Collaborative Research: Equitable Science Sensemaking: Helping Teacher Candidates Support Multiple Pathways for Learning

University Of North Texas, Denton TX

Investigators

Abstract

This project aims to serve the national interest by improving undergraduate education for future elementary science teachers. Specifically, the project aims to help teacher candidates learn about science in an immersive and approachable way that can, in turn, support their development of equitable science teaching practices. Learning activities for teacher candidates will be designed, implemented in methods courses, and then revised and re-evaluated. The teacher candidates will also design their own lessons and use them during their concurrent teaching practicum. These activities and lessons will be based on a view of science that values the many perspectives that science students could have. By designing and evaluating these activities, this project has the potential to enhance understanding about supporting equitable science teaching, which is important for broadening participation in STEM fields. Additional project activities include efforts to sustain the professional learning communities established in the methods courses, disseminate results through publications and presentations, and make curricular materials and updates accessible to an online community of teacher educators. The overall goal of this project is to support undergraduate elementary teacher candidates’ learning about science and equitable science teaching. The project plans to achieve this goal by designing learning activities for elementary science methods courses that leverage successful practices from the prior work of the project team, including immersive learning, collaborative planning, and reflection. Activities will include resources for equitable teaching, such as anti-deficit noticing and multicultural curriculum design. The project intends to trace how the designed activities support teacher candidates in rearticulating ideologies about what counts as “science,” developing equitable teaching practices, and designing curricula that invite and value multiple ways of knowing. In the first year, the project aims to design, implement, and evaluate learning activities with an initial cohort of teacher candidates across two universities: Ohio State University and Vanderbilt University. In the second year, the project will redesign learning activities based on feedback from teacher candidates and an advisory board. Data will include video recordings of learning activities, artifacts from methods courses, and interviews with participants. Qualitative analysis methods will be used to evaluate teacher candidates’ learning about science and about equitable science teaching practices. The redesigned activities will be implemented and evaluated with a new cohort. In addition, the project intends to follow the initial cohort of participating teacher candidates beyond their methods courses by offering professional learning experiences: video clubs in which participants share and discuss videos of their teaching. Teacher candidates will also be invited to share what they have learned at conferences, building networks of elementary educators committed to equitable elementary science teaching. Further dissemination efforts include faculty conference presentations, publications, and a freely available "Facilitator's Guide" that could foster a community of users. This project is supported by the NSF IUSE:EHR program. 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.