Board # 121 : A Seven-Year Study of Middle and High School Teachers Participating in Research Experiences For Teachers Programs: Exploring the Relationship Between Teacher Performance and Student Achievement

Abstract

Research identifies a national urgency to improve teacher performance and student achievement in science and engineering. This paper responds to this need and presents the results of seven-years of Research Experience for Teachers (RET) programs funded by the National Science Foundation in which engineering faculty collaborate with middle and high school teachers and their students. One program (3 years) is a comprehensive teacher professional development program in which middle school teachers participate in an intensive summer research experience in computer science and engineering labs, build curriculum based on the laboratory research content that they learn, participate in lesson study, and implement new curriculum in their middle classrooms. The second program (4 years) is a high school teacher RET program with similar components. This paper reports the results of both of the RET programs. The two programs had the combined intent of bringing innovative computer science and engineering research to middle and high school teachers and their students and improving teacher performance, while simultaneously improving student achievement through scientific inquiry, engaging students in computational thinking, and engineering design. The programs' design included a summer intensive experience in which teachers fully participated in a computer science or engineering laboratory research and engaged in an inquiry focused content-to-pedagogy teacher professional development workshop, building curriculum from their lab research experience with foci on scientific experimentation and improving students' science achievement and literacy. The programs were both aligned with Common Core Math Standards and Next Generation Science Standards and addressed the research question: What is the impact of an intensive research-based teacher professional development program on teacher and student performance?In total, seventy teachers and their 10,398 students participated in the two RET programs combined. Assessment metrics used to determine the impact of the two RET programs were: a teacher instructional performance metric, the Science Teaching Efficacy Beliefs Instrumentrevised, a science qualitative reading inventory, grade and content specific concept inventories, and a motivation for science questionnaire. The combined program results were the following. The RET teachers had a mean science teaching efficacy significantly higher than the national average. The mean score on teacher performance rating was also significantly higher than the state's average rating. The RET teachers also had a significant performance gain pre-to-post program. Student related results indicated gains as well. Specifically, the participating teachers' students made significant gains during their curricular intervention resulting from their teachers' participation in the RET programs. The students gained science and engineering knowledge, increased their science interest and motivation, and demonstrated gains in science literacy as well. These results ind...

Models and Impacts of Science Research Experiences: A Review of the Literature of CUREs, UREs, and TREs

“…, 2015; Miranda and Damico, 2015; Blanchard and Sampson, 2017; Hardré et al. , 2017; Ragusa and Juarez, 2017); and K–12 assessments (Silverstein et al. , 2009; Yelamarthi et al.…”

“…One of the most extensive studies among the collection was a 7-year longitudinal study involving 10,468 participants (Ragusa and Juarez, 2017). This work examined the impact of two TRE programs, reporting on the combined results of both programs on in-service teachers and their students, using an observational rubric to examine teaching performance and a Science Teaching Efficacy Beliefs Instrument (Enochs and Riggs, 1990) and K–12 student science reading and concept inventory assessments.…”

“…Of the studies that collected data from more than 1000 participants, most were CUREs ( n = 7). The only TRE study of more than 1000 participants was also one of the largest studies among this data set ( n = 10,468; Ragusa and Juarez, 2017). Papers reporting on TRE experiences primarily studied in-service teachers ( n = 20); few studied preservice teachers ( n = 0) or both ( n = 2).…”

Impacts of the STEM Teacher and Researcher (STAR) Program on Teachers, Students, and Classrooms

“…Two studies with firsthand accounts from engineering TRE participants found that their students showed increased subject awareness and increased interest in pursuing an engineering career (Autenrieth et al, 2018;Reynolds et al, 2013). Studies on conceptual learning of students of TRE teachers showed increased pre-/post-content knowledge (Ragusa & Juarez, 2017;Yang et al, 2020). One study has shown that students of TRE teachers outperform students of non-TRE teachers in the New York Regents exam (Silverstein et al, 2009).…”