Attracting and Retaining Teachers and Students in STEM Disciplines

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Attracting and Retaining Teachers and Students in
STEM Disciplines

• Richard A. DuschlGraduate School of
  EducationRutgers University

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Imperatives for STEM Education

• Economic
• Democratic
• Cultural

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Attracting and Retaining Students for STEM

• Pipelines - Self/System Selection
• (NSF, NRC)
• Mines - Teacher Selection/Encouragement
• (Wilson Quarterly)

Pre K
K-5
6-10
11-16
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Talking Points from Washington, DC
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Relevence Of Science Education SVEIN
SJØBERGUniversity of OsloInterest in Science
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ROSE I like school science
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ROSE I want to be a scientistEconomic
Imperative???
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21st Century ScienceNuffield/University of York
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http//www.nap.edu/
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Learning Environments
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Perspectives on Learning Environments

• The learner-centered lens encourages attention to
  preconceptions, and begins instruction with what
  students think and know.
• The knowledge-centered lens focuses on what is to
  be taught, why it is taught, and what mastery
  looks like.
• The assessment-centered lens emphasizes the need
  to provide frequent opportunities to make
  students thinking and learning visible as a
  guide for both the teacher and the student in
  learning and instruction.
• The community-centered lens encourages a culture
  of questioning, respect and risk taking.

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Mathematics

• Five Strands of Proficiency
• Understanding
• Computing
• Applying
• Reasoning
• Engaging

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5 Strands of Maths Proficiency

• Understanding Comprehending mathematical
  concepts, operations, and relations knowing
  what mathematical symbols, diagrams and
  procedures mean.
• Computing Carrying out mathematical procedures,
  such as adding, subtracting, multiplying, and
  dividing numbers flexibly, accurately,
  efficiently, and appropriately.
• Applying Being able to formulate problems
  mathematically and to devise strategies for
  solving them using concepts and procedures
  appropriately.
• Reasoning Using logic to explain and justify a
  solution to a problem or to extend form something
  known to something not yet known.
• Engaging Seeing mathematics as sensible,
  useful, and doable if you work at it and
  being willing to do the work.

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Taking Science to School

• Children entering school already have substantial
  knowledge of the natural world, much of it
  implicit. Contrary to older views, young
  children are not concrete and simplistic
  thinkers. Research now shows that their thinking
  is surprisingly sophisticated. They can use a
  wide range of reasoning processes that form the
  underpinnings of scientific thinking, even though
  their experience is variable and they have much
  more to learn.

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4 Strands of Scientific Proficiency

• Know, use and interpret scientific explanations
  of the natural world.
• Generate and evaluate scientific evidence and
  explanations.
• Understand the nature and development of
  scientific knowledge.
• Participate productively in scientific practices
  and discourse.

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Summary - Childrens Learning

• Young children are more competent than we think.
  They can think abstractly early on and do NOT go
  through universal, well defined stages.
• Focusing on misconceptions can cause us to
  overlook leverage points for learning.
• Developing rich, conceptual knowledge takes time
  and requires instructional support.
• Conceptual knowledge, scientific reasoning,
  understanding how scientific knowledge is
  produced, and participating in science are
  intimately intertwined in the doing of science.

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Taking Science to School (TSTS)Table of Contents
1 Science learning past and present 2 Goals for
science education 3 Foundations for science
learning in young children 4 Knowledge and
understanding of the natural world 5 Generating
and evaluating scientific evidence and
explanations
6 Understanding how scientific knowledge is
constructed 7 Participation in scientific
practices and discourse 8 Learning Progressions 9
Teaching science as practice 10 Supporting
science instruction 11 Conclusions and
Recommendations
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What is Science?

