4906 Views (as of 05/2023)
  1. Kerri Wingert
  2. Research Associate
  3. Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
  4. CU Boulder Institute for Cognitive Science, CU Boulder School of Education, University of Colorado Boulder
  1. Quentin Biddy
  2. https://www.colorado.edu/ics/quentin-biddy
  3. Research Associate
  4. Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
  5. University of Colorado Boulder
  1. Cari Herrmann-Abell
  2. Senior Research Scientist
  3. Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
  4. BSCS Science Learning
  1. Jennifer Jacobs
  2. https://www.colorado.edu/ics/jennifer-jacobs
  3. Associate Research Professor
  4. Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
  5. University of Colorado Boulder
  1. William Lindsay
  2. Research Associate
  3. Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
  4. University of Colorado Boulder
  1. Abe Lo
  2. http://alo.bscs.org
  3. Science Educator
  4. Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
  5. BSCS Science Learning
  1. William Penuel
  2. Distinguished Professor
  3. Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
  4. University of Colorado Boulder
  1. Christopher Wilson
  2. Director, Research Division
  3. Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
  4. BSCS Science Learning

Preparing Teachers to Design Tasks to Support, Engage, and Assess Science Lea...

NSF Awards: 2010086

2021 (see original presentation & discussion)

Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Adult learners

The 5D MASTERS project (Making Aligned Student Tasks Equitable with Rural Science) supports teachers in rural and remote regions to connect online and build meaningful, NGSS-aligned tasks for students in their classrooms. This video shows the purpose for an online professional learning course for rural science teachers that is being developed by BSCS and CU Boulder researchers.

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Discussion from the 2021 STEM For All Video Showcase (16 posts)
  • Icon for: Kerri Wingert

    Kerri Wingert

    Lead Presenter
    Research Associate
    May 11, 2021 | 08:40 a.m.

    We are excited to launch this video conversation about working with rural communities through an online PD system. We want to hear from you!

    1. What lessons have you learned working with rural communities in interest/identity focused work?
    2. What are the biggest opportunities in supporting teachers in using assessment to drive changes in instruction/practice?
    3. If you’ve used assessment as a leverage point, what changes do you think we might see in instruction?
    4. During the pandemic, what’s worked for you in providing online professional learning?
    5. How can we build a rich learning community online?
  • Icon for: Toby Baker

    Toby Baker

    Researcher
    May 11, 2021 | 04:24 p.m.

    Hi Kerri,

    I am a researcher, co-presenter, and special education teacher. I have found that all subjects including STEM subjects are impacted by living in rural areas. But since Zoom is a platform that connects people, they can attend classes in cities far away. As a researcher for IC4, we have used zoom since 2017 and connected to four continents and more than 7 countries. Most of the sites are rural and the learners have had to request that we ship petri dishes to them as the school did not have them. The rural areas of Kenya often have difficulties with Wi-fi and connectivity. But you are correct that zoom has allowed for learning everywhere without having to travel hours to receive an equal education. 

     

  • Icon for: William Penuel

    William Penuel

    Co-Presenter
    Distinguished Professor
    May 11, 2021 | 08:15 p.m.

    Thanks for sharing your experience, Toby. Sharing lab resources with folks sounds like it was a challenge for your project. Are there things you have learned about that that we might learn from on our project?

  • Icon for: Troy Sadler

    Troy Sadler

    Researcher
    May 12, 2021 | 10:07 a.m.

    Thanks for sharing this interesting and important work. I'd be interested in learning more about how your team helps teachers build on student interests and identities. Are there strategies for this type of work that are particular to rural communities?

  • Icon for: William Penuel

    William Penuel

    Co-Presenter
    Distinguished Professor
    May 12, 2021 | 11:15 a.m.

    Thanks for the question, Troy! I think there's two layers to answering the question: first, how we are working with rural educators and also the substance of the strategies.

    The how:

    We began our project with an existing professional learning program that we'd developed with and for educators for a wide variety of contexts (urban, rural, and contexts), and sought to adapt it to rural contexts. To prepare us for adaptation, we first undertook a study of rural educators' concerns and goals, and also to understand how we might need to adapt a program to their schedules and constraints. As a second step, we've been engaging a team of co-adapters from rural areas of Colorado in different types of settings -- schools, area education agencies, and teacher education programs in rural areas -- to help us adapt the approach. They've helped us refine our understanding of contexts and goals we should be pursuing, as well as the substance of the program.

    The substance: 

    We emphasize a lot getting information directly from students using different means -- such as surveys -- about phenomena and problems that might engage them. We also emphasize gathering information about students' experience of assessment, and we are also exploring how best to support identity-affirming practices in feedback on assessments. Also, we are designing supports for how to frame tasks to make clear "what's at stake" at answering a set of assessment questions -- for them, as well as for others. 

    A key theme is that interest and identity are lenses that we apply when looking at assessment tasks -- since learning and identity are intertwined. "Why should I care?" if I am a student is one of those lenses to bring, when reviewing a task for its personal relevance.

  • Icon for: Daniel Damelin

    Daniel Damelin

    Facilitator
    Senior Scientist
    May 13, 2021 | 12:44 a.m.

    Can you talk about some examples of how you adapted the existing PL program to a more rural focussed context? What are the kinds of things projects may be missing if they don't appreciate the context in which members of a professional learning community are teaching?

  • Icon for: Kerri Wingert

    Kerri Wingert

    Lead Presenter
    Research Associate
    May 13, 2021 | 12:38 p.m.

    Hey Daniel! Thanks for watching our video!

