INNOVATIONS IN TRAINING K-5 TEACHERS IN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, AND MATHEMATICS: PHASE ONE

Purpose
The purpose of this study is to describe a professional development initiative designed to promote instructional practices in elementary school classes in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). The initiative takes place at a private university in a major metropolitan area in the U.S. This research-based initiative uses a “teach the teacher” model to teach practicing K-5 teachers how to promote deeper learning in STEM.

In the first phase of the initiative, the focus of this research report, the teachers are initially trained. In the second phase these teachers design their own STEM project. In the final stage the newly designed projects are implemented and the newly trained teachers return to their own schools and train their peers. One of the benefits of this approach is its exponential outreach to teachers in the surrounding community.

Background
There is a growing concern that the United States is not preparing a sufficient number of students, teachers, and professionals in the STEM content areas. The majority of U.S. students fail to reach adequate levels of proficiency in the STEM areas. Among the 40 countries participating in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), the U.S. ranked 28th in math literacy, and 24th in science literacy. Poor student performance has been attributed, in part, to an inadequate supply of qualified teachers. The researchers are a recipient of a federal STEM grant; the purpose of this grant is to train teachers to increase innovation in STEM programs targeted at under-represented students, the grant funds the training initiative described in this report in part.

Phase One
The initial framework for our “teach the teacher” initiative is based upon work by Zhao, Lei, and Frank (2006). We begin with a small set of teachers from various elementary schools near the university who participate in a STEM project entitled “Where Will Your Garden Go?” By participating in the project, the initial set of teachers are active participants in a STEM project that is similar to one that they might create for their own students during phase two of the initiative. The teachers are fully engaged in the project, and they are surrounded by many types of STEM technologies. The teachers take time to work with the different technologies, explore different options for data collection, and are given the opportunity to see what techniques might work best for their own school environment. By allowing the teachers time to work with the different scientific technologies, teachers gain a better understanding of the capabilities of the technologies so that they will be more apt to use such technologies in their own classroom(Zhao et al, 2006).

The "Where Will Your Garden Go?" project connects existing practices with more innovative, research-based practices which suggests that teachers will be more apt to adapt similar projects for their own classroom (Carrier, 2009; Martin, 2003; Zhao et al, 2006). The use of scientific argumentation and the study of Earth Science are based on science education research, as such practices promote the early development of reasoning and provide a robust foundation for young students’ scientific knowledge (Duscl, Shouse, and Schweingruber, 2008).

Conclusion
The goal of phase one is to engage and train teachers in innovative STEM practices while immersed in a project similar to one that they will design in phase two and teach in phase three.