Notes from Advance

Intended Goal 1 - Develop a deeper understanding of pre-service programs and needs

§ Analyze survey data and information to identify pre-service needs

§ Identify existing models that can serve to meet those needs

§ Determine intersections and gaps between SMD community activities/resources and pre-service needs

We began on Day 1 by identifying the challenges that are faced by Education department faculty, Science department faculty, and future teachers.

We then voted (using dots) on the challenges we felt we could tackle as a group. Here are the challenges identified as most critical for us to address (each receiving at least 4 “yes” votes):

Challenges: Future Teachers

· Education students’ understanding of science varies greatly

· A significant number of students in elementary education are uncomfortable with science

· Marketing—getting future teachers to take the most beneficial science courses

Challenges: Science Department Faculty

· There is often a disconnect between introductory college science (lecture) classes and classroom pedagogy; science classes do not model how future teachers should teach science

· College science classes often fail to consider & address student misconceptions

· Science faculty do not understand the needs of their pre-service students due to their lack of classroom experience

· Some science faculty do not see the value of professional development in science instruction methods

· Making connections and collaborations between scientists and educators to get at the human nature of science

· Need to consider & address cultural connections between disciplines (education and science)/increase awareness/not force change

Challenges: Education Department Faculty

· Some education faculty teaching science methods or science content pre-service classes have a weak background in science; others desire more up-to-date content and a greater depth of understanding

· Faculty have limited opportunities to convey/ integrate science

· Education faculty have expressed a lack of professional development opportunities

· The structure of college science courses and the lack of good science classroom role-models (for field experiences) presents inconsistent modeling of best education practices

· Faculty have awareness / training challenges for bringing grade-appropriate, inquiry-based, valuable science resources into the classroom

· There is a lack of diverse learning experiences (field/ classroom/ mentoring)

Also on Day 1, using the challenges, and looking at the various survey data and information that we had gathered individually, we discussed and identified associated needs that the PSEWG should be working to address:

Needs: Pre-Service Students and Future Teachers

· Confidence to review curriculum and gaps and areas for integration

· Low risk opportunities to do science, including learning how to use data in the classroom and related student science experiences, modeling that science is accessible

· Leadership experiences

· There is a need for more future science teachers—for recruitment; one possibility is to create bridging programs (high school to community colleges to universities to classroom)

· Strategies (and experience creating rubrics) to empower student teachers to select quality curriculum / activities and make what they need, given their limited time and resources

· Models of best practices

· Mentoring relationships

· Marketing / communication about opportunities available to them: the best courses, how to link with professional societies, what experiences are available to them

· Diversity: among different ages of future teachers, their cultural background, their socio-economic background, their prior experiences and abilities, and special needs

Needs: Science Department Faculty

· For content faculty and teaching assistants to understand and use pedagogy in their teaching practices, through awareness building, coaxing, and coaching

· Need for scientists to receive professional development in models of good teaching, with incentives to motivate them (release from class, participating in a committee, funding, and evidence of success).

· Need to find ways to create teamwork between scientists and educators for pre-service science education: by finding places for scientists in educator conferences and vice-versa, by creating professional development opportunities for scientists interested in mentoring or advising future teachers

· Need to target and support graduate teaching assistants through science and education conferences.

· Need to elevate status of education departments / schools

Needs: Education Department Faculty

· Our materials, workshops, institutes, etc need to model best practices, particularly by including good examples of inquiry, and alignment with & incorporation of education standards, learning outcomes, and assessments (focus on core science topics, not mission-focused)

· We need to build awareness of the resources and provide training in using them; one option is to create an interactive resource that educators can use to locate existing materials, curricula, and activities that address education standards and misconceptions

· Our science content needs to be versatile to fit into tight college plans/schedules: some subjects should be multi-disciplinary (covering chemistry, biology, etc.) and some should focus on literacy or math as means of injecting science into curricula

