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1. Teaching Spatial Visualization: A Controlled Trial of a Touchscreen App Implemented as Homework

   https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE.2018.8659068  

   Hoople, Gordon D ; Cowan, Elizabeth ; Van Den Einde, Lelli ; Tara, Jon ; Delson, Nathan ( October 2018 , Frontiers in education)

   null (Ed.)

   This Research to Practice work-in-progress paper examines the impact of eGrove Education’s Spatial Vis touchscreen application for teaching spatial visualization. Research has shown that competency with spatial visualization is correlated with success in engineering, but few engineering programs explicitly teach this skill. In this paper, we describe a controlled trial (n=55) in which the app was assigned as homework for the experimental group, but no additional lecture time was dedicated to spatial visualization training. Our analysis focuses on students who entered the course with limited spatial visualization experience as identified based on a score of ≤70% on the PSVT:R (a reliable, well-validated instrument). Among these low- performing students, those who used the app showed remarkable progress – 8 of 13 (62%) raised their test scores above 70% compared to just 2 of 14 (14%) in the control group. Students in both the experimental and control groups showed statistically significant increases between the pre- and post-test scores (paired t-test), though the difference in the gains between the two groups was statistically insignificant as the study was underpowered. While larger trials will be needed, this work suggests that the Spatial Vis app is a promising intervention for training spatial visualization skills. 

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2. Translating and Scaling a Face-to-Face, Video-Based Elementary Science PD Program to an Online Environment

   Kowalski, S. ; Belcastro, A. ; Hvidsten, C. ; Constantine, A. ; Faruqi, F. ; Askinas, K. ; De Vaul, R. ; Roehrig, G. ( April 2021 , Annual Meeting of the NARST International Conference)

   Objective Over the past decade, we developed and studied a face-to-face video-based analysis-of-practice professional development (PD) model. In a cluster randomized trial, we found that the face-to-face model enhanced elementary science teacher knowledge and practice and resulted in important improvements to student science achievement (student treatment effect, d = 0.52; Taylor et al, 2017; Roth et al, 2018). The face-to-face PD model is expensive and difficult to scale. In this paper, we present the results of a two-year design-based research study to translate the face-to-face PD into a facilitated online PD experience. The purpose is to create an effective, flexible, and cost-efficient PD model that will reach a broader audience of teachers. Perspective/Theoretical Framework The face-to-face PD model is grounded in situated cognition and cognitive apprenticeship frameworks. Teachers engage in learning science content and effective science teaching practices in the context in which they will be teaching. There are scaffolded opportunities for teachers to learn from analysis of model videos by experienced teachers, to try teaching model units, to analyze video of their own teaching efforts, and ultimately to develop their own unit, with guidance. The PD model attends to the key features of effective PD as described by Desimone (2009) and others. We adhered closely to the design principles of the face-to-face model as described by Authors, 2019. Methods We followed a design-based research approach (DBR; Cobb et al., 2003; Shavelson et al., 2003) to examine the online program components and how they promoted or interfered with the development of teachers’ knowledge and reflective practice. Of central interest was the examination of mechanisms for facilitating teacher learning (Confrey, 2006). To accomplish this goal, design researchers engaged in iterative cycles of problem analysis, design, implementation, examination, and redesign (Wang & Hannafin, 2005) in phase one of the project before studying its effect. Data Three small pilot groups of teachers engaged in both synchronous and asynchronous components of the larger online course which began implementation with a 10-week summer course that leads into study groups of participants meeting through one academic year. We iteratively designed, tested, and revised 17 modules across three pilot versions. On average, pilot groups completed one module every two weeks. Pilot 1 began the work in May 2019; Pilot 2 began in August 2019, and Pilot 3 began in October 2019. Pilot teachers responded to surveys and took part in interviews related to the PD. The PD facilitators took extensive notes after each iteration. The development team met weekly to discuss revisions. We revised all modules between each pilot group and used what we learned to inform our development of later modules within each pilot. For example, we applied what we learned from testing Module 3 with Pilot 1 to the development of Module 3 for Pilots 2, and also applied what we learned from Module 3 with Pilot 1 to the development of Module 7 for Pilot 1. Results We found that community building required the same incremental trust-building activities that occur in face-to-face PD. Teachers began with low-risk activities and gradually engaged in activities that required greater vulnerability (sharing a video of themselves teaching a model unit for analysis and critique by the group). We also identified how to contextualize technical tools with instructional prompts to allow teachers to productively interact with one another about science ideas asynchronously. As part of that effort, we crafted crux questions to surface teachers’ confusions or challenges related to content or pedagogy. We called them crux questions because they revealed teachers’ uncertainty and deepened learning during the discussion. Facilitators leveraged asynchronous responses to crux questions in the synchronous sessions to push teacher thinking further than would have otherwise been possible in a 2-hour synchronous video-conference. Significance Supporting teachers with effective, flexible, and cost-efficient PD is difficult under the best of circumstances. In the era of covid-19, online PD has taken on new urgency. NARST members will gain insight into the translation of an effective face-to-face PD model to an online environment. 

