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Our work in progress draws from an ongoing investigation of the needs of elementary teachers in small, rural school districts. Due to geographic location, rural schools often struggle to provide content-specific professional learning (PL). Smaller networks of science in these settings may also be barriers. We are exploring how targeted instructional supports that take rural teachers’ contexts into consideration can be sustained through the implementation of cost-effective modest supports. Our research examines the immediate impacts of PL, sustainability of PL outcomes when coupled with modest supports, specific impacts on engineering instruction, and student learning impacts. The intervention started with an online PL to introduce teachers to the NGSS and provide them with a foothold for three-dimensional teaching. This PL was designed for rural teachers using online platforms and resources. The program’s conceptual framework leverages a suite of modest supports previously identified to sustain PL outcomes. These supports are designed to scaffold teachers’ professional growth, provide steady encouragement, and foster community. Approximately 160 teachers across four states were recruited to participate in a 1-year online program, which started with a 5-day PL focused on NGSS-aligned science and engineering instruction. Some modest supports that have since followed, such as professional learning community (PLC) sessions and dedicated electronic supports (e.g., Google Site, shared resources, etc.). These sessions have been tailored to support teachers in these rural settings. Since the project began, we have collected responses from participating teachers about supports they believe would aid their understanding of science and engineering instructional strategies. We are continuing to collect data as teachers are planning science and engineering learning experiences for their classrooms. Our presentation will share details about teachers’ needs and rural contexts, and findings about the immediate impacts of the intervention.
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Board 298: Supporting Elementary Engineering Instruction in Rural Contexts Through Online Professional Learning and Modest Supports
Despite the intent to advance engineering education with the NGSS, teachers across all grade levels lack confidence in their engineering content knowledge and pedagogy (Hammack & Ivey, 2019). This dilemma is exacerbated by a lack of quality NGSS-aligned curricular materials that integrate science and engineering at the elementary grades— currently, only one elementary unit reviewed by Achieve has received an NGSS Design Badge that includes engineering (NextGenScience, 2020), and these materials are especially unavailable in schools serving high-needs students (Banilower, 2019). Implementation research now acknowledges that contexts and conditions can, and often do, affect the enactment of innovations and that “improving education requires processes for changing individuals, organizations, and systems” (Century & Cassata, 2016, p. 172). Due to geographic location and, often, smaller collegial networks of teachers who teach science, and engineering, rural schools encounter acute challenges in recruiting and retaining teachers (Arnold et al., 2005) and providing content-specific Professional Learning (PL) (Harmon & Smith, 2007). The goal of this NSF DRK12 multi-institution project is to longitudinally investigate the impacts, sustainability, and costs of NGSS implementation, especially in rural contexts. Our approach differs from most interventions in that it is tailored to rural educators in grades 3–5 and offers curriculum-agnostic, fully online PL that supports teachers in utilizing resources and phenomena found in their local contexts to develop and implement engaging, NGSS-aligned engineering instruction. Our intervention began with a five-day (i.e., weeklong) online PL experience in the summer of 2023 for grades 3–5 teachers in each of four western states. Examples of PL sessions provided include: (1) an overview of three-dimensional learning and phenomena-based instruction; (2) a deep dive into the NGSS Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs); (3) instructional practices that encourage equitable student participation and epistemic agency; and (4) building understanding and comfort with NGSS-aligned engineering and design-based instruction for the elementary grades. The initial intensive PL experience had immediate positive impacts on grades 3–5 teachers’ attitudes and efficacy for teaching engineering. We are now exploring how modest supports influence the sustainability of these changes. Over the 2023-2024 academic year, we are providing teachers with a menu of modest supports including: three 90-minute-long online PL meetings each semester, materials for teaching a locally focused engineering design task, and access to a variety of electronic supports (e.g., Google Classroom Site, shared resources). The fall semester online meetings have focused on supporting teachers to identify connections to science and engineering in their school’s community and how to develop NGSS-aligned engineering design tasks that connect to their local communities. Teachers will be implementing their engineering lessons during December 2023 and January 2024.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2201249
- PAR ID:
- 10596290
