The Role of K-12 Teachers as Agents for Change (RTP)

Christina Anlynette Alston; Faiza Zafar; Scott Currier; Krystle Dunn; Milton Johnson; Selene Verhofstad; Carolyn Nichol

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Conference: 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Baltimore , Maryland
Publication Date: June 25, 2023
Start Date: June 25, 2023
End Date: June 28, 2023
Conference Session: Pre-College Engineering Education Division (PCEE) Technical Session 13: Attitudes & Prespectives of Teachers
Tagged Division: Pre-College Engineering Education Division (PCEE)
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Page Count: 21
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--44483
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/44483
Download Count: 147

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Paper Authors

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Christina Anlynette Alston Rice University orcid.org/0000-0003-3099-3528

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Christina works as the Associate Director for Equitable Research, Evaluation, and Grant Development at the Rice Office of STEM Engagement (R-STEM) to broaden the aim of Rice University K-12 programs to promote asset-based equitable settings for underrepresented and marginalized populations within STEM and to educate Houston-area secondary science teachers in the use of inquiry- and project-based ways for teaching science and engineering ideas.

She holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Texas A&M - Corpus Christi, a Master of Science in Education from the University of Houston, and is a doctoral student at the University of Houston researching Urban Education.

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Faiza Zafar Rice University

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Dr. Zafar is the Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Rice Office of STEM Engagement (R-STEM). She has her Ph.D. in Educational Leadership with an emphasis on Math Education. She earned her B.S. in Chemistry and M.Ed. from the University of St. Thomas, Houston, TX.

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Dr. Carolyn Nichol is a Faculty Fellow in Chemistry and the Director of the Rice Office of STEM Engagement (R-STEM). R-STEM provides teacher professional development to elementary and secondary teachers in science and math content and pedagogy, while also

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Abstract

There is substantial evidence that most K-12 teachers who want to incorporate engineering design into their courses learn their skills independently or through an extracurricular professional development (PD) program. Regardless of the value of these PD programs, rookie teachers are frequently required to make personal sacrifices (e.g., time, money, and stress) to participate and thus hindering their long-term progress. To offer an alternative, four Teacher Leaders Engineering Network (TaLENt) fellows from primary and secondary schools served as change agents for novice engineering teachers for one academic year to promote the integration of engineering design in their classrooms. This research aimed to understand how school-based teacher leaders can support peer educators in authentically integrating engineering design within their core subjects. Our research questions were: 1) To what extent was the High-Quality Engineering Guidebook used within each TaLENt fellow's Project? 2) How did the TaLENt fellows characterize their values while collaborating with their novice peers? Employing a qualitative method, we used constant comparative analysis and triangulation to understand our collected datasets: TaLENt fellow narratives (N = 4 autobiographical texts), teacher project artifacts, and focus group transcripts. We found that TaLENt engineering PD increased peer collaboration, instructional risk-taking, and connections to cross-curricular subjects for novice teachers. Moreover, the action-based research approach paired with the High-Quality Engineering framework allowed inexperienced educators a say in their education, which helped reduce common misunderstandings about content alignment with engineering (such as the extent to which it applies to fields like physics or biology) and subsided anxiety about the processes of incorporating engineering in the classroom. The significance of this study is to highlight the value of teachers as in-school leaders. As states continue to adopt Next Generation Science Standards or incorporate engineering processes into their state-level curriculum, novice teachers will rely on their peers to strengthen their teaching practices within the subject, all while supporting the cultural needs of students. Our research shows the importance of in-school engineering PD facilitated by teacher leaders, especially for new and inexperienced engineering teachers; therefore, we recommend more investigation into implementing this type of PD. This change in professional development will make planning engineering lessons less stressful for novice teachers due to a reduced sense of isolation.

Citation
Format

Alston, C. A., & Zafar, F., & Currier, S., & Dunn, K., & Johnson, M., & Verhofstad, S., & Nichol, C. (2023, June), The Role of K-12 Teachers as Agents for Change (RTP) Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--44483

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - There is substantial evidence that most K-12 teachers who want to incorporate engineering design into their courses learn their skills independently or through an extracurricular professional development (PD) program. Regardless of the value of these PD programs, rookie teachers are frequently required to make personal sacrifices (e.g., time, money, and stress) to participate and thus hindering their long-term progress. To offer an alternative, four Teacher Leaders Engineering Network (TaLENt) fellows from primary and secondary schools served as change agents for novice engineering teachers for one academic year to promote the integration of engineering design in their classrooms. This research aimed to understand how school-based teacher leaders can support peer educators in authentically integrating engineering design within their core subjects. Our research questions were: 1) To what extent was the High-Quality Engineering Guidebook used within each TaLENt fellow&#39;s Project? 2)  How did the TaLENt fellows characterize their values while collaborating with their novice peers?
Employing a qualitative method, we used constant comparative analysis and triangulation to understand our collected datasets: TaLENt fellow narratives (N = 4 autobiographical texts), teacher project artifacts, and focus group transcripts. We found that TaLENt engineering PD increased peer collaboration, instructional risk-taking, and connections to cross-curricular subjects for novice teachers. Moreover, the action-based research approach paired with the High-Quality Engineering framework allowed inexperienced educators a say in their education, which helped reduce common misunderstandings about content alignment with engineering (such as the extent to which it applies to fields like physics or biology) and subsided anxiety about the processes of incorporating engineering in the classroom. The significance of this study is to highlight the value of teachers as in-school leaders. As states continue to adopt Next Generation Science Standards or incorporate engineering processes into their state-level curriculum, novice teachers will rely on their peers to strengthen their teaching practices within the subject, all while supporting the cultural needs of students. Our research shows the importance of in-school engineering PD facilitated by teacher leaders, especially for new and inexperienced engineering teachers; therefore, we recommend more investigation into implementing this type of PD. This change in professional development will make planning engineering lessons less stressful for novice teachers due to a reduced sense of isolation.


AU  - Christina Anlynette Alston
AU  - Faiza Zafar
AU  - Scott Currier
AU  - Krystle Dunn
AU  - Milton Johnson
AU  - Selene Verhofstad
AU  - Carolyn Nichol
CY  - Baltimore , Maryland
DA  - 2023/06/25
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - The Role of K-12 Teachers as Agents for Change (RTP)
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/44483
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--44483
ER  -