• Science involves
• Building theories and models
• Constructing arguments
• Using specialized ways of talking, writing and
  representing phenomena
• Science is a social phenomena with unique norms
  for participation in a community of peers

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Taking Science to School Research Recommendations

• Critical Areas for
• Research and Development

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1-Learning Across the 4 Strands

• Recommendations
• 4 Strands of Sci. Proficiency
• Know, use and interpret scientific explanations
  of the natural world.
• Generate and evaluate scientific evidence and
  explanations.
• Understand the nature and development of
  scientific knowledge.
• Participate productively in scientific practices
  and discourse.

• Critical Research
• Current focus on domain-general, domain-specific
  for 1 2 need research on Strands 3 4.
• Learning Mediation
• Instructional Contexts
• More research on interconnections of all 4
  strands to inform instructional models

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Teaching Scientific Inquiry

• Recommendations for Research Implementation
• Enhanced Scientific Method - based on
  dialogical practices
• Extended Immersion Units of Instruction -
  conceptual, epistemic, social goals
• Teacher Professional Development Models

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Engineering Research (Edelson, 2008)

• It rests on existing science.
• Starts where the science ends.
• Driven by the design goals first, and then the
  goals of understanding the relevant phenomenon.
• Proceeds through iterative, theory-driven
  experimentation.
• Outcome as set of guidelines for designing
  solutions to a class of problems

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NSSE - Essential Features of Classroom Inquiry

• Learners are engaged by scientific questions
• Learners give priority to evidence, to develop
  evaluate explanation to address the questions
• Learners formulate explanations
• Learners evaluate explanations against
  alternative explanations
• Learners communicate and justify explanations.
  (NRC, 2000)

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More Essential Features of Classroom Inquiry

• Learners respond to criticism from others
• Learners formulate appropriate criticisms of
  others
• Learners engage in criticism of own explanations
• Learners reflect on alternative explanations and
  not have a unique resolution

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Scientific Method - 2 Views

• Traditional Version Individual Cognitive Tasks
• Make Observations
• Formulate a hypothesis
• Deduce consequences from hypothesis
• Make observations to test consequences
• Accept/reject hypothesis

• Enhanced Version Group Cognitive, Social
  Epistemic Tasks
• Posing, refining, evaluating questions
• Designing, refining, interpreting experiments
• Collecting representing analyzing data
• Relating data to hypotheses/models/ theories
• Learning refining theories and models
• Writing/reading about data, theories, models
• Giving arguments for/against models and theories

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Scientific Inquiry - 2 ViewsAbd-El-Khalick, et
al, 2004 Grandy Duschl, 2008

• Posing, refining, evaluating questions
• Designing, refining, interpreting experiments
• Collecting representing analyzing data
• Relating data to hypotheses/models/ theories
• Learning refining theories and models
• Writing/reading about data, theories, models
• Giving arguments for/against models and theories

• Finding, exploring questions
• Scientific method
• Scientific processes
• Experimental approach
• Problem solving
• Conceiving problems
• Designing experiments
• Gathering analyzing data
• Drawing conclusions
• Hands-on activities

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Nature of Science3 Part Harmony
Doing science is about testing hypotheses and
reasoning deductively from experiments Doing
science is Theory building and revision Doing
Science is Model building and revision
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How Science WorksTissue Engineering Laboratory
Georgia Tech(Nersessian, 2008)

• Model - systems
• Where engineering devises and biological
  materials come together
• Flow Chamber represents a first order
  approximation of the shear stresses located in an
  artery

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Human-Artifact Model System(Nersessian, 2008)

• Community models of in vivo phenomenon
  (biological, mathematical, mechanical)
• Engineered in vivo and ex vivo physical models of
  aspects under investigation
• Mental models of
• In vivo and in vitro phenomenon
• Devises in in vivo model
• Devises as devises

