A Laser Academy for Science Teachers Project Description 1. Overview of the Project/Need Throughout the United States, trends indicate that the need for people with expertise at various levels of science and technology has been rising, and will continue to rise into the foreseeable future (National Science Foundation, 2003). While opportunities in these fields are increasing, there has been a decrease in the proportion of students graduating with non­biological science and technology degrees, resulting in a lack of qualified personnel to fill essential positions (National Science Board, 2000). New York’s Governor, George E. Pataki, stressed the concern about the decline in the study of STEM related fields, and put the state at the forefront of efforts to reverse these trends (Arenson, 2006). At a national level, the Enhancing Education through Technology Act of 2001, which supports state block grants for technology in classrooms and technology education, was cut by over $221 million by Congress for FY2006. This unfortunately underlies the importance of developing alternatively funded efforts to create collaborative programs to improve the state of STEM education. Photonics, the study of optics, lasers, and fiber optics, is one technical field where the shortage of qualified personnel is particularly acute. A multi­trillion dollar industry with applications in manufacturing, defense, medicine, telecommunications and entertainment, photonics has made possible the recent information revolution through the use of fiber optics and optical storage devices (National Science Foundation, 1995). In Harnessing Light: Optical Science and Engineering for the 21 st Century (SPIE, 1998), the authors report, “The quality and availability of optics training at the technician level is a widespread concern.” The national need for people trained in optical science and engineering has been increasing and is a national priority. Among its many applications, photonics, the study of light, has been crucial to the recent information revolution. The transmission of information using light, instead of electrons, makes it possible to transmit more information at a lower cost. Furthermore, fiber optic cable is not affected by electro­magnetic interference and does not corrode or cause electrical shocks. The rapid growth of the Internet and the pervasiveness of cellular phones would have been difficult to achieve without fiber optics. Photonics has also made an impact on how information is stored. Optical storage devices, such as CDs, typically store more information and read faster than magnetic devices. They are not affected by magnetic signals and exhibit robust resistance to aging due to environmental effect. The Physics Department at Queensborough of the City University of New York has already developed and successfully implemented several programs designed to foster interest in technology, with emphasis on lasers, fiber optics, electronics, computer technology and their many applications. One such program, the Laser Academy (Bieber et al., 2005) is offered to high school students after school during the academic year. Since its inception, teachers of students who participate in the program have expressed an interest in participating in a laser academy experience for instructors Optics concepts are part of the New York State physics core curriculum guide but, because most teachers are not familiar
1 with its many applications they do not impart to students a significant appreciation of the field. Many times schools receive equipment that is not fully utilized because teachers are not familiar with the technology. Indeed, recently a local high school science teacher contacted Queensborough asking what uses a laser could have in the New York State physics curriculum. With regard to technology programs, some local high schools have limited availability of qualified teachers and have asked the Physics Department at Queensborough to either help train an instructor, or teach the course altogether. There is an overall shortage of qualified math and science teachers at the state and the city level (Levy, 2004; Precious, 2005). Thus, many teachers currently teaching physics and technology content areas may not have extensive background in the content they are required to teach. Moreover, they are often unaware of inquiry methods of teaching. Given these varied indicators of need, the Physics Department at Queensborough proposes to offer a modified version of the Laser Academy for teachers to build on the success of the laser academy for high school students. This Laser Academy for teachers will increase the opportunities to learn about, experience, and use information technologies within the context of photonics for 15 teachers each year for three years as well as their students – estimated at 2,700 each year. The project will also help will help to ameliorate the shortage of technology­qualified teachers in the New York City area. By creating a comprehensive professional development program for high school science teachers, we can impact a greater number of students, instead of the 20­30 students that are typically affected by offering such programs directly to youth, and ultimately respond to the concern about shortages of information technology workers in the United States. This project is responding to NSF ITEST component (b): it is a comprehensive project for students and teachers. 2. Target Audience and Impact Our primary audience is New York City high school science teachers. We will actively recruit teachers from schools where we have already established networks. Through the development and administration of the Laser Academy, we have developed ongoing working relationships with high school administrators and department chairs. We also plan to continue to develop connections with new high schools in the local area. At the same time, we do not anticipate difficulty recruiting teachers as we will have the advantage of working intensively with two high school programs housed at Queensborough: The first program, Tech Prep, supports students’ interested in STEM­related fields. Tech Prep provides students with a seamless transition between their last two years in high school and the first two years of college ( www.qcc.cuny.edu/techprep). College Now is a New York City Board of Education sponsored program that enables students to take college classes while in high school ( www.qcc.cuny.edu/collegenow). The secondary audience will be students who will attend the summer enrichment experience, and school year students of the program participants. We expect that the programmatic and curricular enrichments we provide to their teachers will impact on students’ understanding and appreciation of targeted IT concepts while providing them with an experience of the investigative nature essential to science.
