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Creating Inclusive PreK–12 STEM Learning Environments

Broadening Participation
Elementary
Middle
High
Undergraduate
Graduate
Other

Brief CoverBroadening participation in PreK–12 STEM provides ALL students with STEM learning experiences that can prepare them for civic life and the workforce.

Author/Presenter: 
Malcom Butler
Cory Buxton
Odis Johnson Jr.
Leanne Ketterlin-Geller
Catherine McCulloch
Natalie Nielsen
Arthur Powell
Lead Organization(s): 
Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC)
Year: 
2018
Short Description: 

This brief offers insights from National Science Foundation-supported research for education leaders and policymakers who are broadening participation in science, technology, engineering, and/or mathematics (STEM). Many of these insights confirm knowledge that has been reported in research literature; however, some offer a different perspective on familiar challenges.

“Zooming In” on Robotics during COVID-19: A Preservice Teacher, an Engineering Student, and a 5th Grader Engineer Robotic Flowers via Zoom

Engineering
Technology
Educational Technology
Elementary
Undergraduate
Graduate

The COVID-19 induced school shutdown dramatically decreased students’ hands-on STEM learning opportunities. An NSF-funded program partnering preservice teachers and undergraduate engineering students to teach robotics to fifth graders was adapted to a virtual format via Zoom. A case study intimately explored one team’s experience as they engineered bio-inspired robots over five weekly sessions. Zoom recordings, written reflections, and lesson slides were analyzed to describe how the virtual context shaped the lesson and influenced the preservice teacher’s experience.

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Author/Presenter: 
Jennifer Kidd
Krishna Kaipa
Kristie Gutierrez
Pilar Pazos
Orlando Ayala
Stacie Ringleb
Lead Organization(s): 
Old Dominion University
Year: 
2020
Short Description: 

An NSF-funded program partnering preservice teachers and undergraduate engineering students to teach robotics to fifth graders was adapted to a virtual format via Zoom. A case study intimately explored one team’s experience as they engineered bio-inspired robots over five weekly sessions.

Resource(s): 
PDF icon ___Zooming_In____on_Robotics_during_COVID_19__A_Preservice_Teacher__an_Engineering_Student__and_a_5t.pdf

It’s Virtually Possible: Rethinking Preservice Teachers’ Field Experiences in the Age of COVID-19 and Beyond

Pedagogical Content Knowledge
Teacher Attitudes/Beliefs
Elementary
Undergraduate
Graduate

This chapter offers lessons learned by teacher educators who guided preservice teachers in the modification of hands-on engineering lessons for virtual implementation during the spring 2020 semester as part of an NSF-funded project. PSTs delivered engineering lessons both synchronously and asynchronously to elementary school students and reported positive learning opportunities, gaining confidence and competence from their experiences.

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Author/Presenter: 
Kristie S. Gutierrez
Jennifer J. Kidd
Min Jung Lee
Lead Organization(s): 
Old Dominion University
Year: 
2021
Short Description: 

This chapter offers lessons learned by teacher educators who guided preservice teachers in the modification of hands-on engineering lessons for virtual implementation during the spring 2020 semester as part of an NSF-funded project.

Resource(s): 
PDF icon It_s_virtually_possible__Rethinking_PSTs__field_experiences_in_the_age_of_COVID_19_and_beyond.pdf

Think Alouds: Informing Scholarship and Broadening Partnerships through Assessment

Achievement
Assessment
Broadening Participation
Classroom Practice
Discourse
Evaluation
Implementation
Research
Scale-Up
Standards
Elementary
Middle
High
Graduate

Think alouds are valuable tools for academicians, test developers, and practitioners as they provide a unique window into a respondent’s thinking during an assessment. The purpose of this special issue is to highlight novel ways to use think alouds as a means to gather evidence about respondents’ thinking. An intended outcome from this special issue is that readers may better understand think alouds and feel better equipped to use them in practical and research settings.

Access Link: 
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08957347.2020.1835914
Author/Presenter: 
Jonathan David Bostic
Lead Organization(s): 
Bowling Green State University
Year: 
2021
Short Description: 

Introduction to special issue focusing on think alouds and response process evidence. This work cuts across STEM education scholarship and introduces readers to robust means to engage in think alouds.

Resource(s): 
PDF icon Think_Alouds_Informing_Scholarship_and_Broadening_Partnerships_through_Assessment.pdf

The Price of Nice: How Good Intentions Maintain Educational Inequity

Broadening Participation
Elementary
Middle
High
Undergraduate
Graduate

Being nice is difficult to critique. Niceness is almost always portrayed and felt as a positive quality. In schools, nice teachers are popular among students, parents, and administrators. And yet Niceness, as a distinct set of practices and discourses, is not actually good for individuals, institutions, or communities because of the way it maintains and reinforces educational inequity.

Access Link: 
https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/the-price-of-nice
Author/Presenter: 
Angelina E. Castagno, Editor
Lead Organization(s): 
Northern Arizona University
Year: 
2019
Short Description: 

In The Price of Nice, an interdisciplinary group of scholars explores Niceness in educational spaces from elementary schools through higher education to highlight how this seemingly benign quality reinforces structural inequalities.

K–12 DREAMS to Teach Program at Morehouse College

Engineering
Mathematics
Science
Technology
Undergraduate
Graduate

This study explores the pathways to K–12 Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics instruction among Black/African American males in the Discovery Research Education for African American Men in STEM to Teach (DREAMS to Teach) program at Morehouse College, a Historically Black College and University located in Southwest Atlanta, Georgia. Many studies articulate the importance of cultural alignment between students and their instructors’ influence on STEM participation and persistence.

