Enabling Future Teachers to Experience Science Investigation and Engineering Design in Introductory Undergraduate STEM Classrooms

Central Washington University, Ellensburg WA

Investigators

Abstract

This project aims to serve the national interest by improving undergraduate STEM learning experiences for future elementary school teachers. How future teachers learn science has a critical influence on how they teach science. As recommended in Science and Engineering for Grades 6-12 (NASEM, 2018), “Undergraduate … experiences need to serve as models for prospective teachers, in which they experience science investigation and engineering design as learners.” Access to these experiences must be in introductory undergraduate STEM courses, since these courses are likely the only ones that future elementary teachers take to learn the concepts and approaches of science. The STEM faculty who teach these courses may not identify explicitly with their role as “teacher educators” and often have little preparation in how to serve this role well. This project focuses on these faculty at institutions that prepare teachers across the country, together with the introductory courses they teach in life science, earth and space science, and physical science. This project aims to engage and support faculty who teach introductory undergraduate STEM courses that serve future elementary teachers. It will help these faculty develop, test, and implement high-quality instructional materials that put investigation and design at the center of their course design. The materials will promote student discourse and support equitable practices in the classroom. In addition, the materials developed will be freely available online in a flexible, modular format in collaboration with the Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College. These teaching materials will be modeled after the Interdisciplinary Teaching about Earth for a Sustainable Future approach. To achieve this goal, the project will create a rubric to guide the design of instructional materials. It will then recruit and support three teams of five faculty members with professional development through a three-year process. Free, open textbooks will be developed for use in the undergraduate classes. These textbooks will include functionality that highlights relationships between the concepts and science education standards. These materials will be publicly available at no cost through the Visionlearning website. To further facilitate and support adoption of this approach across disciplines and institutional settings, the project aims to recruit and provide professional development for 20-40 additional instructors to implement the new materials. The second goal of the project is to assess the development process and impacts of use of the materials and. The project will investigate the influence of engaging pre-service teachers in science and engineering learning that includes content knowledge, classroom practices, and beliefs about student learning. The project will also study characteristics of teacher preparation programs that aim to provide pre-service teachers with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to effectively engage elementary students in science investigation and engineering design. To achieve this goal, the project will use direct and self-reported measures to assess future teachers’ knowledge and beliefs about investigation and design in the classroom. It will also assess the progress of faculty in facilitating investigation and design, and in supporting learning for all students. Achieving project goals is expected to result in a suite of rigorously-developed instructional materials and texts aligned to science standards, a community of faculty who are well-prepared to engage students in investigation and design in their undergraduate science courses, a better understanding of how undergraduate science instruction influences future teachers’ preparedness to teach using investigation and design, and a new understanding of how professional development can support faculty who teach future teachers. The NSF IUSE: EHR 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. 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.