Teacher Professional Learning to Support Student Motivational Competencies During Science Instruction
PI: Dr. Gwen Marchand
Funding Agency: National Science Foundation Discovery Research Pre K-12 (DRK-12) Program (Award #: 1812976)
Science teachers identify fostering student motivation to learn as a pressing need, yet teacher professional learning programs rarely devote time to helping teachers understand and apply motivational principles in their instruction. This project brings together a multi-disciplinary team of researchers and science teachers to identify a set of practices that science teachers can readily incorporate into their planning and instruction. The project designs, develops, and tests a research-based professional learning approach to help middle school science teachers effectively support and sustain student motivational competencies during science instruction.
Collaborative Research: Developing Integrated Computer Science Curricula for Linguistically Diverse Classrooms at Grades 3-5
PI: Dr. Hasan Deniz
Co-PIs: Dr. Erdogan Kaya (George Mason University), Dr. Ezgi Yesilyurt (Weber State University), and Dr. Refika Turgut (University of South Carolina-Upstate)
Funding Agency: National Science Foundation Computer Science for All (CSforAll) Program (Award #: 2122402)
This project seeks to develop integrated Computer Science curricula using affordances of educational robotics for grades 3-5 students in linguistically diverse classrooms; provide teacher professional development around classroom implementation of integrated units; and conduct educational research with regard to teacher outcomes (computer science teaching efficacy beliefs and teacher identity) and student outcomes (attainment of computer science concepts and practices, views of computer scientists, and computer scientist identity).
Investigating the Impact of a District-Wide Implementation of Science Curricula on Science Teachers Effectiveness and Retention
PI: Dr. Tina Vo
Co-PIs: Dr. Erica Marti
Funding Agency: National Science Foundation Robert Noyce Scholarship Program (Award #: 2151150)
The project aims to serve the national need of science teacher effectiveness and retention. For over a decade, educational reform documents have highlighted important and innovative features to be incorporated into science teaching (e.g., three-dimensional science learning, prioritizing science phenomena, having cohesive science narratives, incorporating engineering). However, given the complex educational landscape, science teachers are still grappling to understand and implement these concepts into their classrooms. Additionally, administrators also struggle to assess how teachers engage and create opportunities for students in line with these features. These challenges can lead to lowered effectiveness and teacher attrition in science. This project seeks to investigate how middle school science teachers and administrators support the uptake of an open-source curriculum and how those actions could be related to science teacher effectiveness and retention.