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Teaching Goals 3 Part Harmony
Conceptual what we need to know Concepts and
Practices Epistemic rules or criteria for
deciding what counts Social communicating
representing ideas, evidence and explanations
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Inquiry, Activity Epistemic Practice(Kelly,
2008)
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TSTS Conclusion
Students learn science by actively engaging in
the practices of science. This includes
scientific tasks embedded in social interaction
using the discourse of science and work with
scientific representations and tools.
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TSTS Teaching Science as Practice
All major aspects of inquiry, including posing
scientifically fruitful questions, managing the
process, making sense of the data, and discussing
the results may require guidance. To advance
students conceptual understanding, prior
knowledge and questions should be evoked and
linked to experiences with phenomena,
investigations, and data. Discourse and
classroom discussions are key to supporting
learning in science.
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Discourse Patterns Goldman, S., Duschl, R.,
Ellenbogen, K., Williams, S. Tzou, C. (2002).
Science inquiry in a digital age Possibilities
for making thinking visible. In H. van
Oostendorp (Ed.). Cognition in a Digital Age.
Mahwah, NJ Erlbaum Press.
SEPIA Vessels Unit Context Comparison of
Discourse Across Small Group Face to Face
(FF) Whole Class Teacher Led (WC) Knowledge Forum
(KF)
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FF KF
The KF environment requires each student to make
their thinking visible in contrast to the small
group conversation where there is ambiguity as to
the beliefs held by individual students. Both
contexts reflected an absence of science content
and a reliance on personal observations and
examples from everyday life. Presumptive
reasoning patterns in both FF KF shows middle
school children possess the ability to
participate in argumentation lessons. These
reasoning patterns provide a foundation to build
on.
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2-Core Ideas and Learning Progressions

• Recommendations
• Findings from research about childrens learning
  and development can be used to map learning
  progressions (LPs) in science.
• Core ideas should be central to a discipline of
  science, accessible to students in kindergarten,
  and have potential for sustained exploration
  across K-8.
• Teaching Science Practices during investigations
• Argumentation and explanation
• Model building
• Debate and decision making

• Critical Research
• Requires an extensive RD effort before LPs are
  well established and tested.
• Step 1 - Id the most generative and powerful core
  ideas for students science learning
• Step 2 - Develop and test LPs
• Step 3 Establish empirical basis for LPs
• Focused studies under controlled conditions
• Small-scale instructional interventions
• Classroom-based studies in a variety of contexts
• Longitudinal studies

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Growth First Grade (Lehrer Schauble)
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Growth Third Grade
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Growth Fifth GradeShifts in Distribution Signal
Transitions in Growth Processes
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Example Core Ideas in a Learning Progression for
Evolution

• Biodiversity
• Structure/function
• Interrelationships in ecosystems
• Individual variation
• Change over time
• Geological processes

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TSTS Conclusion Children starting school are
surprisingly competent

• Children entering school already have substantial
  knowledge of the natural world much of it
  implicit.
• Young children are NOT concrete and simplistic
  thinkers, they think abstractly long before
  coming to school.
• Children can use a wide range of reasoning
  processes that form the underpinnings of
  scientific thinking

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RRS Childrens Knowledge

• Core Domains
• Simple Mechanics of Solid Bounded Objects
• Behaviors of psychological agents
• Actions and organization of living things
• Makeup and substance of materials
• Young children begin school with
• Rich knowledge of the natural world
• The ability to reason
• Understanding of cause effect
• Foundations of Modeling
• The ability to consider ideas and beliefs
• An eagerness to participate in learning

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TSTS Conclusion Prior knowledge and experience
are critical

• Competence is NOT determined simply by age or
  grade
• What children can do is contingent on prior
  opportunities to learn
• Knowledge and experience influence all four
  strands of proficiency
• Prior knowledge can be both a resource and a
  barrier to emerging understanding

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RRS Types of Conceptual Change

• Elaborating on a Preexisting Concept
• Structure/Function in Biology - teeth/eating,
  etc.
• Restructuring a Network of Concepts
• Air is nothing (what one can see) to Phases of
  Matter (taking up space and has mass)
• Achieving New Levels of Explanation
• Using Atomic Molecular Theory to understand basis
  biological processes - active transport, DNA,
  proteins

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TSTS Summary - Childrens Learning

• Young children are more competent than we think.
  They can think abstractly early on and do NOT go
  through universal, well defined stages.
• Focusing on misconceptions can cause us to
  overlook leverage points for learning.
• Developing rich, conceptual knowledge takes time
  and requires instructional support.
• Conceptual knowledge, scientific reasoning,
  understanding how scientific knowledge is
  produced, and participating in science are
  intimately intertwined in the doing of science.