    I love this project because I'm from a tiny rural school, and community is everything. There's so much we can learn from rural teachers about community-centered design, and taking that orientation has been really critical... we're not out to treat rural education as "deprived" but rather as having a rich history and some rather enviable community-centered design principles at the heart of teacher work. Does that help? Do you see that happening in rural places you work?

    Another thing that's come out is the intense appreciation and awe teachers and rural communities have for out-of-school and outdoor learning. In the school in the video, Pike's Peak is literally in view of the front door of the school, and students and families are connected to the wildlife, agriculture, and place. Again... I think it's something we envy and want to learn from. 

  • Icon for: Daniel Damelin

    Daniel Damelin

    Facilitator
    Senior Scientist
    May 14, 2021 | 01:15 p.m.

    The notion that teachers from rural communities have an "intense appreciation and awe ... for out-of-school and outdoor learning" is and interesting observation that could help a PLC come together with the right focus. 

  • Icon for: Heidi Carlone

    Heidi Carlone

    Facilitator
    Distinguished Professor
    May 12, 2021 | 08:41 p.m.

    Hi team! Love this project. Great video-- Kerri, your explanations coupled with the teacher's perspective were super clear and powerful. I wonder if projects like yours will become more prevalent in a post-covid world-- I hope so. Access is so important; we've left out rural educators for years.

    My question is one I would grapple with if I were embarking on a project like this. How do you design curriculum that builds on rural students' identities and interests without essentializing? Rural populations are so diverse! Are there strands of shared experiences that you're considering? What kinds of adaptations will/did you make from the work in urban contexts (which Bill mentioned briefly above)?

    Thanks for sharing this great work.

  • Icon for: William Penuel

    William Penuel

    Co-Presenter
    Distinguished Professor
    May 13, 2021 | 09:51 a.m.

    Heidi, that's a great question. We certainly had help and a reminder from our co-adaptation group that the kinds of phenomena and problems that can anchor assessment tasks don't just need to be "local." It's so important not to conflate the idea of interest-driven phenomena and identity-connected concerns and priorities with "local," in that sense, and to seek data on what actually interests and concerns students. The heart of the strategies we encourage is actually taking time to learn through a variety of means what students are interested in, and help educators connect that to content they are assessing.

     
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    Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available

    Heidi Carlone
  • Icon for: Dr. Julia V. Clark

    Dr. Julia V. Clark

    Facilitator
    Retired Federal Employee
    May 13, 2021 | 05:15 p.m.

    There are several positive aspects of this project. One of these is that it is designed to impact students in rural schools. This group is one of the most underserved students in STEM. An emphasis is also placed on the STEM education of girls The online professional development (PD) provided ensures that the rural schools, most of which are always isolated, benefit  from the experience. This is a well thought-out project 

  • Icon for: William Penuel

    William Penuel

    Co-Presenter
    Distinguished Professor
    May 13, 2021 | 07:25 p.m.

    Thank you, Dr. Clark! Appreciate your thoughts on our project. 

  • Icon for: Rick Moog

    Rick Moog

    Higher Ed Faculty
    May 17, 2021 | 02:14 p.m.

    I agree that one of the "benefits" of the pandemic is that many organizations (including the organization that I am affiliated with - The POGIL Project) have re-thought their professional development offerings to include virtual experiences. We have done that and found that our virtual workshops are accessible to people who otherwise would not have been able to attend - including teachers from rural areas. We found that although these experiences are not the same as being F2F, they are not necessarily "worse" either. Just different. I am interested in your perspective on how you think virtual experiences offer advantages (other than cost and travel time) over F2F professional development experiences.

  • Icon for: Jennifer Jacobs

    Jennifer Jacobs

    Co-Presenter
    Associate Research Professor
    May 17, 2021 | 06:05 p.m.

    Hi Rick,

    Thanks for your question about virtual vs face to face PD. One of the things we are hearing from rural teachers is that they are sometimes the "lone" science teacher in their school or district and/or that their school or district is far from others. So having a virtual community is really welcome, especially for PD that is ongoing. Meeting regularly face to face over the course of a school year, for example, is just not realistic, so they have felt left out of many opportunities. Also forming a community with other rural teachers is very enticing to many, as there is a sense of a shared background and challenges.

  • Icon for: Kate Cook

    Kate Cook

    May 17, 2021 | 04:12 p.m.

    Hi 5D Masters Team,

    Thank you for sharing this important work!  I'm curious to learn more about what you are learning working with rural teachers virtually. Have you found any particular strategies to work well (or not so well)? 

    I would also love to learn more about any insights you gleaned from the survey Bill mentioned about rural teachers' concerns and goals. 

    We have been doing a lot of thinking about the interests and identities of rural students, especially given how different rural communities are from one another.  How are you navigating the commonalities between rural communities in combination with the differences that make each a unique community?

    Thanks for your amazing work! 

    Kate Cook

     

  • Icon for: Kerri Wingert

    Kerri Wingert

    Lead Presenter
    Research Associate
    May 17, 2021 | 04:46 p.m.

    Hi Kate! Great to see you pop up #inhere. :)

    We found that rural teachers were deeply community-driven and oriented to their students' interests, sometimes from birth. Many of them talked about appreciating the multi-generational nature of their teaching. I wish all teachers could have such deep connection to their communities!

    We also found that teachers in the mountain areas are really interested in connecting with the outdoors and getting outside. They also spoke about needing to make clear the boundaries of belief versus evidence and how the epistemics of those are different... very nuanced! We're excited to learn more with them!

  • Further posting is closed as the event has ended.