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1. Teachers’ experiences with taking an open-ended approach in teaching labs in high school physics classes

   Talafian, Hamideh; Lundsgaard, Morten; Mahmood, Maggie; Kuo, Eric; Stelzer, Tim (April 2025, Physical review Physics education research)

   Although most teachers recognize the importance of taking investigative, open-ended approaches to students’ learning experiences, implementing them in high school classes can be challenging for teachers. In this work, we analyzed data from multiple sources from a teaching Community of Practice (CoP) to investigate (a) barriers to taking an open-ended approach in teaching labs in physics classes, (b) shifts in teachers’ beliefs about taking an open-ended approach during their engagement in a physics teaching CoP in a partnership program, and (c) a case study of one teacher whose shifts in perceptions about taking an open-ended approach in teaching labs led to her successful implementation in her class. The findings confirm the existence of well-known psychological and structural barriers that can prevent teachers from adopting investigative approaches in teaching physics labs. Moreover, we learned how the interaction of these barriers further complicates the adoption of open-ended approaches in physics classes. The study also revealed a significant gap between teachers’ current practices and their desired methods of conducting labs, particularly in terms of structured versus open-ended approaches. The case study offered deeper insights into how shifts in teaching practices occur through changes in perceptions within a supportive CoP. 

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2. Evaluating a High School Engineering Community of Practice: The Perspective of University Liaisons (Evaluation)

   Schill, S. A.; Klein-Gardner, S. S. (June 2023, 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition)

   Introduction Despite years of research and practice, there remains a need to broaden participation in engineering. The NSF-funded research study [PROGRAM] addresses this issue by providing engineering curricula and professional development for high school teachers. [PROGRAM] also engages in building and maintaining a Community of Practice (CoP). The CoP model allows for strategic partnerships to create lasting connections between high schools and various community partners. Community partners include stakeholders such as school counselors, school administrators, district officials, parents, university liaisons, community liaisons, and industry representatives that cultivate a local ecosystem to support students and teachers in this pre-college engineering education initiative. Since the roles and responsibilities of community partners vary, this paper focuses on one type of partner: university liaisons. Within the CoP, university liaisons voluntarily commit their knowledge and expertise to support high school teachers during professional development and curriculum implementation. Each liaison typically supports up to two high schools. Liaisons also engage with each other via Slack, an online communication platform. Objective Our paper examines how university liaisons engage with the CoP in [PROGRAM]. The goals of this study are to: 1) Capture aspects that are currently viewed as exciting or challenging for university liaisons, and 2) Understand ways in which [PROGAM] could facilitate further involvement of these university liaisons in the CoP. Methods After obtaining IRB approval, we conducted virtual focus groups with five liaisons from distinct universities who work with eight [PROGAM] schools. Two focus groups averaged 60 minutes long; liaisons discussed their relationships with their partner high schools, resources through [PROGRAM], and education and outreach at their universities. The semi-structured format of the focus groups allowed liaisons to respond to each other and elaborate on their thoughts in a casual atmosphere. The focus groups were recorded and two coders are currently analyzing the transcripts. Results Analysis is ongoing. Initial findings suggest that university liaisons enjoy the experience of engaging with high school teachers and students, especially when they can bring students to campus and share their institutions’ engineering programs. As a proposed program change, liaisons are interested in more structure to the CoP. For example, high school teachers currently meet virtually as small groups for scheduled check-ins; university liaisons expressed interest in a similar monthly meeting to discuss their experiences and share resources and recommendations with other liaisons. Conclusions This paper evaluated the perceived experience of university liaisons in a CoP within [PROGRAM]. Findings provide direction on the best way to support current and future liaisons. These results may also be applicable to other programs that aim to cultivate lasting relationships between K-12 educators and postsecondary institutions. 

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3. Changes in Teacher Self-efficacy Through Engagement in an Engineering Professional Development Partnership

   https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--34272  

   Schilling, Malle; Paradise, Tawni; Grohs, Jacob; Matusovich, Holly; Carrico, Cheryl; Lesko, Holly; Kirk, Gary (June 2020, ASEE Annual Conference)

   null (Ed.)

