The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), in collaboration with New York University's Institute for Education and Social Policy and the University of Southern Maine Center for Evaluation and Policy, will develop and evaluate a new teacher education program model to prepare science teachers through a partnership between a world class science museum and high need schools in metropolitan New York City (NYC). This innovative pilot residency model was approved by the New York State (NYS) Board of Regents as part of the state’s Race To The Top award. The program will prepare a total of 50 candidates in two cohorts (2012 and 2013) to earn a Board of Regents-awarded Masters of Arts in Teaching (MAT) degree with a specialization in Earth Science for grades 7-12. The program focuses on Earth Science both because it is one of the greatest areas of science teacher shortages in urban areas and because AMNH has the ability to leverage the required scientific and educational resources in Earth Science and allied disciplines, including paleontology and astrophysics.
The proposed 15-month, 36-credit residency program is followed by two additional years of mentoring for new teachers. In addition to a full academic year of residency in high-needs public schools, teacher candidates will undertake two AMNH-based clinical summer residencies; a Museum Teaching Residency prior to entering their host schools, and a Museum Science Residency prior to entering the teaching profession. All courses will be taught by teams of doctoral-level educators and scientists.
The project’s research and evaluation components will examine the factors and outcomes of a program offered through a science museum working with the formal teacher preparation system in high need schools. Formative and summative evaluations will document all aspects of the program. In light of the NYS requirement that the pilot program be implemented in high-need, low-performing schools, this project has the potential to engage, motivate and improve the Earth Science achievement and interest in STEM careers of thousands of students from traditionally underrepresented populations including English language learners, special education students, and racial minority groups. In addition, this project will gather meaningful data on the role science museums can play in preparing well-qualified Earth Science teachers. The research component will examine the impact of this new teacher preparation model on student achievement in metropolitan NYC schools. More specifically, this project asks, "How do Earth Science students taught by first year AMNH MAT Earth Science teachers perform academically in comparison with students taught by first year Earth Science teachers not prepared in the AMNH program?.”
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Maritza MacdonaldMeryle WeinsteinRosamond KinzlerMordecai-Mark Mac LowEdmond MathezDavid Silvernail
Ciencia Pública is a National Science Foundation (NSF) -funded initiative in which the Exploratorium, in collaboration with the Boys and Girls Club of San Francisco (BGCSF), developed a parklet to engage Latino families in STEM content. The Parklet is located in San Francisco’s Mission District (the Mission), a historically Latino neighborhood. Buena Vista Horace Mann School (BVHM) is an additional project partner and hosts the Parklet on its site. Garibay Group conducted a summative evaluation of the project outcomes. This report discusses evaluation findings.
The University of Texas at El Paso will conduct a research project that implements and documents the impact of co-generative dialogues on youth learning and youth-scientist interactions as part of a STEM research program (i.e., Work with A Scientist Program). Co-generative dialogues seek to specifically assist with communication and understanding among collaborators. Over four years, 108 11th grade youth from a predominantly (90%) Hispanic high school will conduct STEM research with twelve scientists/engineers (e.g., chemist, civil engineer, geologist, biologist) and undergraduate/graduate students as part of 7 month-long after school program, including bi-weekly Saturday activities for 5 months followed by an intensive month-long, self-directed research project in the summer. Youth will be randomly assigned to experimental groups that include the co-generative dialogue treatment and control groups without the intervention. The scientists and their STEM undergraduate/graduate students will participate in both experimental and control groups, with different youth. Youth will receive high school credit to encourage participation and retention. The PI team hypothesizes that co-generative dialogues will result in improved learning, communication, and research experiences for both youth and scientists. Educational researchers will conduct co-generative dialogues, observations, interviews, and surveys using validated instruments to address the following research goals: (1) To investigate the impact of the treatment (co-generative dialogues) on youth knowledge, attitudes, perceptions of their experience, and their relationships with the scientists; (2) To investigate the impact of the treatment on scientists and graduate students; and (3) To identify critical components of the treatment that affect youth-scientist interactions. It is anticipated that, in addition to providing in-depth STEM research experiences for 108 youth from underrepresented groups at a critical time in their lives, the project will result in widely applicable understandings of how pedagogical approaches affect both youth learning and scientist experiences. The project also seeks to bridge learning environments: informal, formal, university and digital.