国家科学基金会发现研究K-12基金
项目的目的
Content-focused teacher professional development in science, specifically linked to using 下一代科学标准（总会在）, increases the academic achievement of all students. 大多数提供给科学教师的专业发展机会都是通过传统的面对面的方式提供的。 在农村地区，获得高质量、相关、面对面的专业发展可能是一项挑战。 我们建议，重要的是设计专业发展，有效和经济地将偏远和地理上不同的农村社区的教师聚集在一起，以改善科学教学。
Our project, an NSF发现研究K-12 awarded grant titled 开发农村学校科学教师发展的科学综合在线学习平台, specifically targeted middle-school science teachers working in rural communities in Kansas. We developed an online professional development model and then assessed its effectiveness as compared to an aligned face-to-face professional development in supporting change in teacher conceptual understanding, self-efficacy in utilizing 新一代科学标准 (总会在), change in instructional practices, and student content learning, following participation in our matched professional developments and students’ instruction in an 总会在-aligned curriculum, 迈向高中生物.
为什么这很重要
The US Department of Agriculture visually defines rural as “open countryside with population densities of less than 500 people per square mile and places with fewer than 2,500 people.” 目前，有超过930万美国儿童（即五分之一）在农村学校上学。 在这930万农村儿童中，六分之一的儿童生活在贫困线以下，七分之一的儿童有资格接受特殊教育，九分之一的儿童来自农民工家庭。 对农村教育的总体研究，特别是对STEM（科学、技术、工程、数学）的研究，往往侧重于农村学校面临的挑战（学生受教育机会减少、资金不公平、招聘和留住教师困难）。 然而，这种缺乏农村的方法没有考虑到农村社区的独特优势，我们可以在此基础上建立强大的STEM规划。 我们的项目建立在我们之前在农村社区的工作基础上，目标是建立跨地区、跨距离的STEM教育工作者网络，通过高质量、有效的在线PD，在虚拟空间中协同工作，提高他们的知识和对总会在教学实践的使用。
项目设计
博彩平台大全招收来自周边农村学区的学生，并投入了大量时间和专业知识来建立在线课程，以满足他们的需求。 Our institutional experience, through 教学创新与学习技术, currently provides expertise in developing, delivering, and measuring the effectiveness of online learning modalities, which then provides us with the needed infrastructure to develop and test the effectiveness of our online professional development.
Our logic model (see infographic below) provided guidance in developing our matched professional developments (face-to-face, online), beginning with job-embedded professional development (participants applying what they are learning about 总会在 instructional practices to their work with their own students) using the Interactive, Constructive, Active, Passive (ICAP) framework which involves collaboration, feedback, and reflection. ICAP框架建议学习者必须参与互动（共同创造新知识），建设性（建立模型，绘制图表），主动（检查对象，记笔记）和被动（听讲座，看视频）的学习。 Teachers were then taught to use the 迈向高中生物 curriculum which applies basic chemistry in understanding living and nonliving things. 我们创建了两个匹配的专业发展环境（面对面，在线）。
Our outcomes, as described below, involved change in teacher content knowledge related to the curriculum, improved teacher self-efficacy in using 总会在 instructional practices, change in instructional practice, which led to overall improved student content learning as related to the curriculum. Our hypothesis was that online professional development would be as effective as traditional face-to-face professional development in improving teachers 总会在 aligned science instruction in ways that would positively impact student learning.
项目成果
We recruited fifteen middle-school science teachers across rural settings in Kansas who were randomly assigned to a face-to-face or online professional development and then taught the 迈向高中生物 curriculum for 2 years in a row. 每个教师组（面对面，在线）从学习前到学习后，他们的内容知识都有统计学上的显著增长。 Teacher self-efficacy measured three domains: student engagement, instructional practices, and 总会在 practices. Growth for each teacher group (face-to-face, online) from pre- to post-study was found in student engagement and instructional practices with statistically significant growth found in using 总会在 practices. Change in teachers’ instructional practices measured three domains: student centered instruction, relevance to students’ lives, and assessment. 每个教师组（面对面，在线）从学习前到学习后的增长在相关性和评估中被发现，以学生为中心的统计显着增长。 每一组教师的学生（面对面的，在线的）在每一年的课程教学中都表现出统计学上的显著增长。 最重要的是，教师条件（面对面，在线）和学生结果测量之间没有统计学上的显著差异。
Overall, our hypothesis was supported: our online professional development was as effective as our traditional, face-to-face professional development in promoting growth in teacher content knowledge, growth in teacher self-efficacy related to using 总会在 practices, change in instructional practices related to student centeredness, and overall growth in student content knowledge related to the curriculum unit. 这是一个支持农村教师专业发展的有力发现，对农村学校教育和在线专业发展建设的研究基础具有启示意义，以支持专业学习在课堂上的忠实实施。
刊物及新闻
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