Project Activities
Researchers will initially develop a conceptual framework for engineering education with ELs that will guide the Development Team and teachers in co-creating the PL. In Year 2, the team will implement the full intervention with teachers as a pre-pilot of the PL materials and measures, and for usability and feasibility testing. The research team will conduct a pilot study of the PL in Year 3 to evaluate outcomes for teachers, classrooms, and students, including subgroups (e.g., ELs and native English speakers). The team will also perform a cost analysis of the intervention, and revise PL materials based on user feedback. The project team will disseminate what they are learning throughout the project, in collaboration with WestEd's Communications staff and university partners, and target a broad range of stakeholders from teachers to policymakers.
Structured Abstract
Setting
The research will take place in culturally and linguistically diverse grade 4 classrooms across California that serve high percentages of EL students.
Sample
All pre-pilot and pilot study teachers will be required to teach at least two units focused on NGSS-aligned engineering during the target school year and have a minimum of 20% of the students in their classroom classified as ELs. Co-development teachers and pre-pilot teachers will not be involved in the pilot study.
The innovative teacher PL is designed from the ground up to optimize in-person and distance learning in ways that best meet the needs of upper-elementary teachers and achieve cost-effectiveness, allowing for broad use and scalability. Teachers experience firsthand what inspiring standards-aligned science and engineering learning with an asset-based approach can look like during an in-person teacher institute. The support continues throughout the school year as teachers participate in a series of online learning experiences that draw on teacher-developed written and video-based teaching cases of practice. A Facilitation Academy will allow leaders (e.g., coaches, district specialists) to learn to use the PL materials to support teachers locally.
Research design and methods
The research team will conduct an underpowered cluster randomized control trial (RCT). To increase the power, the team will use a single-level regression model that takes into account the clustering structure of the data to study the impact of the intervention. Both treatment and control teachers will complete surveys, conduct self-interviews, and use scoop notebooks during the pilot year. For example, teachers will complete surveys at the beginning and end of the pilot study, which will enable the investigation of potential changes over time on key constructs and possible differences between the treatment and control groups. Students in both treatment and control classrooms will complete surveys, and researchers will gather samples of student work through scoop notebooks and obtain demographic data.
Control condition
During the pilot study, teachers randomly assigned to the control group will not receive the PL or participate in the PLC but will teach according to "business as usual" using their regular NGSS-aligned curriculum.
Key measures
The project team will use items from validated and widely used survey and assessment instruments. For example, the team will measure teachers' knowledge, self-efficacy, and skill related to employing culturally responsive teaching practices using the Culturally Responsive Teaching Self-Efficacy (CRTSE) scale. They will measure teacher perceptions of engineering education using items from existing instruments, including the Design Engineering and Technology Survey. Student measures include the Purdue Elementary Problem-solving Inventory and the "What is Engineering?" survey. These instruments measure students' understanding of engineering and skills in using engineering practices.
Data analytic strategy
The intervention's promise will be judged based on evidence of the theoretical linkage between the intervention and teacher outcomes, while also examining the intervention's impacts on students' opportunities to learn and other educational outcomes. The hypothesis being tested is that the teacher-level intervention will lead to specific outcomes including increases in teachers' knowledge about engineering, the assets of EL students, and the instructional practices that support EL students in learning engineering. Researchers will use a mixed methods approach to analyze teacher outcomes, opportunities for students to learn, and student outcomes with quantitative data informing outcomes across project phases and conditions, while qualitative data will provide additional information about engineering teaching and learning in both conditions and the take-up and impacts of the intervention on the treatment group specifically.
Cost analysis strategy
The project team will analyze both the treatment and control group costs during the pilot study. Costs will be gathered using the "ingredients method" to ascertain accurate and consistent measures of cost.
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
Products and publications
Products: Products from this project include an Engineering Institute (12 hours, summer) that is curriculum-agnostic and materials for Professional Learning Communities (12 hours, school year) for teachers to participate in (a) local grade-level groups that focus on analyzing student work from teachers' own classrooms with plan-teach-reflect cycles and (b) a series of asynchronous and facilitated synchronous online learning sessions on a variety of topics (e.g., engaging in authentic engineering practices, developing students' academic use of language). The team will disseminate project materials and findings through several novel products, including a Digital Practice Guide (modeled after WWC Practice Guides) consisting of a conceptual framework for engineering teaching and learning with ELs and other stand-alone components of the intervention.
Related projects
Supplemental information
Co-Principal Investigators: Iveland, Ashley; Cunningham, Christine; Shaw, Jerome
Questions about this project?
To answer additional questions about this project or provide feedback, please contact the program officer.