2 This project will advance New York City High School science teachers’ ability to incorporate activities utilizing the lasers, fiber optics, electronics, and computer technology in a manner that it is linked to both the N.Y. State Education Department curriculum and standards and applications to Information Technology. Most high school science teachers are not familiar with the connections between photonics­related activities, information technology (IT) fields, and the traditional science curricula. To give an example of the connection, the laser activities, which have elements of material science, energy, energy technology, and waves have direct applications in the NYS technology syllabus ( http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/ciai/mst/pub/techedoutline.pdf ). In putting together a fiber optic communication device, participants will be able to bring to life and connect concepts such as refraction and electronics. This project will deepen their knowledge of links between essential curricular units and how they can be implemented in the classroom in an engaging and investigative format. The activities and projects we will include in this project were originally selected based on interest and appeal to Laser Academy students for their relevance in their daily lives. We will introduce active inquiry approaches in targeted units (see detailed program description below), as these are more likely to encourage student engagement with and understanding of material (Laws, 1997; Marshall & Dorward, 2000). The project staff will assist participants in developing and implementing their own lessons using inquiry approaches. Another significant area of impact will be to make teachers and students aware of the wide array of IT related fields that are open to them. Moreover, our efforts to further develop the network we have in place between teachers and administrators will create new opportunities for students impacted by our project. The impact will be quite broad, as each teacher works with at least 3 or 4 classes of different students (usually 30 or more to a class) each semester of the school year. The 15 participants will impact an audience of at least 2,700 students the first year (15 teachers x 3 classes x 30 students x 2 semesters per year). The numbers of students who benefit will double the second year of the program, and triple the third, as more teachers attend the workshops. This is in addition to the summer laboratory experience each year, consisting of 40 students. By eventually impacting on the education of thousands of high school students, this project will reach a much wider audience than would be possible with just a program that targets students, adding to the diverse workforce at various levels of information technology applications. The high school teachers we recruit will vary with regard to ethnicity. The majority of schools from which the participants will come have predominantly minority student populations. In the boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn, African American and Hispanics account for 45% of the student population, while in the Bronx the minority population is 83% (2000 Census). Although the student population in these boroughs approximately matches the general population, most of the high schools with which we have relations with, and will chiefly be recruiting from, have much higher minority percentages. Queensborough itself is a Minority Serving Institution with approximately equal ratios of African American, White, Hispanic, and Asian students. Queensborough Community College is currently seeking designation as a Hispanic Serving Institution. Furthermore, part of the summer immersion program will be a
3 “Girl­Tech” component to encourage women, an underrepresented group, to go into engineering and technology fields. 3. Focus
The goal of the program is to increase the opportunities to learn about, experience, and use information technologies within the context of photonics for 15 teachers each year for three years as well as their students – estimated at 2,700 each year. That will be achieved through the following objectives: 1. To have participants of the program develop an understanding of how information is produced, distributed, and utilized. We will offer direct connections between the material introduced to targeted units of the NYS core physics curriculum guide and the NYS technology syllabus. 2. To provide all participants with information about the range of careers in STEM related and IT fields. Specifically, to offer a detailed background about the various IT entry points for students depending on their academic skill level. 3. To utilize inquiry approaches for most content units, in order to familiarize teachers with the effectiveness of inquiry approaches. 4. To assist participants in implementing these targeted science and technology units in a summer youth component. 5. To have participants transfer their knowledge, experience, and appreciation of this field to their students. Thus, we will provide field based assistance to help instructors to employ newly learned curricula and pedagogical approaches with fidelity in their home classrooms. 6. To familiarize teachers with how to use classroom computers to conduct experiments, collect data, or even create environments to allow students to perform experiments from home.