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3-Curriculum Instruction

• Recommendations
• The strands emphasize the idea of knowledge in
  use that is students knowledge is not static
  and proficiency involves deploying knowledge and
  skills across all four strands.
• Students are more likely to advance in their
  understanding of science when classrooms provide
  learning opportunities that attend to all four
  strands
• Science is a social phenomena with unique norms
  for participation in a community of peers

• Critical Research
• Understand whether and how instruction should
  change with students development
• Develop clear depictions of scientific practices
  across K-8 through replication of classroom-based
  instruction (e.g., design studies).
• Develop assessment tools to help teachers
  diagnose students understanding
• Understand characteristics of instruction that
  best serve diverse student populations
• Develop curriculum materials studied under varied
  conditions

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Scaffolding and Assessing Argumentation Processes
in Science Duschl, R. (2007). Quality
argumentation and epistemic criteria. In S.
Erduran M. Jimenez-Aleixandre, Eds.
Argumentation in Science Education Perspectives
from classroom-based research. Dordecht
Netherlands Springer.
Kings College London/American School in
London Collaborator Kirsten Ellenbogen Science
Museum of Minnesota NSF via a seed grant from
CILT (Center for Innovations in Learning
Technology).
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EHH Activity Sequence
Intro Unit and Lab 1 Conduct prelab including
demonstration of STEP test and taking a pulse.
Students collect data Lab 1 2. Data Collection
for Labs 2 and 3 Lab 2 - Activity Level and Heart
Rate Lab 3 - Weight and Heart Rate 3. Data
Analysis for Labs 2 and 3 Knowledge Forum
Activity What Matters in Getting Good
Data Determining Trends and Patterns of
Data Developing and Evaluating Explanations for
the Patterns of Data 4. Evaluating Exercise
Programs
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Exercise for a Healthy Heart
Agree/Disagree with the following statements and
provide a reason It matters where you take a
pulse Wrist, neck, thigh It matters how long you
take a resting pulse 6-10-15-60 seconds It
matters how long you take an exercising pulse
6-10-15-60 seconds It matters who takes a pulse
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Knowledge Forum
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Knowledge Forum
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Group 3
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Group 1
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Group 1 cont.
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4-Professional Development (PD) Teacher
Learning

• Recommendations
• State and local school systems should ensure that
  all K-8 teachers experience science-specific
  professional development in preparation and while
  in service.
• University-based courses for teacher candidates
  and teachers ongoing opportunities to learn
  science in service should mirror the
  opportunities they will need to provide for their
  students.

• Critical Research
• Empirical research on building expertise in
  science teaching and on link between PD and
  student learning
• K-5 science specialist teachers
• mentoring, teacher work groups,
• educative curriculum materials to support teacher
  learning
• long-term professional development
• Study how local circumstances effect these PD
  models

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5-Diversity and Equity
Critical Research Understanding and comparing
effectiveness of alternative instructional
approaches Understanding systemic factors
involved in creating inequitable learning
opportunities in science e.g., differences
across schools in Teacher qualifications Resource
s devoted to science Time for science
instruction Understanding interactions of
culture, ethnicity, language, and socioeconomic
status in shaping students opportunities for
learning science.
Recommendations Build science talk on culturally
familiar forms of talk (Cheche Konnen) What
children can do is contingent on prior
opportunities to learn Knowledge and experience
influence all four strands of proficiency Young
children are more competent than we think. They
can think abstractly early on and do NOT go
through universal, well defined stages.