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1. Improving Integrated STEM Education: The Design and Development of a K-12 STEM Observation Protocol (STEM-OP) (RTP)

   Dare, E. A. ; Hiwatig, B. ; Keratithamkul, K. ; Ellis, J. A. ; Roehrig, G. H. ; Ring-Whalen, E. A. ; Rouleau, M. D. ; Faruqi, F. ; Rice, C. ; Titu, P. ; et al ( January 2021 , ASEE Annual Conference proceedings)

   null (Ed.)

   Integrated approaches to teaching science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (commonly referred to as STEM education) in K-12 classrooms have resulted in a growing number of teachers incorporating engineering in their science classrooms. Such changes are a result of shifts in science standards to include engineering as evidenced by the Next Generation Science Standards. To date, 20 states and the District of Columbia have adopted the NGSS and another 24 have adopted standards based on the Framework for K-12 Science Education. Despite the increased presence of engineering and integrated STEM education in K-12 education, there are several concerns to consider. One concern is the limited availability of observation instruments appropriate for instruction where multiple STEM disciplines are present and integrated with one another. Addressing this concern requires the development of a new observation instrument, designed with integrated STEM instruction in mind. An instrument such as this has implications for both research and practice. For example, research using this instrument could help educators compare integrated STEM instruction across grade bands. Additionally, this tool could be useful in the preparation of pre-service teachers and professional development of in-service teachers new to integrated STEM education and formative learning through professional learning communities or classroom coaching. The work presented here describes in detail the development of an integrated STEM observation instrument - the STEM Observation Protocol (STEM-OP) - that can be used for both research and practice. Over a period of approximately 18-months, a team of STEM educators and educational researchers developed a 10-item integrated STEM observation instrument for use in K-12 science and engineering classrooms. The process of developing the STEM-OP began with establishing a conceptual framework, drawing on the integrated STEM research literature, national standards documents, and frameworks for both K-12 engineering education and integrated STEM education. As part of the instrument development process, the project team had access to over 2000 classroom videos where integrated STEM education took place. Initial analysis of a selection of these videos helped the project team write a preliminary draft instrument consisting of 79 items. Through several rounds of revisions, including the construction of detailed scoring levels of the items and collapsing of items that significantly overlapped, and piloting of the instrument for usability, items were added, edited, and/or removed for various reasons. These reasons included issues concerning the intricacy of the observed phenomenon or the item not being specific to integrated STEM education (e.g., questioning). In its final form, the STEM-OP consists of 10 items, each comprising four descriptive levels. Each item is also accompanied by a set of user guidelines, which have been refined by the project team as a result of piloting the instrument and reviewed by external experts in the field. The instrument has shown to be reliable with the project team and further validation is underway. The STEM-OP will be of use to a wide variety of educators and educational researchers looking to understand the implementation of integrated STEM education in K-12 science and engineering classrooms. 

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2. Improving STEM education: The design and development of a K-12 STEM observation protocol (STEM-OP).

   Dare, E.A. ; Hiwatig, B. ; Karatithamkul, K. ; Ellis, J.A. ; Roehrig, G.H. ; Ring-Whalen, E.A. ; Rouleau, M.D. ; Faruqi, F. ; Rice, C. ; Titu, P. ; et al ( January 2021 , ASEE Annual Conference proceedings)

   null (Ed.)

   Integrated approaches to teaching science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (commonly referred to as STEM education) in K-12 classrooms have resulted in a growing number of teachers incorporating engineering in their science classrooms. Such changes are a result of shifts in science standards to include engineering as evidenced by the Next Generation Science Standards. To date, 20 states and the District of Columbia have adopted the NGSS and another 24 have adopted standards based on the Framework for K-12 Science Education. Despite the increased presence of engineering and integrated STEM education in K-12 education, there are several concerns to consider. One concern is the limited availability of observation instruments appropriate for instruction where multiple STEM disciplines are present and integrated with one another. Addressing this concern requires the development of a new observation instrument, designed with integrated STEM instruction in mind. An instrument such as this has implications for both research and practice. For example, research using this instrument could help educators compare integrated STEM instruction across grade bands. Additionally, this tool could be useful in the preparation of pre-service teachers and professional development of in-service teachers new to integrated STEM education and formative learning through professional learning communities or classroom coaching. The work presented here describes in detail the development of an integrated STEM observation instrument that can be used for both research and practice. Over a period of approximately 18-months, a team of STEM educators and educational researchers developed a 10-item integrated STEM observation instrument for use in K-12 science and engineering classrooms. The process of developing the instrument began with establishing a conceptual framework, drawing on the integrated STEM research literature, national standards documents, and frameworks for both K-12 engineering education and integrated STEM education. As part of the instrument development process, the project team had access to over 2000 classroom videos where integrated STEM education took place. Initial analysis of a selection of these videos helped the project team write a preliminary draft instrument consisting of 52 items. Through several rounds of revisions, including the construction of detailed scoring levels of the items and collapsing of items that significantly overlapped, and piloting of the instrument for usability, items were added, edited, and/or removed for various reasons. These reasons included issues concerning the intricacy of the observed phenomenon or the item not being specific to integrated STEM education (e.g., questioning). In its final form, the instrument consists of 10 items, each comprising four descriptive levels. Each item is also accompanied by a set of user guidelines, which have been refined by the project team as a result of piloting the instrument and reviewed by external experts in the field. The instrument has shown to be reliable with the project team and further validation is underway. This instrument will be of use to a wide variety of educators and educational researchers looking to understand the implementation of integrated STEM education in K-12 science and engineering classrooms. 