The program will impart to participants an understanding of how information is generated, transmitted, converted to different medium, and utilized, and the technology behind these aspects of IT. The program will have elements of optics, fiber optics, electrical technology, remote control technology, computer information systems, and robotics. In addition to learning the theory behind IT technology, the participants will have hands­on activities designed to familiarize them with skills crucial to technicians in the field. They will learn relevant elements of fiber optics and remote control technology to enable them to create a fiber optic communication device that they can use to transmit information, and another to actuate robotic components. This part of the project is similar in focus to the Laser Academy for high school students and another project funded by ITEST at North Carolina State University (ESI #0523232). This project differs from these previous models in that we focus on high school teachers, thereby impacting many more students. The proposed project will build on and expand on the existing Laser and Fiber Optics Academy curriculum that was initially developed for high school students, modifying and adding units to emphasize innovative and active pedagogical methods to teach these technologies. Participants will develop IT­based educational modules based on proven pedagogical methods and incorporate these into the New York State Science curriculum. This project will deepen
4 teachers’ appreciation of IT applications, and how these connect to the material they are required to teach. 4. Project Design The project will consist of four interrelated components: the Modified Laser Academy for science teachers, a summer laboratory experience, school year support, and a final conference. The Laser Academy For H.S Science Teachers (approx 100 hours): The curriculum of the academy will be modified so that high school teachers benefit from participation in the program. The proposed academy will be six to eight hours a day for three weeks, starting the beginning of the summer (end of June/beginning of July). The academy is designed to have participants develop conceptual understanding of the theories underlying various IT related technologies, and acquire competencies in a variety of skills relevant to these fields. The technical topics that will be covered are described below. Introduction – Participants will be made aware of career opportunities in IT related fields. Guidance staff and administrators will be invited to this introductory unit as we feel it is beneficial to familiarize them with career opportunities in IT related fields. The physics department at Queensborough has developed a set of resource materials and an informative CD presentation which will be supplemented with presentations by project staff, alumni and members of industry. Some of the materials we will utilize were developed by QCC’s Tech Ascend project (ESI#0206101). We will invite representatives from industry to discuss opportunities in the field. Members of the Lasers and Fiber Optics Technology program advisory board at Queensborough have expressed a willingness to contribute. Participants will also interact with students and alumni from the Queensborough technology programs. They will discuss their experiences while at school and they chose their fields of study. (Day 1; 6 hrs) General Optics ­ Participants will recreate various historical experiments that helped reveal the nature of light, as we know it. These experiments demonstrate diffraction, refraction, and wave interference. These topics are all required by the NYS curriculum. For example, in key idea 4 related to the goal of recognize the historical development of ideas in science and specifically observe, sketch, and interpret the behavior of wave fronts as they reflect, refract, and diffract (NYS Education Department, 2006) .We anticipate that the participants will be familiar with rudimentary aspects of the theory. The academy will cover different experiments to make evident and demonstrate these phenomena using active, inquiry approaches. Participants will also study various applications including lenses, telescopes (which are also part of the state curriculum), optical storage devices, and communications. (Days 2 – 3; approx 12 hrs) Fiber Optics – The activities will modify several experiments that demonstrate how fiber optics works and its applications, specifically to IT. Participants will also learn how to connect and test fiber optics cable. In working with and understanding the uses of fiber optic cable, we will convey the importance of fiber optics to the recent communication revolution and to new opportunities in related fields. (Days 4 – 5; 8 hrs)
