Frameworks for Phenomenal Science Success: Enhancing Partnerships for Aina-Based NGSS Experiences

One of the best ways to help K-12 students learn science is by having them engage in the scientific inquiry and engineering design processes used by STEM professionals. These approaches, which are are spelled out in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), help students develop problem-solving, critical thinking, and collaboration skills by engaging them in science-related aspects of their local communities.

Unfortunately, support for the development of high-quality, place-based, and NGSS-aligned learning experiences that actively engage students has not been forthcoming in all school districts. This gap is particularly true for rural schools and communities. Further, continuing education for teachers, which is essential to assure successful implementation of high-quality science lessons that are grounded in students' local community experiences, is lacking as well.

This partnership development project addresses these gaps in science teaching and learning by deepening an existing partnership among local non-profit community education organizations, K-12 publics schools, and local university partners. In consultation with new education technology industry partners, the project team will work collaboratively to develop high-quality NGSS-aligned science learning opportunities that actively engage students in lessons relevant to their local environment.

This partnership development work can also lead to a future research proposal that examines how teachers engage with the developed lessons in high-quality professional development.

Over the yearlong project, the project partners will engage in monthly meetings within a Leadership Cadre composed of teachers, curriculum coordinators, administrators, university faculty members, and community partners. After establishing meeting protocols and sharing their current work in the educational arena, participants will explore their diverse perspectives on the need for culturally-appropriate and place-based STEM learning experiences for students.

Major themes that arise from these meetings, including barriers, challenges, and constraints that must be addressed in the development of place-based learning experiences for students, will be identified. After conducting "listening tours” and gathering deeper perspectives related to student learning, the assessment of learning, learning data collection, and data interpretation and use in the educational setting, a framework or model will be advanced for curriculum development.

Evaluation measures to document the quality of the project will include analyses of agendas, meeting minutes, mid-year and end-year surveys, interviews, and focus groups, as appropriate. This project is supported by the Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) which seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools.

Projects in the DRK-12 program build on fundamental research in STEM education and prior research and development efforts that provide theoretical and empirical justification for proposed projects. 

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.