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3. Impacting Culturally Responsive Teaching Strategies by Decreasing Bias Through Simulation Experiences

   https://doi.org/10.3280/exioa2-2022oa15077  

   Christensen, Rhonda ; Knezek, Gerald ( January 2022 , EXCELLENCE AND INNOVATION IN LEARNING AND TEACHING)

   Simulated teaching environments have been used for more than two decades and are likely to continue to expand to meet the demands of teacher development programs. In this study, the self-reported changes in culturally-responsive teaching perceptions of ten classroom teachers serving more than six hundred students are reported. This paper includes first year findings from a program designed to use artificial-intelligence (AI) based algorithms to reduce implicit bias in teaching. Findings from this study include significant pre-post increases for self-efficacy related to culturally responsive teaching as well as instructional self-efficacy. These findings add credibility to the contention that a key innovation of using simulation programs for teacher professional development is that it provides teachers and teacher trainees many learning trials with simulated students, thereby increasing teacher confidence and competence, and which in turn will improve student learning. Findings set the stage for measuring the impact on student perceptions of learning and cultural engagement intended to support teachers in recognizing and ameliorating their own implicit biases. 

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4. A Course-Based Teaching Experience for STEM Undergraduates Improves Student Perceptions of Teaching Self-Efficacy and Attitudes Toward Teaching Careers

   https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.21-04-0105  

   Bush, Seth ; Calloway, Ashley ; Bush, Emily ; Himelblau, Ed ( March 2022 , CBE—Life Sciences Education)

   Couch, Brian (Ed.)

   There is a national need to recruit more science teachers. Enhancing pathways to teaching for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors could help to address this need. The Learn By Doing Lab is a course in which STEM undergraduates teach hands-on life science and physical science to local third- through eighth-grade schoolchildren visiting the campus. To measure the impacts of this teaching experience on the undergraduate participants, we administered a version of the Science Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument-Preservice survey at the start and end of the course. Significant gains were observed in the students’ belief in their personal ability to effectively teach science (self-efficacy). Furthermore, qualitative and quantitative analysis of student reflections revealed that they perceived the Learn By Doing Lab experience to have helped them develop 21st-century competencies, particularly in the areas of collaboration, communication, and adaptability. Finally, the students’ overall awareness and positive perception of science teaching careers increased. This indicates that providing a low-barrier course-based teaching experience for STEM undergraduates is a promising strategy to help recruit pre-service teachers, and a step toward alleviating the national STEM teacher shortage. 

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5. MATHEMATICAL KNOWLEDGE FOR TEACHING PROOF: COMPARING SECONDARY TEACHERS, PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS AND UNDERGRADUATE STEM MAJORS

   Buchbinder, O. ; McCrone, S. ; Capozzoli, M. ; Butler, R. ( January 2021 , Proceedings of the 43rd Meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education)

   Olanoff, D. ; Johnson, K. ; Spitzer, S. (Ed.)

   It has been suggested that integrating reasoning and proof in mathematics teaching requires a special type of teacher knowledge - Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching Proof (MKT-P). Yet, several important questions about the nature of MKT-P remain open, specifically, whether MKT-P is a type of knowledge specific to teachers, and whether MKT-P can be improved through intervention. We explored these questions by comparing performance on an MKT-P questionnaire of in-service secondary mathematics teachers, undergraduate STEM majors, and pre-service secondary mathematics teachers. The latter group completed the questionnaire twice- before and after participating in a capstone course, Mathematical Reasoning and Proving for Secondary Teachers. Our data suggest that MKT-P is indeed a special kind of knowledge specific to teachers and it can be improved through interventions. 

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