CAREER: Designing teacher professional development to leverage the brilliance of learners of color

University Of California-San Diego, La Jolla CA

Investigators

Abstract

All students must have access to robust and meaningful opportunities to learn science in classrooms that center their assets and humanity. This CAREER award aims to cultivate such spaces through designing and studying teacher professional learning focused on pedagogical practices that engage students meaningfully in science learning. These practices leverage students' assets to foster growth in science and scientific habits of mind. This project will support pre-service and practicing teachers in developing tools for practice and reflection that focus on creating opportunities to learn science for all students in their classrooms and highlighting the assets of students in secondary science. The project will also support graduate students in science education research as well as sharing findings with partner school districts as part of the educational integration plan. This CAREER award is funded by the Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) which seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. Projects in the DRK-12 program build on fundamental research in STEM education and prior research and development efforts that provide theoretical and empirical justification for proposed projects. This project is also supported by the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EHR Racial Equity). The program supports projects that advance racial equity in STEM education and workforce development through research and practice. This project is a 5-year research-practice partnership, collaborating with a school district that serves primarily children and youth from low-income backgrounds. The researcher will design and iterate a model of secondary science teacher professional development that is focused supporting teachers' learning and development towards improving their science teaching practice in ways that open up opportunities to learn science for all students in their classrooms. It will support teachers in developing schemata of interpretation that center students' assets and pedagogical moves that advance opportunities to learn through meaningful participation in science. Using design-based research this project will examine fundamental questions of how to support secondary science teachers in transforming their practice in ways that leverage the brilliance of their students to foster deep, robust understanding of scientific concepts. The project will investigate how teacher schemas and practices raise the rigor of science teaching and help to promote interest, engagement and learning of science for all students. This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). 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.