5 Electronics – Participants will review information about circuits and different electrical components which is part of the state curriculum. However, we build on this basic knowledge to take teachers through the steps to assemble an electro­optical communication device. This second activity is designed to have participants understand that information can be converted to different medium (Also part of the NYS curriculum in physics and in technology). This activity is designed to give participants an appreciation of how electronics are used in everyday objects and insight as to how electrical devices work and are put together. (Days 5 ­ 6; 12 hrs) Lasers – Participants will learn how to test the different characteristics of laser light. Under guidance from QCC staff, participants will learn how to design and put together a laser to make holograms. This unit will also include a discussion of different methods that are used to display information. We will also discuss/demonstrate how lasers can be integrated in the state physics curriculum (real world applications, interpret energy diagrams) (Days 7 – 8; 14 hrs) Computers ­ Computers will be used to generate/acquire and to visualize information. Participants will learn basic computer theory. They will learn about the different components in a computer and how to modify a computer and connect it to different devices. The participants will learn how to configure a computer to collect data for school experiments. We will familiarize participants with online resources and methods that will allow them to connect a computer to use simulations and to collect data for in class experiments that do not require expensive equipment. (Day 9; 8 hrs) Computer Programming ­ Participants will learn the basics of Labview programming, which is an industry standard for remote control and data acquisition in all areas of engineering. (Days 10 –11; 12 hrs) Robotics – Participants will learn robotics and some robotic applications. They will put together and learn to manipulate robotic elements. For this session we will introduce participants to traditional robotic components developed and used at Queensborough. We will also have participants use “Lego Mindstorms”, a simple to use robotics system that can easily be introduced in a high school science class. (Day 12; 6 hrs) Remote Control – Participants will learn to manipulate robotic elements remotely (also using the Internet to transmit the commands). This has applications in distance learning, where students can run an experiment and collect actual data from home. (Day 13; 6 hrs) These activities are taught using inquiry methods, which are viewed as a “powerful teaching tool” (NYS Education Department, 2006). We will encourage the teachers to work in groups to perform activities developed and tested to promote understanding, as the collaborative processes in science are essential to the scientific method. The activities we have selected progress in complexity culminating in several projects. Investigation and inquiry is encouraged.
6 We will also have two sessions (Days 14 – 16; 18 hrs) to introduce participants to educational research done and best practices for teaching science, technology, and mathematics. During these sessions we will discuss how students acquire and apply knowledge, based of recent pedagogical research. We will have participants learn how to introduce the concepts and activities done in the Academy into the classroom using interactive pedagogy. Teaching resources and materials will also be given to participants, including the familiarization with many of the already available online resources that will enrich information technology applications in the physics classroom. Under the supervision of Queensborough faculty, participants will then develop modules to teach some of the topics covered in the previous weeks. Project staff will also work with participants to develop student assessment measures for the modules using resources from NSF’s Field Tested Learning Assessment Guide ( http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/archive/cl1/flag/default.asp) Summer Immersion Program (20 hours): The participants will have an opportunity to implement and test the effectiveness of their learning modules at a student summer immersion program, sponsored by the Tech Prep Consortium of Queens. The participants will spend a week (6 hrs each day) teaching high school students, with a special focus on recruiting and training female students through the “Girl Tech” component. Participants will teach selected modules related to the content they were exposed to. They will teach the material in teams, and under the supervision of Queensborough faculty. The project staff will conduct observations and provide technical assistance to determine the effectiveness of the modules they have developed. At the end of this component Dr. Marchese and Dr. Bluestone will review assessment results with the participants. School Year Support (10 hours): During the school year Queensborough faculty will work with participants of the program and their students to help participants adapt material and activities relevant to their curriculum and population into their classrooms. Faculty will visit the schools on a regular basis (10 hours per participant) to help set up equipment and assist teachers with the material. The school year support is necessary because of pedagogical habits, institutional resistance, and technical difficulties often interfere with the implementation of new material (Bitan­Friedlander, Dreyfus, & Milgrom, 2004; Onafowora, 2004). See our evaluation section for this field based technical assistance component as it will be used in the evaluation process. Queensborough faculty will assist with any technical problems and answer questions that arise. They will speak with the assistant principals and department faculty who have not participated in the program and help explain the changes being implemented. They will also work with the teachers in the classroom. Queensborough faculty will evaluate the participants of the program, and assist in implementing the evaluation measures for students. Finally, Queensborough faculty will review the assessment results with the participants. Although we are allocating 10 hours in the budget for school year support, this component of the project will continue beyond the life of the grant. The physics department at Queensborough regularly visits high schools to render technical assistance and to promote
