RET Site: Berkeley Research Experiences for Teachers plus Data Science (BERET+D)

University Of California-Berkeley, Berkeley CA

Investigators

Abstract

This RET site at the University of California Berkeley entitled, "RET Site: Berkeley Research Experiences for Teachers plus Data Science (BERET+D)", will focus on research aimed at introducing pre-service and in-service math and science teachers to the use of data science in understanding, analyzing and visualizing engineering and science data, including distributed data sets from science centers across campus. A key element of the BERET+D program is support for teachers to acquire the necessary pedagogical content knowledge to engage their own K-12 students in data science. In-service and pre-service teacher teams will conduct research in a variety of engineering labs and science centers at UC Berkeley. Teacher teams will also participate in a sequence of summer and academic-year professional development activities that support them in translating their research into curriculum. BERET+D will pair pre-service teachers enrolled in the UC Berkeley CalTeach program with experienced in-service teachers serving predominantly underrepresented students in partnering public school districts. These teacher teams will develop essential research, analysis and visualization skills by engaging in data science research. Based on their common research experience, the teacher teams will develop curricula that connect current research to K-12 science and mathematics education and inspire students to see STEM as an exciting career with real-life applications. The teachers are guided in their research efforts by lab-based mentors who will gain instructional experience by serving as research advisers during the summer and as teaching partners in the K-12 classroom during the academic year. In addition, leadership opportunities will be provided to participating teachers by supporting them to co-facilitate academic year professional development workshops. BERET+D will contribute to engineering and scientific research, and K-12 education by supporting teachers to conduct research in the field, learn effective strategies for integrating data science into their classroom instruction, and develop, use and disseminate standards-based curricula. BERET+D will guide teachers to gain an understanding of the processes of conducting research, especially involving large data sets, by engaging in in-depth, authentic research and scaffolded reflections on these experiences in professional development activities. BERET+D will prepare participants to incorporate their research experiences into their classrooms and engage their K-12 students in both understanding and dealing with significant data sets. CalTeach will use RET program data as part of its ongoing efforts in research on teacher education and professional development, evaluating how the unique partnership (between pre-service teachers, in-service teachers, and graduate students) functions in doing authentic engineering research and co-implementing related curriculum in the classroom. 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.