· We need to equip teachers in aiding students in mastering the exams, by giving them the tools to do assessment on classes, test exams

· Need to find ways to create teamwork between scientists and educators for pre-service science education

By the end of Day 1, we were identifying existing models that meet these needs, and some of their key characteristics:

Models that meet needs

· Materials that are cross-curricular (can assist with elementary pre-service):

Mars bots: literacy
Eye in the Sky and Cassini’s Reading, Writing & Rings

· Use of real data: DLESE EET, Student Observation Network, MSIP, Clickworkers, Stardust

· Professional Development on Line, using inquiry: example, Brain Research

· NASA Center for Astronomy Education’s weekend workshops at community colleges

o Includes research and the tools to address misconceptions

· Recruitment: STEM – TP, University of Colorado

· Partnership Space Grant / John Hopkins

o Pedagogy and content combined (models teaching)

o Series of classes: inter-related, Science methods only—not content

· College Pre-Service programs:

o Towson University

o U-Teach at New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona

§ Extensive field experiences

§ Aligned course work

§ Arizona—3 classes required for degree: Intro to Ed, Multicultural, exceptional child

§ Build real world learning products

o California Teach

o Tufts—professional development for faculty

§ Implemented by dean of Arts & sciences

§ Possible model for ASTE collaboration

o Langley: Bring in faculty for 1 week overlapping with PST’s for 1 day on real-world problem

o Wheelock—river study for Ed students (revamped SG unit major)

o NOVA’s program

· Maryland collaborative model for pre-service teaching: internships

· Project Astro: mentoring

· Athena / Phoenix student interns: provides research experience – Education undergrads

· The “lesson Study” process education & science collaboration: Lesson Development

· Maine math and science assessments --cross-correlation with misconceptions

Model Characteristics

· Real Data Experiences

o Tools to use data

o Context for data

o Training

o Low risk/ high probability of success

o Websites navigable

o Provides a contribution to science

o On-line or face-to face

o Range of grade levels

· Classes

o On-line courses: NTEN (Montana State)

o Master Science – Science Ed

o ESSEA –earth systems science and pedagogy

§ Combines content and pedagogy

§ Uses real data

§ On-line collaboration

§ Uses diverse approaches

· “Solar System Ambassadors” style content / professional development / mentoring

o Low-cost method of keeping in-touch / updating content knowledge

o Needs to be thematic

o Focused with clear purpose

o Valid information

o Current

o As needed

· Science content reading

o Language-arts based reading / math

o Grade-appropriate about space science

o Low-tech

o Accessibility

o NSES standards-based

§ NCTM based

o Readability

o McRel standards

o Rigorously field-tested/ validated

o Scientist-educator partner developed

o Scientific accuracy / relevance

· Lesson Study

o Collaboration – scientist / educator / student

o Sustainability / evolving

o Links with curriculum improvements

o Adaptable

o Flexible

· Mentoring / Apprenticeships

o Mentoring and research experience and professional development for mentor / mentee

o One-on-one imbedded—teaching how to mentor

o Team-building exercises – builds trust/ professional relationship/ partnership

o Building awareness of importance of education for scientist

· Research Experiences

o Build understanding of inquiry / scientific process

Intended Goal 2 - Identify diverse ways to meet those needs relating to space science education

§ Develop a “menu of opportunities” in which SMD community can be involved in pre-service preparation

§ Identify potential partnerships and necessary resources

§ Create a timetable of action for the next 3-5 years

By Day 2, we realized that there might be other ways to meet the various groups’ needs beyond generating new materials.

There is a need to:

· Model best practices, particularly inquiry-based experiences to provide a variety of inquiry-based experiences

· “Teaching to fish” so that these exemplary educators could find the right existing space science resources and use them effectively

· Ensure that quality materials are available for long-term use (so that what is available to teacher educators is later available to the teachers for classroom use)

So we generated and discussed a series of “experiences” and their characteristics that could meet these needs.