Access Link: 
https://www.nsta.org/journal-college-science-teaching/journal-college-science-te...
Author/Presenter: 
Cynthia Trawick
Thema Monroe-White
Jigsa A. Tola
Jamie P. Clayton
J. K. Haynes
Lead Organization(s): 
Morehouse College
Year: 
2020
Short Description: 

This study explores the pathways to K–12 Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics instruction among Black/African American males in the Discovery Research Education for African American Men in STEM to Teach (DREAMS to Teach) program at Morehouse College

Designing Educative Curriculum Materials for Teacher Educators: Supporting Elementary Teachers' Content Knowledge for Teaching about Matter

Science
Assessment
Undergraduate
Graduate

Building on the work of Ball and Cohen and that of Davis and Krajcik, as well as more recent research related to K12 teacher learning from and about curriculum materials, we seek to answer the question, How can educative curriculum materials be developed to support teacher educators in acquiring the knowledge needed for teaching science teachers?

Access Link: 
http://cadrek12.org/sites/default/files/webform/2020/FINAL-NARST-Poster.pdf
Author/Presenter: 
Deborah Hanuscin
Emily J. Borda
Josie Melton
Jamie N. Mikeska
Lead Organization(s): 
Western Washington University (WWU)
Year: 
2020
Short Description: 

Building on the work of Ball and Cohen and that of Davis and Krajcik, as well as more recent research related to K12 teacher learning from and about curriculum materials, we seek to answer the question, How can educative curriculum materials be developed to support teacher educators in acquiring the knowledge needed for teaching science teachers? We present a set of theoretically and empirically based design principles and conceptual examples of ways in which educative curriculum materials might be used to support teacher educators in developing the knowledge needed for teaching elementary pre-service teachers. Specifically, we focus on helping teacher educators develop prospective teachers’ content knowledge for teaching about the structure and properties of matter.We follow these examples with consideration of unanswered questions related to the use of educative curriculum materials by teacher educators. This poster was prepared for the 2020 Annual International NARST Conference.

Elementary Pre-service Teachers' Perceptions of Assessment Tasks to Measure Content Knowledge for Teaching about Matter

Science
Assessment
Undergraduate
Graduate

This study explores how 79 elementary pre-service teachers evaluate the importance and pertinence of assessment tasks, designed to elicit information about content knowledge for teaching (CKT) about matter—a foundational topic for physical science. Drawing on a cognitive perspective and using think-aloud procedures, we had the participants answer different assessment items that described teaching scenarios related to elementary science instruction for topics such as properties of matter, changes in matter, the model of matter, and conservation of matter.

Access Link: 
http://cadrek12.org/sites/default/files/webform/2020/NARST-2020-Poster.importanc...
Author/Presenter: 
Dante Cisterna
Jamie N. Mikeska
Allison Bookbinder
David L. Myers
Heena R. Lakhani
Luronne Vaval
Lead Organization(s): 
Educational Testing Service (ETS)
Year: 
2020
Short Description: 

This study explores how 79 elementary pre-service teachers evaluate the importance and pertinence of assessment tasks, designed to elicit information about content knowledge for teaching (CKT) about matter—a foundational topic for physical science. Drawing on a cognitive perspective and using think-aloud procedures, we had the participants answer different assessment items that described teaching scenarios related to elementary science instruction for topics such as properties of matter, changes in matter, the model of matter, and conservation of matter. We aimed to explore (1) how familiar pre-service teachers felt these task scenarios were in regards to their (pre-service) teaching experience and (2) how important they considered these task scenarios for the work of elementary teachers. This poster was prepared for the 2020 Annual International NARST Conference.

Knowledge in Use: Examining Elementary Teachers’ Content Knowledge for Teaching (CKT) about Matter using Scenario-Based Assessment

Science
Assessment
Undergraduate
Graduate

This study explores how teachers across the United States answer and reason on “teacher assessment tasks” designed to elicit content knowledge for teaching (CKT) about matter and its interactions. It leverages a think aloud approach, where participants were asked to reason about different assessment items that described teaching scenarios related to elementary science instruction about topics such as properties of matter, changes in matter, the particulate model of matter, and conservation of matter.

Access Link: 
http://cadrek12.org/sites/default/files/webform/2020/CKT_Matter_NARST_PPT_slides...
Author/Presenter: 
Jamie Mikeska
Dante Cisterna
Heena R. Lakhani
Luronne Vaval
Allison Bookbinder
David L. Myers
Lead Organization(s): 
Educational Testing Service (ETS)
Year: 
2020
Short Description: 

This study explores how teachers across the United States answer and reason on “teacher assessment tasks” designed to elicit content knowledge for teaching (CKT) about matter and its interactions. It leverages a think aloud approach, where participants were asked to reason about different assessment items that described teaching scenarios related to elementary science instruction about topics such as properties of matter, changes in matter, the particulate model of matter, and conservation of matter. Specifically, this study investigates: (1) To what extent do the participants use the intended knowledge and reasoning when responding to items designed to assess their CKT about matter and its interactions? and (2) When participants struggle to respond accurately to these items, what were their reasons for doing so? In particular, we were interested in examining the patterns in the nature of the knowledge they fail to leverage when responding to these CKT matter items. These presentation slides were prepared for the 2020 Annual International NARST Conference.

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