7 science and technology. Once a relationship is established with the high school participants, Queensborough faculty will continue to provide support. End of Year Conference (6 hours): At the end of the school year the participants of the program will meet for a conference to discuss their experiences in the program, what worked, and future activities. 5. Recruitment Fifteen high school science teachers with an interest in the Laser Academy will be recruited each year. High school administrators at approximately 25 schools, predominantly from the New York City boroughs of Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx, will recommend participants. These schools include technical as well as local high schools. A list of the schools with which the Co­PIs and senior personnel have worked is included as an appendix. Through the Laser Academy and other programs intended for high schools Professors Marchese and Tremberger have developed a working relationship with many faculty and administrators in the New York City school system. We will also offer them continuing education credit, as well as a stipend during the summer. Participants of the program will also receive college credit. Teachers in New York City are required to get continuing education credit beyond their degree, so this proposed program would be well received professionally. We will also be working through the College Now and Tech Prep programs at Queensborough. College Now is a program that enables students to take college classes while in high school. College Now instructors (high school teachers) are required to participate in professional development activities. As the department liaison for the Physics Department at Queensborough, Dr. Marchese will recruit participants for the project. A unique incentive for program participation is the agreement by the New York State Education Department (NYSED) to provide 90 hours of professional development credits to teachers who participate in the proposed Laser Academy. This is an important opportunity and incentive for participants since teachers must have these hours of professional development in order to teach NYSED­approved career and technical education (CTE) programs, teachers. The Laser Academy will not only provide participating teachers with superior skills and knowledge in the area of photonics, but through the partnership with NYSED, it will qualify them to teach CTE courses. Tech Prep is a program intended to support high school students interested in STEM related fields. The program provides seamless transition between the last two years of high school and the first two years of college. Tech Prep is a program that would benefit from the proposed project, as there is always a need for technology instructors. Ms. Meyer, the director of the Tech Prep program will use her connections with high school personnel at Tech Prep high schools, and the Board of Education. 6. Key Staff, Consultants and Advisors Dr. Paul Marchese is active in incorporating innovative teaching methods in physics and has been involved in several projects with high schools. He is the director of the high school Laser Academy, the department liaison with College Now, and has connections with many local
8 high schools. Dr. Marchese is also on the Assessment Committee at Queensborough. He will be responsible for organizing the project and submitting reports. He will devote the school year to recruiting high school personnel for the project, and coordinating and participating in high school visits by Queensborough faculty. During the summer he will supervise and assist in teaching in the Laser Academy, as well as teaching in the summer immersion program. George Tremberger is an instructor in the high school Laser Academy and active in innovative pedagogical methods. He will teach the Academy and assist in teaching Girl Tech during the summer. He will visit high schools during the school year as part of the school year support. He, along with David Lieberman, will develop the modules to inform the participants of the program about pedagogical research. He will also assist them in how to introduce and teach these topics. Dr. David Lieberman does pedagogical research in physics. He, along with Dr. Cheung, has been doing work on developing distance learning physics experiments. Dr. Lieberman will teach the remote control and distance education parts of the Academy. He will visit high schools during the school year. Dr. Tak D. Cheung has been developing remote control optics experiments and educational modules in physics. He