A motto was suggested and widely accepted: Our Role: Science in Action ™

Authentic opportunities for conversation (establish partnerships)

Workshops / telecoms using “authentic task approach”
Hold as Forums or meetings at professional conferences, or independent retreats

Research experiences for pre-service teachers and faculty and understanding usage and impact of NASA materials

Use “real” data, images, etc.
Designed to model real research in all ways, but time frame
Experience should model error constraints, estimation, uncertainty, failure, trials, statistics, data analysis, etc.
Need to provide the means/ direction so that teachers gain confidence to do their own research alone afterwards
Need “in the box” authentic research experiences for education faculty to use with their pre-service students

Bridging experiences

Recruiting future elementary and science teachers
Research with NASA scientists and engineers must be embedded
Involves high schools, community colleges, 4 year universities

Exemplary lessons demonstrating best practices, inc. misconceptions

Workshops for science / ed faculty with long-term support

For science faculty: connect them with “real” teachers and provide an authentic “school” experience
Must use NASA resources: scientists and engineers, NASA name, mission data, good E/PO materials
Located either near where they work or at/before/after a conference they regularly attend
Elementary Ed faculty:use literacy tools, or tie to basic math
Provide incentives

Pay/contribute to course release
Opportunity to serve in future workshops as facilitator

Workshop stages:

After participants complete workshop 1, they move on to workshop 2
Supply participants with a table describing their “next step”

Institutes (face-to face with follow-up and support)

Mentoring

Establish scientist/educator “pairs” (this will allow scientist to learn education and educators to learn/understand science)
Opportunity for ongoing interaction between pairs
Team-building exercises

Internships

Science “research” mentor/advisor needs to understand teaching / education or have good education partner

Product aligning content w/ standards & misconceptions

Web portal—which materials standards with mission materials, etc.--Could the brokers do this to their region?
Model methods courses (or units for methods courses)
Very grade-specific (not “K-5”)

Community- building infrastructure

Begin with Team building, then maintain teams

Web experiences (iPod podcasts)

Emerging technology
Thorough check of what is already out there from NASA

Distance learning

Needs partners for communities with technology issues

Good Practices for Everything

Designed with input from (or in partnership with) appropriate individual(s) representative of the target audience
Clear purpose with relationship to the “real world”
Make all experiences a blend of content and pedagogy! Don’t keep separate. Novice students are not likely to make connections.
Imbed inquiry and best tools
Evolving as needs/standards change
Document lessons for future users (video tape activities in action)
Easy-to-find with good/clear descriptions
Sustainable programs/experiences
Awareness of misconceptions
Appropriate level and meeting needs of the target audience (do needs assessment)
Evaluation and assessment
Easy to use (clear instructions)
Cultural awareness, Focused on underserved institutions

· Communication

· Follow-up (email, workshops, house calls/ site visits, etc)

Make accessible
Work with collaborative partnerships

Always seek, create, support opportunities to bring scientists and educators together.
Develop goals of collaboration first and jointly; create a plan before developing a partnership, investigating what you can contribute to an organization, not what you need from them
Community colleges, schools, universities
Collaborate on a task (develop materials), activity, or product of sufficiently mutual interest that both parties see this partnership as authentic and worthwhile. Example: develop a workshop for pre-service students that taps the expertise of both (all) co-designers.
Have pre-service teachers within a broker’s region “apply” to participate as a curriculum collaborators

Advance participants developed some models of future workshops, institutes, exemplary lessons, and research experiences; these and other models need to be more thoroughly characterized to create a detailed menu of opportunities.

Future Action Items

On Day 3, we created our lists of future actions

Individual commitments are italicized

Continuous Action

· PSEWG communications: Telecons and emails

Stephanie and Christine will put all of the notes onto the conference web site and will continue to host the monthly telecons (with use of the Origins conferencing phone line).

