Professional Development

Preparing Next Generation Scientists Through Teacher and Extension Science Partnerships and Schoolyard Citizen Science Investigations in Elementary Schools

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Research shows a need for professional development (PD) that builds K-5 teachers' ability to incorporate the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) science practices into the classroom and supports their implementation of reform-minded science instruction. The Schoolyard SITES research study and PD program at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) partners elementary teachers with UNH Extension science volunteers to bring locally-relevant citizen science projects to elementary students and to increase teachers’ self-efficacy teaching science.

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Incorporating Professional Science Writing into High School STEM Research Projects

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Description: Reading, writing, revision and even publication are integral to progressing science. Yet, these skills are not emphasized in the typical high school STEM classroom. This project investigates the experiences and outcomes of secondary students who have participated in the peer-review and publication of their STEM research projects. Overall, students report increased understanding of the role of writing and publication within science, and they express higher levels of self-efficacy, confidence and identity in STEM.
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Improving the Implementation of Rigorous Instructional Materials in Middle-Grades Mathematics: Developing a System of Practical Measures and Routines (Collaborative Research: Ahn, Cobb, Jackson, and Smith)

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This project has developed practical measures, and associated routines and data representations, to support the implementation of instructional improvement strategies (e.g.,coaching) in middle-grades mathematics teaching. We will describe our classroom measures, which assess students' perspectives of key aspects of the classroom learning environment; the contributions they have made to our partner districts’ improvement efforts; and how we have attended to validity in the design and use of practical measures.

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Developing Teacher Noticing in Engineering in an Online Professional Development Program

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The Teacher Engineering Education Program is designed to support teacher learning in engineering education in an 18-month online asynchronous program. In this project, we collected data from two cohorts of elementary teachers (N=26) including multiple interviews throughout the program, teachers’ video recordings of their classroom teaching, and their coursework in the four required courses. This poster summarizes our central findings on teacher learning in the program, looking at teachers’ noticing and pedagogical sensemaking in engineering.

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Developing Organizational Capacity to Improve K-8 Mathematics Teaching and Learning

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CASPIR is a 5-year NSF-funded project aimed at co-developing and implementing the Elementary Math Leadership (EML) model in four K-8 school districts to improve K-8 math teaching and learning. This is done by: (1) gathering information about problems of practice collaboratively identified by districts/research team; (2) co-designing and co-implementing coherent PD; and (3) engaging in iterative cycles of co-development, implementation, and revision to productively adapt the PD model over a series of years.

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Design and Implementation of Immersive Representations of Practice

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The project examines how representations of practice facilitate preservice teachers' professional knowledge for teaching fractions and multiplication/division. The project focuses specifically on: how single and multi-perspective 360 video affects PSTs' professional knowledge; how PSTs use technological scaffolds to engage in 360 video, and its effect on their professional knowledge; and the design of a platform for teacher educators to create their own 360 video immersive experiences

Co-PI(s): Richard E. Ferdig and C. C. Lu, Kent State University

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Collaborative Math: Creating Sustainable Excellence in Mathematics for Head Start Programsse Middle School Settings

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Professional development (PD) is more effective when it involves more than lead classroom teachers. Collaborative Math is a year-long professional development program designed to bring together preschool center leadership and all teaching staff for an in-depth study of early mathematics teaching and learning. We implemented the program in a total of 15 Head Start centers across two years. We found positive shifts in teacher confidence and knowledge as well as child math achievement.

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CAREER: Proof in Secondary Classrooms: Decomposing a Central Mathematical Practice

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The goal of the design and development study, Proof in Secondary Classrooms (PISC), is to develop an innovative intervention to support the teaching and learning of mathematical proof in secondary geometry. PISC made use of features of lesson study and continuous improvement. Findings featured in the poster involve quantitative assessment results from pre-tests and post-tests administered over three years. Overall, the PISC curriculum had a statistically significant, positive impact on students' end-of-year results.

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CAREER: Black and Latinx Parents Leading Reform and Advancing Racial Justice in Elementary Mathematics

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CAREER: Black and Latinx Parents Leading ChANge & Advancing Racial Justice in Elementary Mathematics aims to increase Black and Latinx parents' engagement in solidarity with community organizations and teachers to advance racial justice in PreK-5 mathematics through two educational programs, one for families and one for teachers. Reasearch goals include understanding the lived experiences of Black and Latinx parents as they build capacity to lead change and the development, nature, and impact of parent-teacher-community partnerships.
 
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Building Environmental and Educational Technology Competence and Leadership Among Educators: An Exploration in Virtual Reality Professional Development

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This exploratory project supports the professional development of secondary STEM teachers by providing multiyear training around three specific areas: (1) environmental sciences themed content; (2) technology integration in the classroom, and (3) classroom-based action research within action research communities. Using virtual reality to focus on wetlands and their connection to flooding brings locally relevant STEM concepts in a real-world context that is relatable to minoritized teachers and students living in these areas.

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