will assist in teaching the Laser Academy during the summer. During the school year he will visit high schools. Dr Cheryl Bluestone, PhD, will work with Dr. Marchese on developing and modifying each of the evaluation tools. She is a licensed psychologist currently serving as the in­house evaluator for Queensborough’s Project TechAscend, as well as other projects. Mary Anne Meyer is the director of the Tech Prep program at Queensborough. She will organize the summer program, including the Girl Tech component. She will be the program liaison with the Board of Education and assist in the recruiting of participants for the program during the school year. Dr. Haishen Yao has been working in mathematics education. He will teach a mathematics education workshop during the Laser Academy and visit high schools during the school year. 7. Partners New York State Education Department The New York State Education Department has agreed to provide up to 90 hours of professional development credits to teachers who participate in the Laser Academy. This is an important incentive for participants since teachers are required to get continuing education credit,
9 but must also have 90 hours of professional development in such a program in order to teach NYSED­approved career and technical education (CTE) programs. Tech Prep The Tech­Prep Consortium of Queens has been in operation since 1993. Its basis of operation is an articulation and institutional agreement among NYC Schools Chancellor, the Superintendent of Queens High Schools, and the President of Queensborough Community College. The program offers career programs in Computer and Information Sciences and Support Services, Digital Communications and Media/Multimedia, Web Page, Digital/Multimedia and Information Resources, Business Administration and Management, General Health Professions and Related Clinical Services, Electrical/Electronic/Communications Engineering, and Lasers and Fiber Optics. Tech Prep currently supports 706 students and has articulation agreements with 8 high schools. Tech Prep will support the summer laboratory experience, Girl Tech, where the participants of the Laser Academy will introduce and assess their modules. Tech Prep will also help recruit teachers to participate in the Academy and help liaison with the New York State Education Department with respect to professional development hours and credits. College Now College Now is a program that enables students to take college classes while in High School. The program pays for tuition and books. This Spring semester the College Now program at Queensborough has over 1400 high school students taking 53 college classes such as Electronics, Computers, Web Design, Chemistry, and Physics. The College Now program will assist in recruiting efforts by facilitating contact with College Now teachers, as well as distributing information about the program through the College Now networks. 8. Evaluation Overview: The evaluation will be measured on a number of levels, consistent with the multiple tasks and goals of the project. Thus, we will focus on teacher’s beliefs, competencies, and effectiveness in implementing the activities introduced. We will also examine student gains in content areas covered by participants in the Laser Academy. Formative: The formative evaluation will focus on assisting the PIs with fine tuning their approach to ensure they are meeting their goals. One key goal is to ensure that the teachers who are attending the workshops will develop a sense of understanding that will allow them to implement this material with some sense of confidence (Barron et al., 1998; Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 1999). Our formative assessment tools will serve both a feedback and monitoring function. To this end, Dr. Bluestone will work with project staff to develop brief content related assessment
10 tools for each unit, along with selected self­efficacy measures geared to the content the instructors will be expected to teach. Teacher Engagement with Content and Methodology: Change requires enthusiasm, commitment and a feeling one is getting something valuable. We want to be sure teachers feel engaged with and involved in both developing new content mastery and in developing new approaches to teaching. To this end, we will modify instruments that are available at the Online Evaluation Resource Library Website at http://oerl.sri.com/home.html to determine participants’ perceptions of their satisfaction with the workshops as well as any gains they feel they made. We will also elicit their reports of the likelihood of implementing projects as well as any concerns, questions or need for resources in order to be able to successfully use the new materials and lessons in their classroom. Self efficacy measures: Teachers with more positive self­efficacy beliefs regarding a specific content area are more likely to be able to create a learning environment conducive to successful teaching of the content. Dr. Bluestone will work with project staff to develop specific measures of self­efficacy beliefs to teach each of the targeted content areas. These will be administered before selected units and at the end of the project year. While self­efficacy to teach is associated with teacher effectiveness, there