· Attending conferences / building a presence

· PSEWG needs to evolve and grow--Requires professional development of PSEWG members

· Collect a research library

Short Term

· Proposals to present at conferences:

ASTE proposals (due June 30)

Tim, Rick, Greg
In addition to working with Rick and Greg on the proposal, Tim will recruit participants for this.

Share programs in which we have been involved

NSTA proposal

Already submitted for 2007

Jennifer Grier chair’s the teams efforts, submit a straw man proposal on behalf of PSEWG to ASP
June 1 deadline
Hold committee meeting?
Use as professional development resource for PSEWG
Bill will write up the faculty institute proposal to the ASP and share it with PSEWG. He will identify the institutions in NEW England that have pre-service programs.
Greg will submit a pre-service proposal to ASP.
A group of individuals will meet over lunch (Greg, Tim, and Jennifer) to craft the ASP meeting.

· Begin building partnerships with other organizations

Stephanie Shipp working with Rick Pomeroy (PSEWG representative to ASTE) and ASTE Boards, drafting MOU (invitation to workshops, attend their workshops, etc) Rick will continue to bring serve as an advocate for this group to the ASTE board of directors. On Jan 3, 2007, he will buy drinks at the ASTE conf in Clearwater, FL. If Bill shares his New England pre-service contact information with Rick, he can add these people to the ASTE mailing list.

NASA Pre-Service Conference (Feb)
AAS/NSPT joint meeting in Seattle, January 2007 Jennifer will bring the pre-service issues raised at this meeting to AAS, DPS
NACCTEP March 2-4, work with Cheri; maybe an MOU? Cheri will take back this information to her board and faculty. She will offer a slot for a workshop at the NACC conference. Cheri will also add these names to her list
DPS, Pasadena Oct 9-13 --Jennifer will be attending, can work with others She will buy drinks at the DPS meeting.

Regional NSTA conferences
Tim will make sure that the other societies that he serves are aware of the PSEWG activities and menu of opportunities. These societies include: ASP, Society of College Science Teachers, AAS (he’s the new education officer).
Stephanie Stockman will be meeting with James Harrington regarding pre-service issues with the MU-SPIN group, and she will be share information about this working group with him.
Laurie volunteered to expand the existing partnership with Appalachian College Assn.

· Conference call next week on proposals/ ASP meeting

· Create 5 new teams (no “working groups” within a “Working Group” on issues—immediately

Planning Team (already in existence)

Stephanie Shipp, Denise Smith, and Laurie Ruberg will build on this discussion to develop a strategic plan for this working group. They will be putting together a white paper for this group.

Team members: Denise Smith, Laurie Ruberg, Stephanie Shipp, Christine Shupla, Katharine Perrow

Sustainability of PSEWG and its efforts

o Find a forum to bring in partners / especial companies

o Business and education coalitions

· E.g. Boeing sponsorship of institution

· Working group with other organizations?

o Communication / public outreach

o Recruitment and buy-in

o Awareness of sustainability issues of California teacher collaborative

Team members: Laurie Ruberg, Stephanie Stockman, Bill Waller, Peter Holden, Rick Pomeroy, Cheri St. Arnauld, Greg Schultz

Diversity—create a strategic plan for

Goal: PSEWG looks different next time we meet
Use ASTE “indicators”
Question from Laurie—should diversity be integrated into each team rather than a separate team?

Team members: Art Bowman, Stephanie Stockman, Bonnie Eisenhamer, Dan McCallister, Adriane Dorrington, Peter Holden, Denise Smith

Professional Development of PSEWG

Primer: ASTE
This group will meet in Baltimore in the near future.

Team members: Tim Slater, Jennifer Grier, Greg Schultz, Peter Holden, Denise Smith, and Stephanie Shipp

Marketing- calendar? Review proposals?

