and teaching practice, within their school and district contexts. Thus, the overarching aim of the project is to develop and research a practical framework to orient teacher education toward the preparation of well-started beginners capable of advancing racial, economic, and social justice within elementary science. The four-year longitudinal project will use design-based research methods, drawing on mixed complementary methods and situated within (and after) an elementary teacher education program. Across three design cycles, the project will involve four cohorts of preservice elementary teachers, following them into their early years of classroom teaching. Drawing on data sources such as interviews, reflections, lesson plan analyses, video records of classroom enactments, and surveys, the project will answer research questions about participants' ideas about, planning for, and enactment of elementary science teaching that advances equitable practices. There has been limited research focused on tools to support justice-oriented work in elementary science, and even less that is longitudinal in nature. Thus, the project addresses crucial gaps in the literature. Beyond these contributions to better understanding teacher learning and development in this important arena, this project will enhance children's participation in science by helping early career teachers connect to their students' ideas, interests, identities, and family, cultural, and linguistic resources. In addition, the project's framework and teacher education materials will be made freely available to other teacher educators, allowing the materials to be useful across multiple contexts. The project will also provide professional learning experiences to build educator capacity locally and beyond. This project is funded by the Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) that 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.