are a variety of forces in the school and classroom environment that counter the reinforcement of self­efficacy beliefs. Moreover, beliefs in and commitment to new ideas are essential, without built­in contextual supports, many teachers attempting to implement new materials will not succeed (Bitan­Friedlander, Dreyfus, & Milgrom, 2004; Onafowora, 2004). To this end, several additional measures will directly assess teachers’ ability to implement material in the youth component and in their own classrooms. Content Mastery: During the formative phase, we will also need to gather baseline information about teachers’ knowledge of the various content areas, as well as their knowledge about inquiry teaching approaches. These baseline measures can assist us in modifying our program and making adjustments to the method and scope of content delivered. They will also be used in the summative portion of the evaluation. As far as inquiry teaching methods, we have made arrangements to work with Dr. David Schuster, who is the PI of an NSF funded project to develop a valid assessment tool for teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge of inquiry science (POSIT, the Pedagogy of Science Inquiry Teaching test ­ DUE # 0512596). Dr. Schuster’s project is geared toward K­8 teachers; moreover, his project may still be in its piloting stages should our proposed Laser Academy receive funding. However, we will work with the PIs from POSIT to attempt to utilize and modify the instrument for use with high school teachers. Qualitative interviews: Dr. Bluestone will also collect qualitative, in­depth data from the teachers after the project end conference to ensure that the richness of the teachers’ responses will be captured and integrated into the professional development material. Such information may include the teacher’s goals and beliefs about teaching physics content. This will also give us a better understanding of factors that make it more or less likely for teachers to implement innovations to use for making additional changes.
11 Summative: Content Mastery: We will administer post­intervention content mastery assessments to ensure participants have in fact made gains in content areas. As alluded to earlier, high school teachers may not be familiar with the optics, photonics, and other essential concepts key to physics content (Kanaya, Lighe, & Culp, 2005). They are also often not familiar with various technologies that can be used to deepen their teaching methods (Kanaya et al., 2005; O'Bannon & Judge, 2005). Evidence suggests that instructors are more successful in transferring knowledge if they have both mastery of content and high self­efficacy to teach a particular topic. Thus, if we are successful, we will expect to see scores on concept mastery and self efficacy measures increase. Self Efficacy and POSIT: We will also administer follow­up self­efficacy measures as well as a year end administration of the POSIT instrument when it is available. Implementation in the Classroom: Ultimately, our goal is for teachers to be able to implement what they have learned in their classroom settings. Thus, we will examine our success in terms of self report measures and actual field based observations. The PIs will develop a template for observations to ensure that innovations are implemented with fidelity. First, project staff will observe and provide technical assistance and feedback to teachers in lessons that they will be asked to implement in the summer camp component. These same templates will be utilized when the project staff members make field visits to participants’ home schools to provide field­based technical assistance in implementing new curricula. Post Intervention Support and Evaluation: Each teacher will be observed at least once in their home classroom (using the template described above) followed by a post observation conference. Teachers will benefit from support over the long term. This will be maintained through a discussion board, which will provide web­based support and scaffolding for teachers. Although we will use the discussion board primarily for maintenance of support, web based methods have been effective in delivering content under various circumstances (Pedersen S. & Liu, 2003; Yang & Liu, 2004). In addition, post intervention surveys conducted by mail and/or by phone will ask participants to report the extent to which they are continuing to implement activities. We will also ask them to note obstacles, questions, or necessary resources that are interfering with implementation. If requested or indicated, continued field based technical assistance will be available to teachers that attended the Laser Academy. Impact on Students: Participants will be asked to work collaboratively to develop and teach selected content areas to students in the summer camp component. We will measure conceptual and knowledge based gains in students’ performance using pre­and post­concept tests. One of the units in Laser Academy will be to help teachers design authentic measures to assess students’ performance in new content areas. We will use pre­and post measures of teacher’s in class assessments to examine the extent to which students in participants’ home classrooms are making gains in targeted content areas.