- Publisher / Repository:
- ASEE Conferences
- Date Published:
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Location:
- Portland, Oregon
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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We are investigating factors that influence elementary teachers’ professional learning (PL) in science and engineering. The intervention and ongoing supports are offered at a distance to participants teaching grades 3-5 in rural school districts. Overarching research objectives include examining: (1) the impacts of online science and engineering PL; (2) the effectiveness of modest supports on the sustainability of PL outcomes; and (3) the changes to teachers’ engineering instructional practices.more » « less
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Despite the intent to advance engineering education with NGSS, teachers across all grades lack self-efficacy in engineering pedagogy. Instructional shifts envisioned by NGSS, especially with inclusion of engineering, require substantial learning by teachers. For rural schools, due to geographic location and smaller collegial networks, there are challenges in providing content-specific professional learning. This project gathered researchers from four states to provide PL aligned to NGSS and delivered remotely to 150 rural teachers. In summer 2023, experts led a five-day workshop which modeled shifts called for by NGSS (e.g., equitable, discourse-rich, phenomena-based) and provided opportunities to experience next-generation teaching and learning. Likert scale surveys were collected before and after the workshop to gauge self-efficacy regarding teaching science and engineering. We found that science-focused PL, with engineering embedded rather than as stand-alone component, afforded growth in self-efficacy for teaching engineering. Pre-workshop surveys showed that teachers had higher self-efficacy towards teaching science than teaching engineering (Wilcoxon signed-rank; p<.001). Positive attitudes toward teaching science were leveraged to provide PL and pre-workshop to post-workshop analysis showed growth in self-efficacy towards teaching engineering (p<.001). Results are important for professional learning around teaching engineering, for professional learning with rural teachers, and for remote access to professional learning.more » « less
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Though it has been nearly ten years since the Framework (NRC, 2013) and NGSS have been released, there remains a persistent need for effective professional learning (PL) that supports teachers’ knowledge of the NGSS and their science and engineering content knowledge. Grades 3-5 rural teachers across four states participated in a week-long PL with ongoing supports. We asked to what extent the intervention enhanced teachers’ knowledge of NGSS-aligned teaching strategies and science and engineering content knowledge. We developed a vignette that embedded practical planning and teaching experiences that align with the NGSS vision. More specifically, the vignette focused on planning and classroom instruction with both hypothetical and realistic situations that were brief and incomplete and had open questions that targeted their own perspective. A purposefully selected subgroup of teachers (n=33) representing a range of grades and the four states were asked to complete the vignette in Spring 2024. We are following the six-step thematic analysis process (Braun & Clark, 2012). Findings indicate teachers needed more support with the following themes: what the three dimensions are, how the three dimensions should be integrated, how phenomena should be implemented, and how to align the lesson with the standard.more » « less
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To deliver instruction consistent with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), especially with the inclusion of engineering, teachers need a high level of self-efficacy. Professional learning can foster self-efficacy, but short-term interventions have been found to have a limited impact on teachers’ instructional practices. The present study examines survey data collected from elementary teachers who were participating in a year-long NGSS-aligned professional learning program that was extended by professional learning communities (PLCs) and other supports. Experts led a 5-day institute which modeled shifts called for by NGSS (e.g., equitable, discourse-rich, phenomena-based) and provided teachers with opportunities to experience next-generation instruction. Participants (n=150) were recruited from rural communities, so, being mindful of historic challenges with access to professional learning, the institute in summer 2023 and the PLC sessions were delivered online. Four surveys were administered during 2023-2024, including a pre-, immediate post-, and delayed post-intervention surveys that captured teachers’ self-efficacy and outcome expectations related to science and engineering teaching and learning (T-STEM). We found teachers pre-intervention responses were more favorable for science, initially, but significant growth in engineering occurred throughout the period of study. Importantly, we also found evidence that ongoing supports, like PLCs, helped to sustain professional learning outcomes.more » « less
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Conference Paper:
- https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--46874