Develop new name for PSEWG
Intermediate name, effective immediately: “Pre-Service Education Working Group”
Other suggestions for team’s efforts: create and maintain calendar, review proposals
Combine with Strategize for now; current member is Katharine Perrow

Strategize for conference participation and partnership

Needs to be active immediately to determine next steps, prioritize and coordinate efforts and submit abstracts before deadlines
Develop overarching strategies for conferences and partnerships
Plan on how submitted proposals are circulated to the group

Team members: Stephanie Shipp, Katharine Perrow, Peter Holden, Jennifer Grier, Denise Smith

Data Collection

Bonnie has information from 200 schools. Bonnie asked if this group has any questions that they’d like to ask these 200 schools that Bonnie will be contacting
Christine will continue and expand the data collection process and publishing the data collected from the pre-service online survey
Team members: Christine Shupla, Bonnie Eisenhamer, Laurie Ruberg, Adriane Dorrington

· Communicate to PSEWG members’ home institutions. consider ways to involve home institutions

· Communicate PSEWG goals & plans, to future NASA AA

Intermediate Term

· Address Cross-cutting Issues

· Advertising / building audience for products and programs

o Reward

o Audience to Deans (increase students in classes, etc.)

o Why will this impact the university / school?

· Evaluation

· Coherence, continuity, connectivity, scope

· Organize matrix / pieces / resources

o Work with faculty leaders to do

o Pre-service workshops

Long Term

· Go through pre-service literature--discuss one article per telecom

· Continue to build partnerships, attend meetings, reps to Board meetings:

Langley conference / pre-service organization
NOVA program (remnants) --Mike O’Dell (TX)
Regional organizations

SWASTE / NASTE, other regionals of ASTE
State teacher organizations
State NSTA “Building a Presence” organizations

State college organizations
Education organizations: National Society for the Study of Education, Council of Independent Colleges, Council of Great City Schools, Community Colleges: AACTE and NACCTEP
Teacher organizations: AAPT, Teachers for the 21^st Century Best Practices, NSTA / NCTM, AFT, NEA
Scientist Organizations: APS, AAS, AIP / API
Minority organizations: Association of Black Physicists
Funding organizations: NSF
NASA TV
Articles in Journal of College Science teaching

Outcomes

Strategically Building a Community

Moved forward in strategically building a community to lead efforts in assisting pre-service science and education faculty and in preparing future teachers

Includes individuals and organizations beyond SMD
Provides access to new ideas and audiences
Synergy of efforts occurs at a time when participants and organizations are reflecting on new directions to implement change.
Began learning how to speak more effectively with each other – and understanding the leadership role that is needed/expected from NASA to support pre-service efforts, utilizing the unique resources that NASA brings to the table.

Outcomes Achieved from Planned Goals

Examined Expectations of Future Teachers
Examined Challenges to Pre-Service Education and Science Faculty and Teachers
Examined Needs of Pre-Service Education and Science Faculty and Teachers

· Identified Overarching Themes: Development of experiences and products must be based on models of best practices and should:

o Prepare future teachers to fish

o Focus on inquiry through exploration

o Present existing, revised, and necessary new NASA resources in an organized manner and format that meets the needs of pre-service faculty and future teachers

· Developed Cross-Cutting Strategies and Concerns

o Sustainability

o Recruitment

o Partnerships

o Diversity

o Disseminating our efforts / building audience for products and programs

o Evaluation

o Coherence, continuity, connectivitiy, scope

· Began to develop a Menu of Opportunities

o Professional development workshops, institutes, and research experiences – based on identified audience needs

o Aligning with best practices, identifying model programs

Outcomes with concrete action items

Identified several short- to medium-term components of the Working Group’s strategic plan

Proposals to present at conferences
Strategies to build partnerships and form closer coordination with organizations like ASTE
Creation of teams to help advance professional development, sustainability, diversity, data collection, etc.

Participants identified personal action items; activities will be reported in subsequent conference calls.
The teleconference immediately following the committee Advance was one of the best attended and interactive ever.