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IntroductionElementary teachers face many challenges when including reform-based science instruction in their classrooms, and some teachers have chosen to enhance their science instruction by introducing students to citizen science (CS) projects. When CS projects are incorporated in formal school settings, students have an opportunity to engage in real-world projects as they collect and make sense of data, yet relatively few CS projects offer substantial guidance for teachers seeking to implement the projects, placing a heavy burden on teacher learning. MethodsFramed in theory on teacher relationships with curricula, we prepared science standards-aligned educative support materials for two CS projects. We present convergent mixed methods research that examines two teachers’ contrasting approaches to including school-based citizen science (SBCS) in their fifth-grade classrooms, each using support materials for one of the two CS projects. Both are veteran teachers at under-resourced Title 1 (an indicator of the high percentage of the students identified as economically disadvantaged) rural schools in the southeastern United States. We document the teachers’ interpretations and use of SBCS materials for the CS projects with data from classroom observations, instructional logs, teacher interviews, and student focus groups. ResultsOne teacher adapted the materials to include scaffolding to position students for success in data collection and analysis. In contrast, the second teacher adapted the SBCS support materials to maintain a teacher-centered approach to instruction, identifying perceptions of students’ limited abilities and limited instructional time as constraining factors. DiscussionWe discuss the intersection of CS projects in formal education and opportunities for engaging students in authentic science data collection, analysis, and sense-making. The two teachers’ stories identify the influences of school context and the need for teacher support to encourage elementary teachers’ use of SBCS instruction to supplement their science instruction.
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A Co-Instructional Model to Develop High School CS Teachers in Historically Underrepresented Communities: Building Capacity with a Purpose
Many secondary school teachers in historically lower performing districts find themselves asked to teach CS without adequate training. They find themselves struggling to build a CS program without the environment necessary to foster student engagement and success. To improve educator preparedness, and transform school cultures, Innovating Detroit’s Robotics Agile Workforce (iDRAW) offers one year of co-instruction by a university instructor with a high school teacher to better prepare the teacher to provide rigorous CS instruction independently in future years. Reflections from this university co-instructor are contained, with insights into the preparation of CS teachers and initiation of CS courses in high schools in the future.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2122349
- PAR ID:
- 10540982
- Publisher / Repository:
- ACM
- Date Published:
- ISBN:
- 9798400706264
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 259 to 264
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- Computer science education, teacher preparedness, co-instruction
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Location:
- Atlanta GA USA
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Conference Paper:
- https://doi.org/10.1145/3653666.3656067
