Classroom Practice

Science Coordinators Advancing a Framework for Outstanding Leadership Development

Principal Investigator:

Science Coordinators Advancing a Framework For Outstanding Leadership Development (SCAFFOLD) develops and studies a PD program for District Science Coordinators (DSCs) in one Southeastern state. DSCs can have partial or full responsibility for supporting science teachers in their districts, but little is known about their training and impact on teachers. The goal is to determine the impact of DSCs on teachers and if they are in need of PD to enhance their work with teachers.

Co-PI(s): Brooke A. Whitworth, Clemson University

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Responding to an Emerging Epidemic through Science Education

Principal Investigator:

The project is pursuing two coordinated goals associated with science teaching and learning in the COVID-19 pandemic: 1) create COVID-related curriculum materials and 2) conduct research on teaching and learning in the pandemic. We partnered with 12 teachers to create and enact a model-oriented, issue based curricular unit about COVID-19. Research efforts focus on how teachers enact the materials and how and where students get information about the pandemic as they are living through it.

Co-PI(s): Pa Friedrichsen and Laura Zangori, University of Missouri

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Target Audience:

Place-based Learning for Elementary Science at Scale (PeBLES2)

Principal Investigator:

To support equitable access to place-based science learning, the PeBLES2 team is developing and testing a model to support elementary teachers in incorporating locally relevant phenomena into instructional materials intentional designed to be locally-adapted. We are developing two units that could be used in any region across the country with built-in opportunities and embedded supports for teachers to purposefully adapt curriculum to include local phenomena. Professional learning experiences will further help teachers incorporate place-based approaches.

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Target Audience:

Enhancing Teacher and Student Understanding of Engineering in K-5 Bilingual Programs

Principal Investigator:

This study explored Bilingual and Dual Language (BDL) program models in Massachusetts and Puerto Rico. We developed and validated a survey in Spanish and English (n=105) with three constructs: (a) recommended BLD practices; (b) personal qualities for S&E teaching; and (c) recommended S&E pedagogical practices. We found that BDL teachers were confident in their ability to facilitate their students’ biliteracy development but not related to S&E literacy in Spanish-speaking countries.

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Developing Teachers' Epistemic Cognition and Teaching Practices for Supporting Students' Epistemic Practices with Scientific Systems

Principal Investigator:

This project aims to investigate needs and challenges in developing an informed public able to evaluate empirical evidence generated from scientific activities. This includes understanding teachers' epistemic goals and practices and how to provide professional development (PD) to improve instruction. The resulting instruction will offer new affordances to advance students' and teachers' learning.

Co-PI(s): Clark Chinn, Rutgers University

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Target Audience:

Developing Preservice Teachers' Capacity to Teach Students with Learning Disabilities in Algebra I

Principal Investigator:

Project researchers are training pre-service teachers to tutor students with learning disabilities in Algebra 1, combining principles from special education, mathematics education, and cognitive psychology. The trainings emphasize the use of gestures and strategic questioning to support students with learning disabilities and to build students’ understanding in Algebra 1.

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Developing a Suite of Standards-based Instructionally Supportive Tools for Middle School Computer Science

Principal Investigator:

The ASSIST project will develop a set of educative resources, assessment tools and teacher professional development activities to support diverse teachers teaching a variety of computer science curricula using different programming languages. Teachers will develop knowledge of CS standards and learn to use formative assessments related to these standards to determine student understanding. Improved CS instruction that is responsive to the needs and challenges of the student population is critical to ensure more equitable participation in CS.

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Target Audience:

CAREER: Developing Elementary Preservice Teachers' Understandings and Abilities to Support Emerging Bilingual Students Scientific Sensemaking

Principal Investigator:
The overall goals for this CAREER project are to identify and develop ways for best preparing elementary preservice teachers to support multilingual students’ scientific sensemaking, specifically as seen through engagement in science practices. Here, we (1) provide a synthesis of the literature to date regarding multilingual students’ experiences with science practices, and (2) offer concrete directions for future research in order to expand views around what is recognized and valued as scientific sensemaking repertoires.
 
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Synchronous Online Video-Based Development for Rural Mathematics Coaches (Collaborative Research: Amador and Choppin)

Principal Investigator:

The goal of the project is to support mathematics coaches to (a) facilitate productive planning and debriefing conversations with teachers; (b) notice salient coaching practices and their impact on teachers' thinking; and (c) use evidence of teacher learning to make decisions about their own coaching practices. We engage coaches in a three-part professional development model that includes (a) an online course on content-focused coaching, (b) one-on-one video-based coaching cycles, and (c) an online video club.

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Synchronous Online Video-Based Development for Rural Mathematics Coaches (Collaborative Research: Amador and Choppin)

Principal Investigator:

The goal of the project is to support mathematics coaches to (a) facilitate productive planning and debriefing conversations with teachers; (b) notice salient coaching practices and their impact on teachers' thinking; and (c) use evidence of teacher learning to make decisions about their own coaching practices. We engage coaches in a three-part professional development model that includes (a) an online course on content-focused coaching, (b) one-on-one video-based coaching cycles, and (c) an online video club.

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