- Year 2024
- NSF Noyce Award # 2150702
- First Name Nancy
- Last Name Moreno
- Registration Faculty/Administrator/Other
- Discipline Data Science, Life Sciences, STEM Education (general)
- Role Principal Investigator (PI)
- Presenters
Nancy Moreno, Baylor College of Medicine, Alana Newell, Baylor College of Medicine, Gad Shaulsky, Baylor College of Medicine, Blaz Zupan, University of Ljubljana, Antonie Rice, Baylor College of Medicine,
Need
NEED• Exploration and analysis of large data sets is a high priority across all areas of science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM).• Most STEM teachers have little experience with how these fields are being transformed by novel approaches to “big data.”• Our project is designed to provide future STEM teachers with an authentic summer research and training experience that helps prepare them to offer their learners: 1) guidance about authentic STEM careers related to data science, and 2) classroom experiences that incorporate modern data science approaches.
Research Questions
1) To what extent do teachers’ knowledge and skills related to the nature of science, science inquiry and the application of data analytics to STEM change due to participation?2) Are pre-service teachers’ science teaching efficacy beliefs and science identities enhanced through participation?
Approach
Annually we recruit six pre-service STEM teachers from local undergraduate programs to participate in a one-week, hands-on, workshop-style training in data mining using the intuitive Orange software to provide background needed to make real contributions to ongoing data-science research projects. This course also is open to local STEM teachers.After the one-week course, pre-service STEM teachers are matched into the labs of full-time BCM faculty researchers to engage in a five-week-long, authentic, hypothesis-driven data exploration in fields such as genomics, molecular and cellular biology, neuroscience and bioinformatics. The summer research experience also includes seminars and other enrichment activities to help prepare them to translate these experiences to their future classrooms.
Outcomes
Thirteen future STEM teachers have completed the program. They consistently rate the program very highly. 100% of 2023 participants (5) agreed or strongly agreed with the following post-survey items: the program increased my knowledge of what science research entails on a day-to-day basis; I feel prepared to mentor students who are interested in STEM careers; I plan to incorporate data science into my future classroom; and I plan to share information about science lab research in my future classroom.
Broader Impacts
This program has potential to contribute to STEM teacher retention through connection with a broader community, which increases enthusiasm, self-efficacy, and, ultimately, job satisfaction.After five years, the STEM teachers who participate may expose up to 9,000secondary students in STEM classes to data analytics concepts and the work of scientists.
