Teachers are searching for new venues through which they may meet stringent professional development requirements. Under competitive funding from NASA's (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) Office of Education and the NASA Explorer Schools Project, U.S. Satellite Laboratory, Inc. created a series of live, online, interactive short-courses. In this case study, a mixed methods analysis of a variety of data sources reveals that diverse educators from a variety of classroom contexts view the short-courses as a useful professional development tool, both as a vehicle for a teacher's own professional growth and for classroom applications. Teachers were particularly interested in the ability to participate in a collaborative community of practice with other educators, instructors, and scientists from across the country, and they found the flexible design of the professional development to be useful. This short-course design offers promise for future professional development opportunities.
Our planet is under intense observation—by satellites, seismometers, buoys, radar, and more. These instruments generate authentic data sets that are freely accessible online, and thus available for K-12 students and teachers to use in STEM classrooms. This chapter examines how teachers engaged in the NASA Endeavor program, a STEM teacher professional development initiative, use authentic online data in their classrooms and the effects of these activities on teaching and learning. Endeavor teachers use data in many ways, including through curriculum programs developed to scaffold earth data sets for use by students. Through qualitative analysis of teacher interviews, teacher course work, student work, and other relevant data, the researchers discovered that employing authentic online data in Endeavor teachers' classrooms helped students to construct explanations based on evidence and make real world connections to science content.
Our planet is under intense observation—by satellites, seismometers, buoys, radar, and more. These instruments generate authentic data sets that are freely accessible online, and thus available for K-12 students and teachers to use in STEM classrooms. This chapter examines how teachers engaged in the NASA Endeavor program, a STEM teacher professional development initiative, use authentic online data in their classrooms and the effects of these activities on teaching and learning. Endeavor teachers use data in many ways, including through curriculum programs developed to scaffold earth data sets for use by students. Through qualitative analysis of teacher interviews, teacher course work, student work, and other relevant data, the researchers discovered that employing authentic online data in Endeavor teachers' classrooms helped students to construct explanations based on evidence and make real world connections to science content.
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