Post-secondary

Developing Preservice Elementary Teachers' Ability to Facilitate Goal-Oriented Discussions in Science and Mathematics via the Use of Simulated Classroom Interactions

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In this project, we developed, piloted, and studied the use of a set of performance-based tasks delivered within a simulated classroom environment in order to improve preservice elementary teachers' ability to facilitate argumentation-focused discussions in mathematics and science. We conceptualized these simulated discussions as formative assessment opportunities, and studied how teacher educators made use of them within methods courses to support preservice teachers' learning. We also examined evidence of preservice teacher learning via pre/post measures.

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Design and Implementation of Immersive Representations of Practice

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The project examines how representations of practice facilitate preservice teachers' professional knowledge for teaching fractions and multiplication/division. The project focuses specifically on: how single and multi-perspective 360 video affects PSTs' professional knowledge; how PSTs use technological scaffolds to engage in 360 video, and its effect on their professional knowledge; and the design of a platform for teacher educators to create their own 360 video immersive experiences

Co-PI(s): Richard E. Ferdig and C. C. Lu, Kent State University

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Developing and Validating Assessments to Measure and Build Elementary Teachers' Content Knowledge for Teaching about Matter and Its Interactions within Teacher Education Settings (Collaborative Research: Mikeska)

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This project aims to develop and validate an online assessment instrument to measure preservice elementary teachers’ content knowledge for teaching (CKT) about matter, a critical area for preservice teacher learning. We also developed different resources for science teacher educators to support elementary preservice teachers' growth in CKT.

Co-PI(s): Katherine Castellano, Educational Testing Service (ETS)

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Ed+gineering: An Interdisciplinary Partnership Integrating Engineering into Elementary Teacher Preparation Programs

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While new standards call for elementary students to learn engineering, many teachers do not receive any training in engineering and feel underprepared to teach it. Ed+gineering partners preservice teachers with engineering undergraduate students at three points during their respective preparation programs to develop and teach engineering lessons to elementary students. These three collaborations help engineering students develop interdisciplinary collaboration skills while helping preservice teachers develop the competence and confidence to integrate engineering.

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Understanding the Role of Lesson Study in K-12 Mathematics and Science Teacher Education

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This working conference brought together 34 science and mathematics teacher educators from 25 institutions across 17 states and territories. Our purpose was to collaboratively build knowledge about utilizing lesson study as a mechanism to support pre-service teacher learning. We discussed essential features of lesson study, design features of teacher education programs that enhance or inhibit lesson study practice, and the implications of lesson study for partnership with schools and colleagues.

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Developing and Validating Assessments to Measure and Build Elementary Teachers' Content Knowledge for Teaching about Matter and Its Interactions within Teacher Education Settings (Collaborative Research: Hanuscin)

Principal Investigator:

This is an NSF-funded collaborative Early-Stage Design and Development project of the Educational Testing Service and Western Washington University. Our focus is on developing assessment measures and instructional materials related to content knowledge for teaching (CKT) about matter and its interactions. In this poster, we'll share development work on educative curriculum materials for teacher educators that have been designed to support the development of pre-service elementary teachers' CKT.

Co-PI(s): Emily Borda and Dan Hanley, Western Washington University

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Online Practice Suite: Practice Spaces, Simulations and Virtual Reality Environments for Preservice Teachers to Learn to Facilitate Argumentation Discussions in Math and Science

Principal Investigator:

This poster provides an overview of our three-year project where researchers are using a design-based research approach to develop, pilot, and refine a set of coordinated and complementary practice-based activities that teacher education programs can deploy to provide practice-based learning opportunities for preservice teachers. The goal is to help the preservice teachers to engage in authentic, purposeful, and scaffolded approximations of practice as they develop their ability to facilitate argumentation-focused discussions in mathematics and science.

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Assessing College-Ready Computational Thinking (Collaborative Research: Brown and Wilson)

Principal Investigator:

This project seeks to develop and validate learning progressions and items with dynamic features to generate machine-scorable student responses for assessing computational thinking, in a test of college-ready critical reasoning skills, and to integrate these items into an existing online assessment system, the Berkeley Assessment System Software (BASS). This assessment is intended to be useful for formative and summative purposes in high-school and introductory college-level STEM classes, including mathematics and computer science courses.

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