OSS E/PO Task Force Report and the Swift E/PO Program

1. OSS E/PO Task Force Report and the Swift E/PO Program Sarah Silva Assistant Program Manager Sonoma State University NASA E/PO Sarah Silva, Sonoma State University

2. The areas we can work on • Increase the inclusiveness of the program by involving new audiences, science topics, materials and partnerships • Expand and intensify pioneering efforts to attract and better integrate minorities into E/PO projects and into the mainstream of OSS science programs • Enhance efforts directed towards quality control and obtaining a better understanding of program impact • Increase the effectiveness of the OSS E/PO Support Network by focusing the activities of the Broker/Facilitators on their primary roles • Strengthen and expand professional development efforts for E/PO professionals, scientists, and the education community Sarah Silva, Sonoma State University

3. Increase the inclusiveness of the program by involving new audiences, science topics, materials and partnerships • In the past the Swift program has been involved in many of the science audiences and some math. • AAS • NSTA • CSTA • AAPT • NCTM • ITEA • Other possible audiences • Language Arts • History Sarah Silva, Sonoma State University

4. Inclusiveness of Program • Science Topics • This is really the area where NASA shines, as we are always studying new science topics. • Materials • Why not start creating cross-curricular materials? • Our materials are an excellent source for new interesting reading comprehension, mathematics, as well as history. Sarah Silva, Sonoma State University

5. Expand and intensify pioneering efforts to attract and better integrate minorities into E/PO projects and into the mainstream of OSS science programs • As previously mentioned there is a need for partnerships… • We need to partnership with minorities, as this is the most effective way at this time to integrate minorities into E/PO programs. • The NASA E/PO group at SSU has begun such efforts • We are currently in communication with the Black Oak Charter School in Ukiah, CA. (up North) This school serves Native American Students. • How do we reach more minority institutions? Sarah Silva, Sonoma State University

6. Enhance efforts directed towards quality control and obtaining a better understanding of program impact • Follow our teachers over time. • Currently our evaluators are following our workshop participants by doing follow-up evaluations over the phone. • How can we assist in the quality control of our products? • Communication • Professional Development Sarah Silva, Sonoma State University

7. Increase the effectiveness of the OSS E/PO Support Network by focusing the activities of the Broker/Facilitators on their primary roles • Communication: Our Brokers: • DePaul University (DU)-Point of Contact: Lynn Narasimhan • Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI)-Point of Contact: Robert Herrick • Mid-Atlantic RegionSpace Science Broker (MARSSB)-Point of Contact: Nitin Naik • New England Space Science Initiative in Education (NESSIE)-Point of Contact: Cary Sneider • SouthEast Regional ClearingHouse (SERCH)-Point of Contact: Cassandra Runyon • Space Science Institute (SSI)-Point of Contact: Cherilynn Morrow • Space Science Network Northwest (S2N2)-Point of Contact: Julie Lutz Sarah Silva, Sonoma State University

8. Broker/Facilitators • Currently when we receive a new product we send a notification out to our Broker/Facilitators informing them of the availability of the new products. • This isn’t working. Hopefully Code N will figure this one out. Sarah Silva, Sonoma State University

9. Strengthen and expand professional development efforts for E/PO professionals, scientists, and the education community “Despite all this progress, there are important issues that now need to be addressed. The program has created large numbers of products in partnership with other organizations, many of high quality. However, the quality is not sufficiently uniform there is a need to make certain that all products that are developed reach the same high level of standards that some have attained…Many resource developers (mission teams, individual scientists and E/PO specialists) have insufficient understanding of the end-users, resulting in products that cannot be used effectively because they do not relate well to the needs of classroom teachers. The utility and effectiveness of the OSS E/PO Program can be substantially enhanced through the establishment of a systematic professional development program for the E/PO community that OSS has created.” Sarah Silva, Sonoma State University

10. Professional Development • Astronomy Education Review (AER) • http://aer.noao.edu/ • "A Lively Electronic Compendium of Research, News, Resources, and Opinion“ • Code N Plans to create a Professional Development Program, but in the mean time. Sarah Silva, Sonoma State University

11. Professional Development • April 29th-May 3rd, I and Phil Plait attended the “Designing Professional Development for Teachers of Science and Mathematics.” • We heard about many new studies on the topic of PD for teachers. Evidentially a newer topic in the area of teacher education. • In the past, teacher’s were given new materials with the understanding that they would immediately know how to teach it… Sarah Silva, Sonoma State University

12. Professional Development This was wrong. Sarah Silva, Sonoma State University

13. Professional Development(the new area) NASA scientists as a whole need to realize that just because they know the science, doesn’t mean they know how to teach the science. Better yet, it doesn’t mean they know how to design the materials to teach the science. Sarah Silva, Sonoma State University

14. Professional Development(the new area) Some things I learned about teaching teachers… Sarah Silva, Sonoma State University

15. Professional Development(the new area) You must look at the whole picture… The science, mathematics, who is going to use it, how, and why. Sarah Silva, Sonoma State University

16. The Authentic Task Approach 1.Clarify the task 2.Develop criteria for success 3.Establish a record of work 4.Identify relevant resources 5.Establish group rules and the role of the facilitator 6.Take time to reflect 7.Schedule activities 8.Develop a plan to implement the task  Sarah Silva, Sonoma State University

17. How do we use this? • Pay attention to the studies. • People have been doing longitudinal studies for years about science learning. • “Teachers with 80 or more hours of professional development reported higher values on inquiry oriented teaching practice in science. Teachers with 40 or more hours of professional development reported higher values on investigative classroom culture in science.” (Supovitz & Turner, 2000) Sarah Silva, Sonoma State University

18. Needs • Teachers need support and guidance. • They need to know why and how our materials address the standards. • Also how to implement the materials in their classroom. Sarah Silva, Sonoma State University

19. How do we do this with our materials? When we design our materials we must make sure we look at how we will be implementing it, the actual layout and content of the product. We can not just throw an educator unit at a teacher and expect them to teach without guidance. Sarah Silva, Sonoma State University

20. The Future • With all Swift materials we must create a workshop that accompanies those materials. • These workshops can not be one hour intros only. • How about creating a “course,” teachers can go to another course every time they attend a meeting. • Maybe even make these available online? • Our materials must address the standards. • The Instructional Design template that the SSU E/PO group has been using is a leap in the right direction. Sarah Silva, Sonoma State University

21. The Future (2) We must look at the studies! We must continue professional development for ourselves. Sarah Silva, Sonoma State University

22. Resources • Designing Professional Development for Teachers of Science and Mathematics: Loucks-Horsley, Love, Stiles, Mundry and Hewson. • http://www.wested.org Sarah Silva, Sonoma State University