NSF Award
2315617
This project aims to serve the national interest by creating new resources and curricula for future elementary teachers to develop their knowledge, abilities, and self-efficacy for incorporating investigation and scientific reasoning into science teaching. Having opportunities to investigate and reason about everyday phenomena and problems allows elementary students to develop their scientific sensemaking. This scientific sensemaking is important for encouraging decision-making and potential STEM careers within the U.S. population. To create these learning opportunities for scientific sensemaking for all children, teachers need knowledge of science content and an understanding of how to engage in science. Teachers also require ability and self-efficacy for supporting elementary children in investigation and scientific reasoning. This IUSE Engaged Student Learning Track 1 project will develop and study an innovative toolkit and associated learning modules. The purpose of the toolkit and learning modules is to support future elementary teachers to engage in scientific investigations and reasoning during undergraduate content courses, which is significant for developing future teachers' self-efficacy in and knowledge for equitable science teaching. The toolkit and learning modules model how learners can use their personal and community assets in scientific sensemaking as they engage in investigation and argumentation. The explicit emphasis and reflection on expanding the conceptions of what constitutes science and who can engage in scientific investigation can contribute new understanding of how to embed equitable science teaching within undergraduate science content courses. The mixed methods case study of how future teachers use the toolkit will advance knowledge of how teachers develop self-efficacy in and knowledge for equitable elementary science teaching. <br/><br/>The project's goal is to use design-based research methodology to develop and improve the Hopscotch 4-Scientific Investigation toolkit and supporting learning modules for use within two different integrated science content courses for pre-service teachers. One of the integrated science content courses focuses on life and earth science concepts, and the other focuses on physical science. The project aims to integrate the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) three dimensions of Disciplinary Core Ideas, Crosscutting Concepts, and Science and Engineering Practices. The toolkit will embed explicit supports for scientific reasoning with the Crosscutting Concepts, such as patterns and cause/effect, into tools for the Science and Engineering Practices of investigations and argumentation. The associated modules will center on a set of key Disciplinary Core Ideas for elementary teaching in life, earth, and physical science. Through mixed methods case studies, the project will investigate how the toolkit facilitates the teachers' engagement in scientific sensemaking, knowledge for teaching, and self-efficacy related to equitable elementary science teaching. The mixed case studies will use pre- and post-course measures of the future teachers' abilities and knowledge. The research study will also conduct interviews and observe focal participants' interactions with the toolkit and supporting modules to analyze how teachers interact and learn from the materials. The findings from this study will be disseminated in publications and workshops with other teacher educators and researchers. Additionally, the Hopscotch 4-Scientific Investigation toolkit will be shared on a website for use by teachers, undergraduate students, science educators, and university faculty to be used for other undergraduate courses and teacher professional development. The Hopscotch 4-Scientific toolkit, modules, and research implications will improve undergraduate STEM courses and support teacher educators and elementary teachers in creating meaningful, equitable learning opportunities in science. The NSF IUSE: EDU Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.<br/><br/>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.