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3. WySLICE - Integrating Computer Science throughout Existing K-12 Core Disciplinary Areas

   Borowczak, Mike ; Burrows, Andrea C. ; Johnson, Mason ( July 2021 , 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access)

   Wyoming recently mandated that computer science instruction be provided in K-12 schools by 2022, and there is an urgent need for designing instruction that can integrate computer science into the teaching of other subjects. This project assembles a network improvement community comprised of partners from the University of Wyoming, community colleges, Wyoming school districts, the Wyoming Library System, the Wyoming Department of Education, and local software development firms. The community meets once monthly over the duration of the project to collaborate stakeholder agendas for meeting the project goals. The community enlists K-8 teachers from across the state to experience professional development and collaborate on integrating computer science into their instruction of STEM and social science topics. The project is producing units for teachers, who are implementing these units with support from master teachers and educational scholars. The community serves as a forum for teachers to debrief and learn from each other about ways to improve their instruction and design of the curricular units. Libraries in the state system act as partners for dissemination to rural areas of the innovative instructional approaches. WySLICE prepares 150 K-8 teachers and state librarians from all disciplines to integrate computer science into their teaching. The project is reaching almost half of all K-8 students in Wyoming. The research questions address how teachers use modeling practices as supports for student understanding of algorithms and coding in a variety of ways. The curricula involve cybersecurity as well as other topics relevant to measurement in mathematics and social studies topics that involve social concerns like voting. Data sources include teacher lesson plans and recordings of their instructional implementation, scoring of each of these according to a rubric, meeting notes of monthly meetings, and results from pre-post student assessments. The evaluation focuses on the meeting of project goals and the quality of the management of the network improvement community. This project is jointly funded by CS for All and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). This work is supported by the National Science Foundation under DRL Grant #1923542 "CS For All:RPP - Booting Up Computer Science in Wyoming." 

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4. Partnering to Develop a Coordinated Engineering Education Program Across Schools, Museum Field Trips, and Afterschool Programs

   Harlow, D. ( January 2020 , Connected science learning)

   Engineering Explorations are curriculum modules that engage children across contexts in learning about science and engineering. We used them to leverage multiple education sectors (K–12 schools, museums, higher education, and afterschool programs) across a community to provide engineering learning experiences for youth, while increasing local teachers’ capacity to deliver high-quality engineering learning opportunities that align with school standards. Focusing on multiple partners that serve youth in the same community provides opportunities for long-term collaborations and programs developed in response to local needs. In a significant shift from earlier sets of standards, the Next Generation Science Standards include engineering design, with the goal of providing students with a foundation “to better engage in and aspire to solve the major societal and environmental challenges they will face in decades ahead” (NGSS Lead States 2013, Appendix I). Including engineering in K–12 standards is a positive step forward in introducing students to engineering; however, K–12 teachers are not prepared to facilitate high-quality engineering activities. Research has consistently shown that elementary teachers are not confident in teaching science, especially physical science, and generally have little knowledge of engineering (Trygstad 2013). K–12 teachers, therefore, will need support. Our goal was to create a program that took advantage of the varied resources across a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education ecosystem to support engineering instruction for youth across multiple contexts, while building the capacity of educators and meeting the needs of each organization. Specifically, we developed mutually reinforcing classroom and field trip activities to improve student learning and a curriculum to improve teacher learning. This challenging task required expertise in school-based standards, engineering education, informal education, teacher professional development, and classroom and museum contexts. 

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5. The Effects of a Modeling and Computational Thinking Professional Development Program on STEM Educators’ Perceptions toward Teaching Science and Engineering Practices

   https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci12080570  

   Colclasure, Blake C. ; Durham Brooks, Tessa ; Helikar, Tomáš ; King, Scott J. ; Webb, Audrey ( August 2022 , Education Sciences)

   Teachers’ integration of the Next Generation Science Standards and corresponding Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs) illustrate current science education reform in the United States. Effective teacher professional development (PD) on SEPs is essential for reform success. In this study, we evaluated the Nebraska STEM Education Conference, a PD program for middle school, high school, and first- and second-year post-secondary STEM teachers. This SEP-oriented PD program focused predominantly on the SEPs ‘developing and using models’ and ‘using mathematics and computational thinking.’ An electronic survey was used to measure participants’ (n = 45) prior integration of SEPs, influential factors and barriers to using SEPs, and changes to interest and confidence in using SEPs as a result of attending the PD program. Our results showed that teachers had limited prior use of SEPs in their teaching. Student interest and learning outcomes were the factors found to be most influential to teachers’ use of SEPs, while limited knowledge, confidence, and resources were the most commonly identified barriers. As a result of attending the PD program, participants significantly improved their confidence and interest to incorporate SEPs. We recommend continued SEP-oriented PD to foster successful NGSS integration and to advance reforms in science education. 

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