   K-12 teachers serve a critical role in their students’ development of interest in engineering, especially as engineering content is emphasized in curriculum standards. However, teachers may not be comfortable teaching engineering in their classrooms as it can require a different set of skills from which they are trained. Professional development activities focused on engineering content can help teachers feel more comfortable teaching the subject in their classrooms and can increase their knowledge of engineering and thus their engineering teaching self-efficacy. There are many different types of professional development activities teachers might experience, each one with a set of established best practices. VT PEERS (Virginia Tech Partnering with Educators and Engineers in Rural Communities) is a program designed to provide recurrent hands-on engineering activities to middle school students in or near rural Appalachia. The project partners middle school teachers, university affiliates, and local industry partners throughout the state region to develop and implement engineering activities that align with state defined standards of learning (SOLs). Throughout this partnership, teachers co-facilitate engineering activities in their classrooms throughout the year with the other partners, and teachers have the opportunity to participate in a two-day collaborative workshop every year. VT PEERS held a workshop during the summer of 2019, after the second year of the partnership, to discuss the successes and challenges experienced throughout the program. Three focus groups, one for each grade level involved (grades 6-8), were held during the summit for teachers and industry partners to discuss their experiences. None of the teachers involved in the partnership have formal training in engineering. The transcripts of these focus groups were the focus of the exploratory qualitative data analyses to answer the following research question: How do middle-school teachers develop teaching engineering self-efficacy through professional development activities? Deductive coding of the focus group transcripts was completed using the four sources of self-efficacy: mastery experience, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion and physiological states. The analysis revealed that vicarious experiences can be particularly valuable to increasing teachers’ teaching engineering self-efficacy. For example, teachers valued the ability to play the role of a student in an engineering lesson and being able to share ideas about teaching engineering lessons with other teachers. This information can be useful to develop engineering-focused professional development activities for teachers. Additionally, as teachers gather information from their teaching engineering vicarious experiences, they can inform their own teaching practices and practice reflective teaching as they teach lessons. 

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4. Examining the Community of Practice in the NSF RED Program.

   Williams, J.M.; Andrijcic, E.; Mohan, S.; Litzler, E.; Güler, S. (June 2023, 2023 American Society for Engineering Education Conference & Exposition)

   Since its inception in 2015, the National Science Foundation Revolutionizing Engineering Departments (RED) program has supported engineering and computer science educators as they work to transform the preparation of undergraduate students. As part of the program, members of RED teams connect with one another as a community of practice (CoP). More than just a collection of individuals who possess a shared interest, a CoP is defined by several distinct features: members of the CoP are practitioners; they develop a shared repertoire of resources that represent their shared practice; and they develop their community over time as a result of shared interaction. In our work with RED teams, we have identified aspects of their interactions that suggest that they operate as a CoP and gain benefits from their engagements. We see the RED CoP as instrumental to their success as change makers and an example of how CoPs can contribute to implementing change in other academic contexts. 

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5. Developing a Leadership Community of Practice Toward a Healthy Educational Ecosystem

   Nazar, C..; Thompson, L.; Bowen, C.; Menezes, G. (June 2023, 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition)

   Student success in educational ecosystems is a primary goal of leadership efforts. Yet, power and privilege affect the racial, classist, and gendered implications of STEM education work in K-12 education as well as higher education. Interventions have been done at various levels, but despite the hard work of implementation, this has not resulted in dramatic improvements to STEM educational ecosystems or student engagement within them. Often, these implementations are done at the faculty/student level or institutional level but not at the departmental leadership level. The NSF-supported Eco-STEM Project proposes to establish a healthy educational ecosystem that supports all individuals (students, faculty, and staff) to thrive. Project activities are guided by ecosystem paradigm measures that support a culturally responsive learning/working environment; make teaching and learning rewarding and fulfilling; and emphasize community assets to enhance motivation, excellence, and success. For this work-in-progress paper, we describe the development of a leadership community of practice, comprised of department chairs of science and engineering departments, at [university name redacted], a large state-funded comprehensive majority minority master’s granting institution in the Southwest United States. In the year-long Leadership Community of Practice (L-CoP), the Fellows work on unpacking issues of power and privilege in their roles as STEM leaders and educators. During the Fall semester of 2022, the Fellows participated in four sessions. They engaged in readings, videos, active-learning activities, and critically reflective dialogues to facilitate discussion and reflection on identity, agency, the culture of power in STEM, and interventions and change in higher education. The L-CoP starts with Fellows reflecting on their social and professional identities and how their identities influence their teaching and leadership philosophies. Then Fellows are introduced to the framework of the culture of power in science--where they explore the social, cultural, and political impacts of preparing for a STEM college education. Finally, they explore theories and models of change for STEM higher education spaces. Through this curriculum, we aim to examine mental models to deconstruct notions that uphold the culture of power in science by instead building counternarratives with faculty and students in their departments. Through dialogues within the L-CoP, leaders discuss classroom/program climate, structure, and vibrancy to better support healthy educational ecosystems, as well as their participation in these systems. We are currently in the middle of our first implementation of the L-CoP. The first cohort consists of six L-CoP Fellows with highly diverse positionalities; there is racial, ethnic, and gender diversity, and all Fellows are full professors in the tenure line and chairs of their respective departments. We present details of the L-CoP, including the formation of the Fellow cohort, training of the facilitators, structure of the sessions, and initial results of our mid-program survey. The survey results provide insights into potential improvements to our tools and program. We also share some of the Fellows’ and facilitators’ reflections demonstrating a shift toward an ecosystem mindset. We prefer to present this work as a poster at the 2023 ASEE Annual Conference. 

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