12 9. Dissemination Queensborough Community College is a constituent college of the City University of New York, which enrolls half of all of New York City’s higher education students. As such, it is in a unique position to disseminate program information on a local and regional level. CUNY has made STEM education a top priority by enhancing research facilities across the university system and hiring an unprecedented number of full­time STEM faculty. This project supports these efforts, with a critical focus on high school/college partnerships. Project information and outcomes can be easily shared across CUNY through existing forums and communication (newsletters, the CUNY website, etc.). The project team will also take advantage of existing state and national networks, such as the National Science Teachers Association, SPIE (Society for Optical Engineering) meetings, and ASEE (American Society for Engineering Education) meetings to present our efforts and findings and promote broad impact. The co­PIs will submit a paper describing the activities and the results on the outcomes to a peer­reviewed journal. During the school year we will be in contact with school administrators to inform them about the projects and results. A dedicated Web Site will be developed describing our efforts. The web site will be for use by students and educators. It will have a description of the project, as well as the activities of the Laser Academy, and the modules developed by the participants. We will also have links to other related sites. 10. Timeline Fall 2006
· Gather materials.
· Inform the NYC Board of Education about the project.
· Get continuing education certification. Spring 2007 – project begins
· Set up website.
· Send out information and applications to high school principals and assistant principals. Dr. Marchese and Ms. Meyer will also contact administrators personally.
· Select 15 candidates for the program and explain what will be required of them. Summer 2007
· Run Laser Academy (end of June, beginning July)
· Summer immersion program (July) Fall 2007
· Have QCC faculty visit 1 st year’s participants to help implement new modules.
· Send out information and applications for second cohort of participants. Spring 2008
· Select 15 candidates for the second cohort of participants.
· Evaluate HS students and the effectiveness of new modules.
· End of year workshop with 1 st year’s participants. Summer 2008
13 · Run Laser Academy for second cohort and have them participate in summer immersion program.
· Evaluate assessment results from 1 st year’s cohort. Fall 2008
· Have Queensborough faculty visit 2 nd year’s participants to help implement new modules.
· Continue contact with 1 st year’s cohort.
· Send out information and applications for second cohort of participants. Spring 2009
· Select 15 candidates for the second cohort of participants.
· Evaluate HS students and the effectiveness of new modules.
· End of year workshop with 2 nd year’s participants. Summer 2009
· Run Laser Academy for third cohort and have them participate in summer immersion program.
· Evaluate assessment results from 2nd year’s cohort. Fall 2009
· Have Queensborough faculty visit 3 rd year’s participants to help implement new modules.
· Continue contact with 1 st and 2 nd year’s cohort.
· Write Final report. Spring 2010
· End of year workshop with 3 rd year’s participants.
· Write papers describing project and results, and submit to peer­reviewed publications.
· Present results at meetings. 11. Sustainability The lessons learned by high school teachers and materials used in their classrooms will last for years past the grant period and that the department is committed to field­based technical assistance beyond the life of the grant because, as mentioned previously, this is something the Physics Department at Queensborough does on a regular basis. Once a relationship is established with a high school instructor Queensborough faculty will continue to provide technical and pedagogical assistance indefinitely. The summer immersion program is funded by Tech Prep, which is committed to continuing it into the foreseeable future and as long as funding is available from the NYSED. Since there is always a need for instructors with technical knowledge, participants of the Laser Academy will be asked to teach during the summer past the grant period. If additional schools and teachers indicate an interest in continuing the program, Queensborough Community College’s Office of Sponsored Programs is committed to assisting the co­PIs in seeking grant funds to update and continue offering the Academy.
14